Swona & Pentland Firth

Swona Map

SWONA (ON Swefney, Sweyn’s Island), now uninhabited except for a small herd of feral cattle, is a delightful island to the west of Burwick. Very strong tides made this island a graveyard to shipping. Until the advent of radar vessels regularly went ashore in fog and usually became total losses on the jagged rocks.

Being grazed by cattle, Swona has completely different vegetation to sheep-grazed islands. The luscious green sward is carpeted with wild flowers in the summer, including Primroses, Ragged Robin, Buttercups and Eyebright. The banks have carpets of Thrift and Cocks & Hens, while Oysterplant thrives in the shingle beaches.

and much more...