Handa Island

The island's name is of mixed Gaelic and Norse origin. The Norse name was Sandey meaning "sand isle" from {{langx|non|sandr}}.{{sfn|Gammeltoft|2006|p=77}} It was recorded in Joan Blaeu's 1654 Atlas of Scotland as "Ellan-Handey"{{sfn|Gammeltoft|2006|p=77}} with the addition of the Gaelic Eilean (meaning simply "island") and the Norse form having become Handey and ultimately "Handa" due to aspiration in Gaelic.{{sfn|Crawford|1987|p=97}} MacBain and Haswell-Smith support the derivation of "sand isle",{{sfn|MacBain|1922|p=15}}{{sfn|Haswell-Smith|2004|p=199}} although Mac an Tàilleir translates the modern Gaelic of Eilean Shannda as "island at the sandy river".{{sfn|Mac an Tàilleir|2003|p=61}}{{#tag:ref|The nearest river is the Laxford the outflow of which into Loch Laxford is some {{convert|15|km}} away.{{cite web|url=http://data.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/doc/4000000074615589|title=Handa Island|publisher=Ordnance Survey|access-date=15 February 2020}}|group="Note"}}

File:The Great Stack of Handa - geograph.org.uk - 1612119.jpg

Handa is composed of Torridonian red sandstone{{sfn|Haswell-Smith|2004|p=199}} and surrounded by cliffs covered with birds. In the north is a hill with two peaks, with the south and east being lower lying. The north and west have {{convert|100|m|ft|adj=mid|-high}} cliffs, and there are beaches in the south and east. The Sound of Handa separates it from the mainland and smaller islands around Handa include Glas-Leac to the south, Eilean an Aigeach to the north east and Stac an t-Sealbhaig to the north.

The Great Stac of Handa was first climbed in 1876 by Donald McDonald,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Handa Island, In more detail|url=https://northcoastseatours.co.uk/handa-island-in-more-detail/|access-date=23 Jan 2021|website=northcoastseatours}} a native of St Kilda,{{sfn|Mellor|2020|p=9}} who crossed the 24m gap between the stack and Handa "swinging hand-over hand from a rope".{{sfn|Haswell-Smith |2004| p= 201}} It was first climbed from the sea in August 1969 by Graeme Hunter, Hamish MacInnes and Douglas Lang.[http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/obituaries/doug-lang.13716366 "Doug Lang"]. The Herald. (18 May 2011) Retrieved 6 August 2013. The height of the stack, which is one of the tallest in Scotland, is variously recorded as {{convert|72|m}},[https://www.themountainguide.co.uk/scotland/great-stac-of-handa.htm "Great Stac of Handa"]. Themountainguide.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2024. "about 107m"{{sfn|Mellor|2020|p=149}} and 115m.{{sfn|Haswell-Smith |2004| p= 201}} The nearby Stacan Geodh Bhrisidh

is {{convert|40|m}} high[https://www.themountainguide.co.uk/scotland/stac-a-bhrisidh.htm "Stac a'Bhrisidh"]. Themountainguide.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2024. and was also first climbed by that trio in the same year.{{sfn|Mellor|2020|p=149}}

Handa is noted for its birdlife, which includes puffins, razorbills and guillemots. The SPA designation lists six priority species: fulmar, great skua, guillemot, kittiwake, and razorbill.{{cite web|url=https://gateway.snh.gov.uk/sitelink/siteinfo.jsp?pa_code=8511|title=Site Details for Handa SPA|publisher=Scottish Natural Heritage|date=2018-05-02|access-date=2018-05-16}} The breeding colonies of razorbills and guillemots on Handa are the largest in the UK, representing 11% and 9% of the total British population respectively. The arctic skua and kittiwake populations are also of national importance, representing >1% and 2% of the British population respectively. Other birds at Handa include eider ducks and oystercatchers, and seals and otters can often be seen at Boulder Bay on the island's southern coast. Dolphins, basking sharks and several species of whale regularly visit the seas surrounding Handa.

Handa is also of national importance for its maritime vegetation. The exposed cliff tops are home to maritime grassland species that can tolerate salt, such as thrift, sea plantain and Festuca rubra. In less exposed areas can be found herb-rich grasslands which support species such as Yorkshire fog, bluebell and Scots lovage. Heather and crowberry are also widespread across the island.{{cite web|url=https://apps.snh.gov.uk/sitelink-api/v1/sites/762/documents/1|title=Handa Island SSSI Citation|publisher=Scottish Natural Heritage|access-date=13 May 2019}}

In the past the island was used as a burial place, and there are still the remains of a chapel in the south east, commemorated in the name Tràigh an Teampaill (Beach of the Temple). The use of Handa as burial place is thought to be due to the fact that wolves would dig up graves on the mainland so frequently that the inhabitants of Eddrachillis resorted to burying their dead on the island:Wildlife in Britain and Ireland by Richard Perry, published by Taylor and Francis, 1978

{{quote|

:On Ederachillis’ shore

:The grey wolf lies in wait,—

:Woe to the broken door,

:Woe to the loosened gate,

:And the groping wretch whom sleety fogs

:On the trackless moor belate.

