i love COLL Make the most of your Hebridean island adventure... Make yourself at home... BED & BREAKFAST AND SELF CATERING ACCOMMODATION ON THE ISLE OF COLL Tigh na Mara offers you friendly Scottish Island hospitality in a stunning seaside location within walking distance of the ferry pier. Whether you are looking for comfortable Bed & Breakfast or Self Catering accommodation on the Hebridean Isle of Coll, Paula and her team look forward to making you feel at home. We also offer Linen Hire for self catering visitors to the Isle of Coll. T 01879 230354 E [email protected] W www.tighnamara.info Hogh Bay BED & BREAKFAST AND SELF CATERING ACCOMMODATION ON THE ISLE OF COLL Welcome to Coll Now you can slow down. What’s the rush? You’re on Co ll now. You’ve got time to unwind, you’ve escaped... Leave the everyday behind and discover your own private paradise. Whether you are here on holiday, here on business (or even living here), there is time enough to explore. From corncrakes to crannogs, beaches to basking sharks, stargazing to seafood, Coll’s offerings are vibrant and varied. But take care, once you fall in love with this idyllic isle, its impossible to let go... i love summer Flag Iris Yachts, Arinagour Red-breasted Merganser FishingCrossapol Competition Beach Football Nature lovers are spoilt with Coll’s abundance of Over the years, many visitors have fallen under wild flowers, orchids, rare birds and sealife. And Co ll’s spell and return time and time again. Coll is also home to Hebridean sheep, Highland cattle and the largest herd of Eriskay ponies in They are affectionately know as the summer the world. swallows, friendly, familiar faces wanting to Coll is an excellent place to bring children on share their love of Co ll. Many of them are holiday. There are lots of young families living Co llachs, so me are descendants, others are on Coll, so plenty of wee Collachs to assist with longtime friends who just can’t get enough of building sand castles. the place. The majority of Coll’s population are incomers, however that means they have made a choice There is plenty to keep you distracted over the summer months. to live here. They take great pride in showing As well as the Coll Show in August, there are two fishing the island off to visitors. So, if you want to know competitions, ceilidhs, golf tournaments, beach football and something about Coll, just ask a friendly face, the Coll Half Marathon. there’s plenty to choose from. annual summer Events & ceilidhs on coll Beach Football In addition to various go lf, football and other events throughout the summer, the fo llowing events take place each year... July fishing competition fishing dance beach football august coll show (First Thursday in August) show dance (First Friday in August) coll half marathon & ceilidh (Third Saturday in August) east end fishing competition i love beaches Old rope North Shore Beachcombing on Feall During the summer months, the gulf stream makes for pleasant Unlike Tiree, the majority of Co ll’s swimming and Hogh Bay can provide good surfing. For the less beaches are a wee hike fro m the road. aquatically adventurous, perhaps a spot of beachcombing, you But after a stro ll over the machair never know what you might find... you will be rewarded by unspoilt What you won’t find are donkey rides, ice creams or kiss-me- quick hats. In fact, more often than not, you could find that you white sand, crystal clear turquoise have the beach to yourself (apart from the seals curiously spying seas and stunning views of the on you from the water). As well as seals, Cliad Bay is an excellent spot for otters and if you are an early riser you may be lucky other Hebridean islands. There are enough to catch a glimpse of one. The waters around Coll are no beaches near Arinagour, so day also a UK hotspot for spotting basking sharks. trippers may find it difficult to get And if the beach gets too busy? Well, just move on, there’s 23 to the full flavour of Co ll without a choose from... long walk or a bike ride. Feall Bay The hidden delights of the beaches of Co ll are so me of the best kept secrets of all the Hebridean islands... I love BIRDS Heron Corncrake Waxwing RSPB ISLE OF COLL NATURE RESERVE On this reserve the RSPB has been working with farmers to The RSPB manages 1074 hectares of encourage corncrake-friendly farming methods. These include providing field corners with tall vegetation, cutting fields late after typical Hebridean habitats, including long nesting, and cutting from the centre towards the edges so that shell-sand beaches, sand dunes, machair corncrakes can escape to safety. Where these measures have been used on the reserve, corncrake numbers have