Logged Visits:

22nd Jun 2021  17:11  by pricklyangelduo

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 5/10

The rangers requested that we stay a bit away to avoid being dive bombed by Skuas we did as requested but still got dive bombed 🤪🤣

25th Jun 2019  15:40  by KevP

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 8/10

Unable to get too right up to pillar due to very aggressive bonxies. Great island though.

26th Oct 2017  23:59  by Wayne Mac

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 5/10

25th Jul 2017  13:00  by Particle

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 9/10

Stayed on path round island as it's still late breeding season. Fulmar chicks were very cute & saw seal bottling in Boulder Bay.

10th Jul 2017  15:19  by Ron Plasma

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 10/10

What an amazing day. 40+mph gales on Saturday, but now we are into the second day of glorious sun. Arrived at Tarbet to be told the ferry would be along in ten minutes. What luck I thought. The ferry itself is a RIB - a dingy in my day - and makes the trip across the Sound in about 10-15 minutes. As we approach the sandy beach I notice that a group of fresh-faced young women are waiting for us, all long hair, tee-shirts, and smiling faces. It does strike me that there is no jetty. However as we close in on shore the lovelies wade out waist deep to guide the RIB to where a portable jetty has been rolled out. I find myself face to face with a smiling siren just over the side of the RIB. I defy you to get Tim Buckley out of your head in these circumstances. Where was I? The island is fabulous. Puffins, Razorbills, and Great & Arctic Skuas, but as stated, you are very much encouraged to stick to the clear four mile path that heads north from the visitor centre and then around the west coast. Not far from the pillar (out of sight) on the west side I found a Ranger building a wooden walkway and asked if I could stray to the pillar. "No problem, if you don't mind the Bonxies". For the unitiated, Bonxies are Great Skuas, two feet long with a four foot wingspan, and are very protective of their young. Hence my short foray up to the pillar attracted a series of dive bombing runs by a pair of Bonxies. Trust me I didn't stay long, but if ever a Trig Bagging trip deserves a ten it is this. We arrived back at the beach at the time we were told the last ferry left, but with twenty or thirty other souls awaiting to leave it was a case of sitting on the beach in the sun waiting our turn. I can't think of better ways to end a day.

25th May 2016  12:39  by Two Twitchers

Gridref: NC 13065 48266   FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 7/10

Pillar in good shape but no Flush Bracket.

The Trigpoint. The Trig is in good shape but this is the first Trig I've found with no Flush Bracket

18th May 2016  12:08  by Fester

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 9/10

11th Jun 2014  17:00  by Chalky

FB Number: NO FB  Condition: Good  Score: 9/10

Spider centre cap with indented letters.

11th Jun 2014  16:45  by dugswell2

FB Number: NONE  Condition: Good  Score: 8/10

RIB trip over, then walk on the sands to the wooden walkway path which you leave to gain the summit and the trig with no flush bracket.

20th May 2014  11:30  by dal

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Unreachable but visible  Score: 7/10

Breeding season, so there was a general request to stick to the footpath, from where we viewed the trig. Great island - saw puffins and many other birds - great island.

25th Aug 2013  12:28  by plet56

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 8/10

Wind and tides made for a safer crossing by paddled out from and back to Scourie Bay. Very few birds about (a bit late in the year to be nesting I guess) and even the skuas seemed more interested than menacing. A fine island with impressive views back to the mainland. Like Eilean Nan Ron, another sandstone/conglomerate island, with completely different geology to the adjacent mainland (Pre-Cambrian gneiss)

17th Jul 2012  00:00  by pete37038

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 8/10

Superb location, there is a VERY faint track to this, made a bid for it once out of sight of the 2 rangers. No divebombing skuas on duty, nothing disturbed :-) track is clearer nearer to the trig. Awesome views from the TP

21st May 2012  13:40  by jonglew

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Unreachable but visible  Score: 6/10

Out of Bounds! We approached within 120m on the cliff path but were not allowed any closer due to breeding birds. Seemed churlish to ignore the instructions so we contented ourselves with seeing it from a distance. This was a bonus for us as we were driving north from Ullapool to Tongue with some time on our hands, so we diverted left to Tarbet and ended up on a boat to the island!

Pillar TP3594 - Hmmm... Not very awe inspiring from here.©jonglew

22nd Jun 2011  13:04  by stignest

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Not Logged  Score: 5/10

boat trip

15th Jul 2009  14:00  by Bergfuehrer

FB Number: NO FB  Condition: Good  Score: 10/10

Sutherland. We visited the island at the height of summer and the seabirds were amazing. They are crammed onto the ledges of the cliffs round the island. Inland there is an increasing population of Great Skuas and they can be quite menacing. We approached the trigpoint from the west from the nearest point on the ring path that leads round the island and it was as if the skuas had posted sentries to observe our approach, they were on prominent rocks and mounds on all sides. We went quietly in and then quietly out again. The weather was superb and the views were breathtaking. Plug with indented lettering.

Handa Island
Duty Skua

15th Jul 2009  14:00  by Late starter

FB Number: NO FB  Condition: Good  Score: 10/10

Visited this wonderful small island on a beautiful sunny day. It was amazing...hence my first ever 10/10 score (like Craig Revel Horwood off Strictly Come Dancing, i don't hand them out easily!). The cliffs around the island were teeming with birdlife - puffins, arctic terns, guillemots, razorbills, skuas, fulmars, kittiwakes, all of which could be seen at close range. A heavenly day with the equally wonderful Bergfuehrer!

17th Apr 2009  12:00  by peregrinus

FB Number: No FB  Condition: Good  Score: 8/10

vgc, metal cap, deep letters. Built without FB. Grassy summit. A few Bonxies around, no probs in April but mind your head if you go in summer! Privately owned nature reserve managed by Scottish Wildlife Trust; keep to paths but there's one to trig from W. Boat from Tarbet, £10 return which includes donation to SWT.

26th Jun 2008  12:00  by iainmac

FB Number: NO FB  Condition: Good  Score: 8/10

17th Aug 2006  17:36  by Chalky

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Not Logged  Score: 8/10

5th Jul 1982  13:00  by Bridgeman

FB Number: Not logged  Condition: Good  Score: 5/10

Boat trip out from Tarbet but the weather turned wet. I was last back to the boat.