:Thus every grave we dug

:The hungry wolf uptore,

:And every morn the sod

:Was strewn with bones and gore:

:Our mother-earth had denied us rest

:On Ederchaillis’ shore |The Book of Highland Minstrelsy, 1846Ogilvy, Eliza Ann H. (1846) The Book of Highland Minstrelsy. G.W. Nickisson. pp. 256-58}}

It had a population of 65 in 1841{{sfn|Haswell-Smith|2004|p=199}} but following the 1847 Highland Potato Famine the inhabitants emigrated to Nova Scotia.{{cite web|url=https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/v1-2955-Handa-leaflet.pdf|title=Handa Island Wildlife Reserve: Visitor Leaflet|access-date=14 May 2019|publisher=Scottish Wildlife Trust}} In some ways this is surprising, since it is recorded that the islanders had a fairly varied diet including oats, fish and seabirds, rather than depending heavily on a potato crop. The islanders had a parliament, similar to that of St Kilda, which met daily, and the oldest widow on the island was considered its "Queen".{{sfn|Haswell-Smith|2004|p=199}}

The island is now part of the Scourie Estate, owned by Dr Jean Balfour (until her 2023 death) and J.C. Balfour.{{cite web|url=http://www.whoownsscotland.org.uk/property.php?p=2806|title=Property Page: Scourie Estate|publisher=Who Owns Scotland|access-date=13 May 2019}} The Balfours leased Handa to the RSPB for 25 years, however this lease was not renewed, because the Balfours wished a Scottish-based body to run the island; as a result the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) took it over.{{sfn|Haswell-Smith|2004|p=199}} Under the SWT the island is managed by one warden and a handful of volunteers during the summer months.{{ cite web|url=http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserve/handa-island/|title=Handa Island reserve|access-date=2013-03-28 }}

File:Handastack.jpg|Stacan Geodh Bhrisidh

File:Dreizehenmöwe (Rissa tridactyla) bei Brutfütterung02.jpg|Northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) at Handa Island

File:Papageitaucher (Fratercula arctica) auf Handa Island.jpg|Puffin (Fratercula arctica) at Handa Island

File:Große Raubmöwe (Stercorarius skua) auf Handa Island.JPG|Great skua (Stercorarius skua) at Handa Island

File:Brutschutzgebiet Handa Island.jpg|Sign for the breeding birds' protected area

File:Handaquinag.jpg|Quinag and Scourie across the Sound of Handa

{{Portal|Scottish islands}}

{{Reflist|group=Note}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Crawford|first=Barbara E.|year=1987|title= Scandinavian Scotland|publisher=Leicester University Press|isbn=0-7185-1197-2}}
• {{cite book|chapter=Scandinavian influence on Hebridean island names|first=Peder|last=Gammeltoft|year=2006|title=Names through the Looking-Glass|editor-last1=Gammeltoft|editor-first1=Peder|editor-first2= Bent|editor-last2=Jorgenson|publisher=C.A. Reitzels Forlag|location=Copenhagen|isbn=8778764726}}
• {{Haswell-Smith}}
• {{Cite web|last=Mac an Tàilleir|first=Iain|year=2003|url=http://www.parliament.scot/gd/visitandlearn/40900.aspx|title=Ainmean-àite/Placenames|publisher=Pàrlamaid na h-Alba|access-date=26 August 2012|archive-date=6 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306142906/http://www.parliament.scot/gd/visitandlearn/40900.aspx|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book|last=MacBain|first=Alex|year=1922|title= Place Names: Highlands and Islands of Scotland|publisher=Eneas MacKay|location=Stirling|isbn=0-7185-1197-2}}
• {{Cite web|last=Mellor|first=Chris|date=Jan 2020|title=Stack Rock 2020: An illustrated guide to sea stack climbing in the UK & Ireland|url=https://www.needlesports.com/files//75ea019d-25f6-41e2-b555-ab7d00fb6326/Stack%20Rock%2012%20Jan%202020.pdf|access-date=23 Jan 2021|website=needlesports}}

{{commons category|Handa Island}}

• [http://www.scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserve/handa-island/ Scottish Wildlife Trust - Handa Island]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210226100207/http://www.handaskuas.org/ More information and photos]}} at the Handa Island Skua Project

{{Hebrides (uninhabited)}}

{{Islands of Scotland}}

{{coord|58|22|51|N|5|11|11|W|display=title|region:GB_source:isle}}

Category:Uninhabited islands of Highland (council area)

Category:Nature reserves in Scotland

Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in North West Sutherland

Category:Special Protection Areas in Scotland

Category:Islands of Sutherland