dramatically (turf growing on a lime -rich ‘soil’ of risen from 10 calling males in 1992 to the highest ever number of finely ground seashell fragments), 66 recorded in 2009. Visiting farmland and moorland. The reserve is always open, as is the visitor information room The reserve is a very special place, particularly in summer when at Totronald Stables. To avoid disturbing corncrakes, please do you can listen to Corncrake, Skylarks and Lapwing, see and smell not enter any fenced fields containing tall grass, and remember thousands of flowers, and admire wonderful views. that dogs can cause real problems for ground-nesting birds and the livestock that maintain our habitats. Please park in the places Corncrakes provided and do not be tempted to drive across the machair. From May to August, the reserve is very important for the Corncrake. This is not only one of the rarest birds in Britain, but This nature reserve is an important place for wildlife. RSPB is also in danger of extinction worldwide. However, they have Scotland welcomes responsible access, in line with the Scottish suffered badly from changes in farming practices – especially the Outdoor Access Code. We hope you enjoy your visit. shift to earlier cutting of hay and silage. Corncrakes arrive here in late April, after wintering in south-east Africa, and hide in tall Contact details vegetation before moving into meadows of tall grass later in the For more information, please contact: RSPB Isle of Coll Nature year. Because they nest on the ground and breed relatively late in Reserve, Totronald, Isle of Coll, Argyll PA78 6TB. the year, they cannot survive if their meadows are cut too early. Tel: 01879 230301 | www.rspb.org.uk/scotland Crannog, Mill Lochs i love heritage Co ll has been inhabited since Meso lithic times, more than 6500 years ago . Standing stones, such as the mysteriously named ‘Na Sgeulachan’ (Teller of Tales) at Totronald, are Co ll’s earliest recorded monuments, dated c. 2500 BC. From the late Bronze Age, Coll’s inhabitants constructed island dwellings on inland lochs. Known as Crannogs, these artificial islands were lived on by successive generations over a period of centuries. Then, as now, a house with a loch view was a desirable residence, and the added protection of a bit of water between neighbours would have been, on occasion, useful. Ben Hogh The Old Castle, Breachachadh Na Sgeulachan Blow away the co bwebs Winter sunrise, Arinagour on a wintry morning stro ll... i love winter* * It very rarely snows on Coll but when it does, it really snows. The Wild, Wild West... If you want to witness Co ll at its wildest, a visit in Winter, Arinagour the winter months is reco mmended. A good walk on a windy day really does clear the head, fo llowed by a relaxing warm by the fire, dram in hand. COLL IS A DESIGNATED DARK SKIES ISLAND The light and the colours make for great photography this time of year. And the long, clear nights permit sightings of meteor showers, the Northern Lights or just good stargazing. There are less tourists around over the winter months but Coll is Feall Bay still a sociable place to be. You will find Collachs in relaxed mood and finding much to celebrate, whether it be Hogmanay or a Burns’ Supper. And if you happen to be on Coll on such an occasion, you will be heartily encouraged to join in. Winter Wildlife In winter, Coll has important populations of Greenland White fronted Geese and Barnacle Geese as well as the Greylags. A flock of feral Snow Geese occur on the RSPB reserve and Long-tailed Duck, Scaup and Common Scoter can all occur in the bays. This is also an excellent time of year to see otters, hares and dramatic seascapes, just make sure you bring some windproof clothing... Otter Hare ECOLLOGY Scottish Natural Heritage are working with the peo ple on Co ll to protect the fragile eco logy of this unique island. Co ll is ho me to many rare species of flower such as Bloody Cranesbill and the Hebridean Spotted Orchid. Much of Coll’s abundance of rare species is due to the machair. Machair is a gaelic word for a fertile coastal grassland. On Coll, as with other islands on the West Coast of Britain, this grassland has Bloody Cranesbill Hebridean Spotted Orchid become established by the influences of nature and humans. Lime rich shell sand blown from the beach falls upon the grassland, Bell heather making the soil particularly fertile, relatively free draining, and the vegetation, species rich. Grazing plays an integral part in maintaining a healthy machiar. Cattle and sheep graze (and rabbits and hares) upon the nutritious vegetation ensuring that it does not become rank, and that less competitive species are not lost from the sward.