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One of the Slate Islands, Seil (Scottish Gaelic: Saoil) is small island on the east side of the Firth of Lorn, 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Oban, in Scotland.
From Ellenabeich village looking over Easdale Sound to
Scarba island in the distance.
Seil has been linked to the Scottish mainland since 1792 when the Clachan Bridge was built by engineer Robert Mylne. Also known as the Bridge Over the Atlantic, the bridge is still used today and in early summer is covered in fairy foxgloves (Erinus alpinus).
The main settlement on Seil is former slate-mining village Ellenabeich, where parts of Ring of Bright Water were filmed. The Ellenabeich Heritage Centre which opened in 2000, is run by the Scottish Slate Islands Trust. Located in a former slate quarry-worker's cottage, the centre has displays on life in the 19th Century, slate quarrying and the local flora, fauna and geology.[5] Another village is Balvicar. Ferries sail from Ellenabeich to Easdale, and from Cuan on the island to Luing.
[edit] Wildlife concerns
According to wildlife experts the entire badger population of the island may have been deliberately exterminated in 2007. 40 of the animals, whose setts had been there for "hundreds of years", may have gassed to death according to the police. The police also expressed concerned that two Golden Eagles and one White-tailed Sea Eagle have been found poisoned near Seil in recent years, involving use of the banned substance Carbofuran.[6]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
- ^ Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate.
- ^ Ordnance Survey
- ^ Iain Mac an Tailleir. Placenames. Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
- ^ Ellenabeich Heritage Centre. Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
- ^ " Police fear island's historic badger population has been exterminated" wildland-network.org.uk reporting Press and Journal article (25 April 2007). Aberdeen. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
Coordinates: 56°18′0″N 5°37′12″W / 56.3, -5.62
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