Introduction

Off the Scottish coast - mainly the west coast - there are several relatively large islands and hundreds of smaller ones. During summer months, pleasure sailors step ashore and "collect" them - a hobby known as "island-bagging". This highlights not just the smallness and profusion of some, but also their relative remoteness.

The overall population of Scotland's islands is almost 100,000. These range from the Shetland Islands with over 22,000 inhabitants to those with inhabitants in the single figures. The majority are, however, unpopulated.

Access to them is normally by ferry services, which vary
in frequency, depending on the island and on seasonal timetables. The larger islands are more readily accessed
by this method. However, a few have air links
with the mainland centres of Glasgow and Inverness
for those so inclined.

SMOKY QUARTZ & ORTHOCLASE
Goat Fell area, Isle of Arran (view: c.40x30mms).

Calanish, Lewis, Outer Hebrides - The Standing Stones.

The islands described below are some of the interesting ones known for mineral occurences.
Given its richness and reputation for minerals,
Skye - the largest of the Scottish islands -
is treated with its own pages. (see link at bottom).

As for minerals, many may await discovery on these watery outcrops. Some quarrying, carried out on a limited number of islands in the past, may provide additional interest.

Conversely, the prospect of a large super quarry for aggregates on Harris has been halted by the Scottish Parliament on environmental grounds. There are similar projects being considered on Tiree and the Shetland Islands.

SMOKY QUARTZ & ORTHOCLASE
Goat Fell, Isle of Arran.
Multiple twinned orthoclase crystals & black "morion" quartz.

Mineral collecting is centred on the Northern Arran pluton - the granite of Goat Fell and surrounding peaks.
Small, miarolitic cavities in the granite can yield small, smoky quartz crystals as well as beryl (aquamarine) and topaz - the latter unfortunately as cleavages. Other minerals found include allanite, fergusonite and zircon. Fluorite is another possibility, but has yet to be found "in situ".

There is also an old barite mine, to the north of Brodick and zeolites have also been recorded on the island.
The island had a reputation for agates, but the localities appear exhausted, though ccasionally, agates may be washed ashore from elsewhere. Finally, there is also a small skarn-type mineral occurence on the island.

Recent finds on the island have included some very fine feldspar (orthoclase) crystals and smoky quartz.

The quartz is mainly the very dark/ black "morion" variety.
Crystals found are generally small,
to a few centimeters and translucent.

The feldspar crystals have a propensity for multiple and complex twinning and is probably the orthoclase member of this silicate mineral group.

The cream-coloured crystals are of good quality, are generally lustrous and fresh, showing minimal signs of etching.

SMOKY QUARTZ
Ben Tarsuinn, Isle of Arran.
A 16 mm transparent, pale smoky crystal.

ORTHOCLASE
Goat Fell area, Isle of Arran.
Multiple twinned crystal to 1cm.

ISLE of MULL

Off the Scottish mid-west coast, is the Isle of Mull with a population of over 5,000. Access is by ferry from Oban throughout the year and, seasonally, from other sites on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula.

Volcanic rocks dominate the island and are the vestiges of a Tertiary volcano (Ben More). Like the Isle of Skye,
zeolites are found in the basalt lavas, but are less-common, despite the lavas being of greater thickness on Mull.

Agates are found, but they generally lack the colour of their Devonian counterparts from elsewhere. Some of those found on the island contain micro-pyrite crystal inclusions.

In xenolithic inclusions in the lavas, the rare mineral, mullite, occurs as pinkish-lilac patches and as crystals.
The mineral's name betrays the type locality for the species.

The island is also the type locality for the equally
uncommon tobermorite. Recently, interesting minerals have been found in proximity to intrusive rocks, including prehnite and stilbite.

In similar paragenetic circumstances, in xenoliths, corundum "sapphire" variety, is also found, as well as spinel.

The sapphire crystals - first found 100 years ago - are uncovered as generally small and/or irregular in shape.

