Canna

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Canna (Gaelic Eilean Channaidh) is the westernmost of the Small Isles archipelago, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is linked to the neighbouring island of Sanday by a bridge and by sandbanks at low tide. The island is 7 km long and 1.5 km wide. The isolated skerries of Hyskeir and Humla lie 10 km south west of the island.

The islands were left to the National Trust of Scotland (NTS) by their previous owner, the Gaelic folklorist and scholar John Lorne Campbell in 1981, and are run as a farm and conservation area. Campbell's widow, the American musician Margaret Fay Shaw, continued to live on Canna until her death in 2004 aged 101. The islands have a mostly Roman Catholic population of 15 people - Canna was one of the few places to escape the Scottish Reformation. Canna House, one of two big houses on the island (the other being Tighard), contains John Campbell's important archives of Gaelic materials that were donated with the islands to the nation.

There are some 20 buildings on the island, including three churches (one is deconsecrated and is being converted into a study centre), a tea room and a post office (converted from a garden shed). The island is isolated and the inhabitants must buy their provisions from the mainland, but it has a telephone link, a red telephone box and broadband internet access, although there is no mobile phone coverage. Electricity is provided by a diesel generator, at mainland voltage and frequency, and there is a private water supply. The island has a zero crime rate - but a mainland-based policeman visits the island twice a year, mainly to inspect gun licences. A doctor based on the neighbouring island of Eigg is available for house calls once a month. The roads on Canna are not metalled and are privately owned, local vehicles therefore do not require road tax. The previous bridge to Sanday was destroyed by storms during 2005, and has recently been replaced by a road bridge. This allows vehicular access at all tide levels for the first time, although the road on Sanday is still covered by high tides.

A large natural harbour is formed between Canna and Sanday. The pier on Canna, and those of the other Small Isles, was rebuilt and enlarged in 2005. This is used by the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, MV Lochnevis, which links Canna, and the neighbouring Small Isles of Rùm, Eigg and Muck, to the mainland port of Mallaig (2 1/2 hours away). Lochnevis is capable of carrying motor vehicles, although NTS permission is required to land them. During the Summer months the islands are also served by Arisaig Marine's passenger ferry MV Sheerwater from Arisaig, 10 miles south of Mallaig. The harbour is well sheltered. It is the only deep harbour in the small isles, and is very popular with west coast yachting traffic out of Oban and Arisaig.

Canna is renowned for its seabirds, including Manx shearwaters and puffins. The island is also inhabited by a number of rare butterfly species. In the nearby waters one can spot dolphins and smaller whales. Canna is noted for its tiers of basalt pillars that rise over the eastern half of the island and the sea cliffs that dominate its northern shore. The highest point on the island is Carn a' Ghaill (Gaelic for rocky hill of the storm) at 210 m. On the eastern edge of the island, Compass Hill (139 m) is formed of a volcanic rock known as tuff of such a high iron content that nearby ships' compasses are distorted, pointing east, rather than north.

Recent developments

Rat problem

In September 2005, it was reported that the population of Brown Rats on the island had grown to 10,000 and was causing such problems to both the human population and the birdlife, particularly the rare Manx shearwaters, that a complete cull would take place. However, the population of woodmice, Apodemus sylvaticus on the island is a distinct race descended from a norse lineage, and as the rat cull used rodenticide, a breeding population of mice was removed beforehand by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) to safeguard the population's future. The mice are currently, as of summer 2006, being returned to Canna and monitored by the RZSS. The rat project is ongoing and funded for winter 2005 and 2006.

Call for families for Canna

In October 2006 the NTS decided to invite two families to rent properties on the island, in an effort to retrieve new skills and spirit to the island community. The invitation was mainly aimed at people with "skills in building, plumbing and gardening", and it is also intended that one of the families will open the house known as Tighard as a bed and breakfast. The call was global and over 400 responses have so far (18th October 2006) been received, from places as varied as Germany, Sweden, India and Dubai.