The Top Ten in Hebridean Wildlife!

The Guga (Solan Goose)

Sula Sgeir, a small rocky island off the Butt of Lewis, has for centuries been the home of the famous Guga, the young gannet.

The Guga is the young of the Solan Goose (Gannet chicks). The birds are considered to be a great delicacy in Ness on the Isle of Lewis. Every year, a team of men from Ness make the dangerous 38-mile sea journey out to Sula Sgeir to harvest the Guga, salt its meat and store it for local consumption. Niseachs (the people of Ness), and their friends who have been lucky enough to be promised a share of the harvest, await their return with their mouths watering!

Sula Sgeir is a National Nature Reserve and the Nature Conservatory Council regulates the harvesting, which has no adverse effect on the population of the gannet colony.

The meat, for which many say you need an acquired taste, is described as 'fishy'!

The island of St Kilda, which lies 64 kilometres west of the Outer Hebrides, is home to the largest colony of gannets in the world. This gannetry, holds some 60,000 breeding pairs and is widely recognised as the most important seabird breeding station in North West Europe with over one million birds.

For pictures and interesting information about the history and continuation of this fascinating tradition, look at the Ness Historical Society's web site: www.c-e-n.org/sula.htm