Small Isles of Eigg and Muck

The start of June saw one of our team members visiting two small schools on the Isles of Eigg and Muck, which are located just to the south of Skye. Along with Rum and Canna, they make up what are known as the ‘Small Isles’ of the Inner Hebrides. With 105 inhabitants on Eigg and just 47 on Muck, the two islands are very close-knit communities, but welcome many more tourists throughout the year to visit the stunning scenery and observe the rich abundance of wildlife, including the seals, Minke whales and white-tailed sea eagles that we observed during our trip. As mentioned, both islands have small schools, but because there is only one mid-day car ferry each day, the schedule was slightly different to normal. We sailed from Mallaig harbour on Monday 3rd June and after arriving, were quickly whisked off to the community hall for a astronomy presentation. However, because Eigg is off-grid and generates its own electricity through wind, hydro and solar panels, it just so happened that the electricity went off for the duration of my talk. With a few adjustments and more reliance on hands-on demonstrations, we muddles through and managed to keep the 32 attendees entertained for the full hour.

The following morning, it was off to the small primary school, where the island’s 8 pupils took part in a selection of workshops until the lunchtime ferry arrived to whisk passengers south to the smaller island of Muck. Once on Muck, Chris had the afternoon to explore and watch the wildlife, on what was a glorious day. The following day, Wednesday 5th June, was spent entirely at the island’s primary school. where its 6 pupils took part in 4.5 hours of talks and activities. Despite having huge amounts of information thrown at them, they managed really well, and remained engaged throughout the day. The day was followed by an evening community event, where we talked about the Nature of Light, and with 10 attendees, we were joined by a quarter of the island’s inhabitants. There was then time to relax until the ferry arrived just after lunch the following day and whisked us all back to the mainland.