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Mineral Collecting Localities TALISKER BAY |
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Mineral Collecting Localities TALISKER BAY |
ISLE of SKYE Location Photo Galleries Sgurr nam
Cearcall, Mineral Photo Galleries analcime - chabazite - cowlesite - erionite - heulandite laumontite - stilbite - mordenite - natrolite - thomsonite - stellerite apophyllite - gyrolite - offretite - levyne - mesolite calcite - Skye marble - prehnite - talc - quartz- clinohumite - zircon SITE LINKS |
TALISKER BAY, Isle of Skye. (an idyllic view of the bay looking north on a beautiful day. photo courtesy of Peter Briscoe). Talisker Bay Talisker Bay is one of the most long-standing and best-known collecting sites on the Isle of Skye. Due in part to being one of the more accessible of the Tertiary basalt lava sites on the island and, more importantly perhaps, because collecting is normally met with success and can be rewarding to collectors of all tastes. The most prevalent minerals to be found at Talisker Bay include analcime, mesolite, calcite and thomsonite. Small, white analcime crystals resting on brown, intergrown, rhombic calcite crystals in cavities is also a typical association for the locality. Better quality specimens generally occur to the south of the bay, where access is rather more problematic, but good specimens may be encountered, more or less, anywhere. Talisker Bay is also one of the better known Heddle* mineral localities, due mainly to the bay's sea stack bearing his name. Talisker is also synonymous with whisky and close to the access site for the beach is the famous Talisker whisky distillery where the brand is made. |
A large boulder, rich in small vesicles, cracked open to reveal a much larger, zeolite-filled cavity. |
A fine specimen from Talisker Bay. |
Sea stack towards the southern section of Talisker Bay. ("Heddle's Stack"). |
Access is made from the main road at Drynoch. West from there, via road and track, and then onto Talisker Bay. A list of recorded species for the locality includes calcite, gyrolite, opal, pectolite; and the following zeolite minerals: analcime, chabazite, epistilbite, levyne, mesolite, natrolite, laumontite, thomsonite, stilbite. |
*Matthew Forster Heddle Regarded as the father of Scottish mineralogy, the stack at Talisker named after him recalls the work he did going over the length and breadth of Scotland to "map out" the country's mineralogy. A mathematician, chemist and professor at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, he has been honoured for his work in a more prestigious manner with the naming of the rare, lead secondary species for him, mattheddleite; first found and described at Leadhills. Born on the rather mineralogically barren island of Orkney, he lived between 1828 and 1897. His seminal work, "Mineralogy of Scotland", was published in 1901 and his collection of minerals is at the National Museum for Scotland, in Edinburgh. |
Talisker Burn. (photo coutesy of Fabrizio Frattini). |
Approach to Talisker Bay. |
View of Talisker Bay: a partial view to the south. |
View of the waterfall on the northern section of the bay. |
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photographs courtesy of D. McCallum & M. Wood Photographs of more examples of the zeolites found at the site & elsewhere can be viewed on the zeolite gallery pages. © Minerals of Scotland - 2011. |
