A magical island which changes you forever
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VISITORS to my study are often intrigued at the variety of wildlife objects – some might call them curios – I have collected over the years.
To start with, perhaps the most outstanding is the collection of antlers from five different species of deer.
In contrast there are two sets of horns, the largest being from a wild billy goat on the Isle of Rum. The other horns are a magnificent head of a Soay sheep ram from St Kilda.
On a much smaller scale, and often overlooked and not understood, are the quill knives used to shape feathers such as swan primaries to form a writing nib.
One could go on and on but the one that escapes most people’s eyes is the small banknote – a £5 note from Clydesdale Bank. It is stuck in the corner of a large framed, sepia photograph.
The large photograph gives a clue to the banknote as it is of the so-called "Parliament" in the Main Street of Hirta, the largest island in the archipelago of St Kilda. Each day the St. Kildans were supposed to gather as the Parliament to decide on the day’s work.
No doubt this depended on the time of year and the weather but I doubt very much whether they met every day anyway.
The photograph was taken in 1897 and some years ago I gave a lecture on the islands at Aberdeen University. The result was either a handsome cheque or the photograph, the one on my study wall!
As for the banknote, on the reverse side is a drawing, as iconic as the photograph, of a family group of St Kildans posed outside a house on Main Street. In front of the group is a prominent loom indicating the importance of spinning wool from the Soay sheep.
The people dominate the drawing but a closer look reveals other important points. The background is the village on Hirta including the famous turf capped stone structures called Cleatean. There is still some doubt as to what these were used for but most people agree they were for storage, of what perhaps we shall never know.
The birds are mainly represented by the large image of a gull which seems an odd choice. A more obvious choice, the gannet, is a very tiny sketch to one side.
Even a close look at the banknote still often overlooks the tiny drawing of a wren. The wren is famous in being a sub-species and it is larger than the mainland counterpart.
The first time I heard one singing was a surprise as it is much louder than other wrens, no doubt to be heard above the ever noisy sea all around.
There would have been other contenders to go on the banknote such as the puffin or the fulmar. Both these birds were important for the St Kildans to harvest as part of the sea bird culture that dominated their lives on the islands. The fulmar petrel in particular was important as it gave a great deal of oil.
Then again. why not the famous Soay sheep of which there is still a mystery. Did the Vikings bring them with them or did they find them on the island of Soay which is Norse for sheep? Think about it.
Every time I see the banknote it reminds me of the magic of St Kilda – my second favourite island after North Rona, but that is another story to be related in a another article.
James Fisher once said that "once you visit St Kilda you will never be the same again" and I believe him.
