Handa Island

Handa Island is a wildlife paradise lying just off the Sutherland coast, home to one of the largest seabird colonies in northwest Europe. Each spring and summer, over 100,000 birds return to nest on the island's dramatic sandstone cliffs, creating a spectacle of sight, sound, and smell that overwhelms the senses. Puffins, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, and fulmars crowd every available ledge.

The Great Stack of Handa is the island's most impressive feature, a 100-metre sandstone pillar separated from the main cliffs and covered with nesting birds. Watching thousands of seabirds wheel around this towering rock is one of Scotland's great wildlife experiences. The island was once home to a small community, abandoned during the potato famine of 1847, and the remains of their settlement can still be seen.

Now managed as a nature reserve by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Handa is reached by a short boat crossing from Tarbet. A circular walking trail takes visitors around the island, passing through moorland rich in wildflowers to the cliff-edge viewpoints. Great skuas patrol the interior, occasionally dive-bombing walkers who venture too close to their nests. It's a raw, exhilarating encounter with nature at its most abundant.