Voyage to St Kilda

This is the start of my two week backblip of my fieldwork on St Kilda!

My PhD involves a study of genetics of horn development in a wild population of Soay sheep on Hirta, the main island of the St Kilda archipelago which lies about 41 miles west of the Outer Hebrides.

Today 12 of us started our trip from Edinburgh to St Kilda for our annual sheep catch. Driving all the way through the mountains of Scotland to the tip of Skye was a really nice way to start our trip, even it was in the worlds most squeaky minibus.

This picture is from the ferry from Uig on Skye to Tarbert on Harris.

We drove across the weird Harris landscape to Leverburgh, where we stayed in the local Bunkhouse, 'Am Bothan' (highly recommended!!!), ready to take the Orca II to Kilda in the morning.

We had our last civilised meal in the Anchorage restaurant on the pier... langoustines, lobster and scallops, all fresh and locally caught.