BONNIE ISLANDS: Loch Lomond, believe it or not, has about 60 islands, 15 being what you could call main ones. One used to contain a prison, one had a distillery, one has traces of man going back to 5000 BC, one is the burial place (in 1623) of Gregor MacGregor, uncle of Rob Roy, and one contains the ruins of a castle sacked by Oliver Cromwell.
END OF THE AUKS: In 1840 what is believed to have been the last great auk recorded in the British Isles was killed by St Kilda islanders. It is said they thought it had caused a violent storm and they suspected it was a witch. Four years later the la
st great auks in the world were killed in Iceland.
LONGEVITY IN JURA: The island has a gravestone which bears the name of Mary MacGrain, who died in 1856 at the age of 128. Better still, her tombstone inscription says she was a descendant of "Gilmour MacGrain, who kept 180 Christmasses in his own house".
BUSY BOY: The Eriskay ponies are listed as a rare breed, but nearly became extinct in 1971 when the last known pure-bred stallion died. Then they found Eric on nearby South Uist – Eriskay pure, through and through. They soon had him busy, and Eriskay ponies are now 97 per cent pure, thanks to Eric, with 100 per cent the target.
HOLE-Y ISLANDS: At Easdale, you can hit a golf ball on 12 Scottish islands. Well, it is a putting green and the holes, in putting order, are Tiree, Coll, Iona, Mull, Lismore, Easdale, Seil, Luing, Scarba, Colonsay, Jura and Islay.
LAMB AND SEAWEED: Sheep on North Ronaldsay, Orkney's most northerly island, eat mostly seaweed, and that makes them a "delicious dark mutton with a rich gamey taste". And sheep on Foula have been seen eating live tern and skua.
TWO-LETTER WORDS: Shortest island names? Bu in Orkney and Oa on Islay.
IMPOSTERS: Islands that ain't – the Isle of Whithorn, Black Isle, Burntisland.
• James Dow is author of Islands Galore (Black & White Publishing)
The full article contains 349 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
