Handa island

When looking at the history of Mackay county I was particularily interested in Handa island.
Handa Island was home to 65 people in 1841, complete with its own Queen (the oldest widow) and a daily parliament to allocate the work that needed doing. The potato famine in 1848 led to the migration of the islanders to Canada and it has been uninhabited since. Handa rises to a height of 400ft . It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is owned by Dr Jean Balfour and in collaboration run as a nature reserve by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Over 170 species of birds can be seen on Handa, including the 100,000 resident guillemots, along with 216 species of plants and 100 mosses.