Soay | |
---|---|
Location | |
Soay
|
|
Soay shown within the Outer Hebrides | |
OS grid reference | NA064014 |
Names | |
Gaelic name | Soaigh |
Norse name | so-øy |
Meaning of name | (Norse) "Sheep island" |
Area and summit | |
Area | 99 ha (245 acres) |
Area rank | 150= |
Highest elevation | Cnoc Glas 378 m (1,240 ft) |
Population | |
Population | 0 |
Groupings | |
Island group | St Kilda |
Local Authority | Outer Hebrides |
References | [1][2][3] |
If shown, area and population ranks are for all Scottish islands and all inhabited Scottish islands respectively. Population data is from 2001 census. |
Soay (Scottish Gaelic: Soaigh) is an uninhabited islet in the St Kilda archipelago, Scotland. Soay, is Old Norse, meaning "Island of Sheep". The island is part of the St Kilda World Heritage Site and home to a primitive breed of sheep. It is the westernmost point of land in Scotland, excluding the disputed Rockall islet.
Contents |
Soay lies some 40 miles (64 km) west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic It is about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north-west of Hirta, from which it is separated by the narrow Sound of Soay. Two sea stacks, Stac Shoaigh (Soay Stac 61 metres (200 ft)) and Stac Biorach (73 metres (240 ft)) lie between. Soay covers about 96.8 hectares (239 acres) and reaches a height of 378 metres (1,240 ft), the cliffs rising sheer from the sea.
The island is formed of a breccia of gabbro and dolerites. It is formed as a single mountain peak rising from the sea-bed, without Ice-Age erosion.[2]
With the rest of the archipelago, Soay is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, managed by Scottish Natural Heritage as a nature reserve and is included it the St Kilda World Heritage Site.[4] It is unlikely that this island ever had permanent habitation. Men from Hirta would stay for a few days while gathering wool.[5]
Feral Soay sheep are a relict population of the first sheep brought to northern Europe around 5000BC. They were kept for their wool, which was plucked, not shorn, and made into tweed.[6] Only occasionally were the sheep killed for meat.[2] When the neighbouring island of Hirta became uninhabited, Soay sheep were introduced there too, and more recently they have become widely kept elsewhere as a livestock animal. Another somewhat less primitive breed lives on another island in the group, the Boreray.
The island's cliffs hold breeding colonies of many seabirds, including gannet, fulmar, storm petrel, Manx Shearwater, razorbill, great skua, Leach's Petrel and puffin.
|
|