Of a fairly rich colour and transparency, they are not normally of gem-quality as a result of the many inclusions and/or flaws they contain.

SCOLECITE - Ben More, Isle of Mull.
Parallel-growing, elongated, unterminated crystal group
to 40mms on volcanic matrix.

PUMPELLYITE
Loch na Keal, Isle of Mull.
Dark olive green acicular crystals infilling
an amygdule in lava.

CORUNDUM - (Sapphire variety)
Loch Scridain, Isle of Mull.
A well-developed, embedded crystal.

CORUNDUM - (Sapphire variety)
Loch Scridain, Isle of Mull.
A 2 mm embedded crystal.

Staffa, a tourist attraction of major geological interest, is just off the west coast of the island of Mull.
In the spring and summer months, sailing trips can be made to visit and land - weather permitting!

The cave became immortalized after the German composer, Felix Mendelssohn, on one of his many trips to Britain.
He was inspired by it to write his well-known Hebrides Overture, known as "Fingal's Cave", between 1830-1832.

RUM (Rhum)

This small island with over 20 inhabitants, is a few miles south of Skye, and is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. Collecting permission MUST be sought beforehand.

Of interest to mineral collectors are the agates associated with the Tertiary volcanic rocks of the island - particularly on the coast. More recently, rare platinum minerals have been identified in the ultramafic rocks of the island.

FINGAL'S CAVE
Island of Staffa.
A large sea cave composed of Tertiary basalt lava
with hexagonal columnar jointing.

Hydrothermal mineral veins are almost non-existent on the islands. One exception occurs on the Isle of Islay,
where some trials for copper mineralization were made.

OUTER HEBRIDES

This extended island group forms a bulwark to the Atlantic Ocean and has a total population of over 26,000.
Access is by ferry service or by air link to Stornoway.

Unlike the other major islands off Scotland's west coast,
the islands of the Outer Hebrides are entirely devoid of Tertiary volcanism.

In contrast, the rocks are Lewisian in age - Pre-Cambrian era - and are amongst the oldest in the United Kingdom.

They typically contain some of the commoner mineral specie,s though collectors, in recent years, have unearthed some very much rarer and exotic minerals.

Mineral occurences include the Chaipaval area for muscovite and other much less common species.

On Harris, a find of corundum - (sapphire variety) attracted some media attention a few years ago and some fragments from the find were cut and facetted into gemstones.

These are now on display at the Royal Museum
of Scotland in Edinburgh.

MUSCOVITE - Chaipaval, Lewis, Outer Hebrides.
Silvery-green, platy aggregates to 100mms.

The rejection of creating a large quarry on the island of Harris at Lingerabay, with the prospect of finding some interesting material in future years will no doubt disappoint prospective collectors, but the decision must be weighed against the destruction of the natural beauty of the landscape. It is hoped that other sites may well be uncovered without such disturbance.

North-east of the Scottish mainland are two island groups. Immediately north of John O'Groats are the Orkney Islands - composed almost entirely of Devonian sandstone (continental Old Red Sandstone). Minerals do occur here but are much more restricted in nature.

Farther north again, are the Shetlands, a group of islands with historical Scandanavian connections and currently a major offshore centre for the North Sea oil industry.

On the Shetland Islands, there is a greater variety in geology with metamorphic rocks pre-eminent. As a result, there are several interesting mineral occurences - though all not necessarily of collector quality.

Sites include chromite in serpentine, talc, "kammererite" (chromian-rich clinochlore), uvarovite, anthophyllite, kyanite and staurolite. Hydromagnesite and nakauriite have also been found.

In the past, talc has been commercially exploited from several occurences on the island and these sites may also afford some interesting associated mineral species.
Nickel species can also be found.

MAGNETITE - Mainland, Shetland Islands.
A 1 cm crystal in dark green, chlorite schist.

Recently, rare microscopic platinum minerals have been recorded on the island of Unst. Indeed, there is even the prospect of mining to exploit this important element.