Handa Island Wildlife Reserve

The ferry from Tarbet is small, the crossing brief, and the arrival startling. Handa is uninhabited now, cleared in the 1840s, and given over entirely to birds: guillemots and razorbills packed onto the ledges of the Great Stack, kittiwakes, fulmars, puffins in early summer and great skuas patrolling the moorland interior with obvious menace. A boardwalk path loops the island so the ground is protected and the walking easy, and a volunteer meets every boat to explain what you are about to see. Minke whales and basking sharks pass offshore. Open from spring until the birds leave in late summer.

An uninhabited Sutherland seabird island reached by a tiny local ferry, with around 100,000 nesting birds and a volunteer welcome — spectacular, seasonal and far from the tourist road.

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