Taransay UKHab survey

When I was asked to co-ordinate a UKHab survey on Taransay in late September – an uninhabited island off the west coast of the Western Isles- my first thought was, ‘mmm that’s going to be stormy…’  and messages about the accommodation didn’t at first fill me with confidence:

 “Apparently there’s a bothy you can stay in. You won’t have to camp”

“Googled that. Is that the one with its windows and door missing?”

“Hmm. I’ll get back to you”.

We were soon reassured by the island’s owner that we would in fact be put up in the Old Schoolhouse- fully renovated, aga heated and with all windows and doors intact. No mains electric but solar power banks for charging, candles and lanterns for lighting.  He would ferry us there in his own boat.

On a calm sunny Sunday in mid-September, Kate, Tasha and I arrived, and with storms forecast later in the week we went out that first day to survey as much as possible, returning to base as the sun set, just in time for a quick dip in the sea.

Initially walking the ground together to make sure we were all on the same page with surveying and assessing, we found that past management had altered the habitats dramatically from their ‘natural’ state. Seen on an aerial map, the island looks stripey; this is due to extensive ‘lazy beds’, a ridge and furrow cultivation system widely used on the west coast of Scotland in previous centuries.

The resulting drainage and nutrient enrichment, combined with heavy grazing by deer and sheep has created a dense mosaic of habitats which was not straightforward to categorise. Knowing that the owner had a particular interest in increasing native tree cover though, we noted potential locations for this. 

Establishing young trees here would not be straight forward, and as proved by the weather during the rest of our time on Taransay, it’s possibly one of the most wind-blasted locations in Britain.

Despite the owners’ best efforts deer numbers are still high and two sheep which escaped removal from the island a few years ago – apparently two ewes - have gone on to produce a further five sheep! There is famously only one mature tree on the island- a multi stemmed aspen growing from a sheltered cliff, inaccessible to grazers.  Plans are to plant suitable species in sheltered areas and exclude deer and sheep.

With Storm Amy rolling towards us and reports coming in from colleagues on the West coast of Ireland that they would have needed drysuits and snorkels to get down the road to their work site, we put in some long days and completed our surveys hoping to make the most of a brief weather window on Thursday morning to get off the island. If the boat could not pick us up then, it could be several days before conditions would be calm enough. Early on Thursday morning the wind that had been thundering against the windows for three days had suddenly stopped. All was calm and sunny and we boarded the boat back to Harris, relieved at not becoming stormbound but also buzzing with the experience of our off-grid survey adventure.

Written by Julie Murray (project lead)