Rum NNR - Management Planning documents

1 Introduction

Rum National Nature Reserve (NNR) lies about 25 kilometres from Mallaig off the west coast of Scotland. The reserve is about 108 (km2), and harbours a wealth of wildlife, and dramatic scenery arising from the volcanic geological formations.

In particular Rum is renowned for its spectacular seabird colonies which include one of the largest breeding colonies of Manx shearwaters in the world. Golden eagles and white-tailed sea eagles breed here, and soar over the crags and moorland. Red-throated divers nest on the edges of some of the smaller lochs. Much of the island is upland, with vast open areas of wet and dry heaths, blanket bog and species-rich grasslands, with important areas of scree and crevice vegetation, and small freshwater lochs. The rare slender green feather-moss grows in flushes in some of the upland areas, and is just one of a vast array of scarce mosses, liverworts and other plants that flourish on Rum.

Everyone is welcome to visit the island and, as many do, stay for several days to discover for themselves its wildlife, its spectacular scenery, and that special island atmosphere. Rum has been an NNR for more than half a century and, in that time, has gained a reputation for supporting research and educational visits. We would like to do more, and this document sets out our plan for managing the Reserve over the next ten years.

Rum is one of a suite of NNRs in Scotland.  Scotland’s NNRs are special places for nature, where some of the best examples of Scotland’s wildlife are managed. Every NNR is carefully managed both for nature and for people, giving visitors the opportunity to experience our rich natural heritage. Rum NNR is managed by NatureScot.

Our management plan sets out the overall direction and our aspirations for managing Rum for the next ten years. It builds on work delivered in the last management plan. The plan sets out our vision and objectives, and the tasks we have identified as being needed to deliver those.  We will review progress with the plan after 5 years to ensure our management is delivering the right outcomes and will complete a final review before producing our next plan.

2 Our Vision for Rum NNR

Rum NNR is an outstanding island nature reserve with an international reputation as a site for people and nature.

Visitors experience a remote mountain landscape with a rich variety of habitat mosaics from seashore to mountain top with opportunities to witness dramatic and iconic wildlife experiences. Rum is known world-wide as an accessible Scottish island which is welcoming to all. Information available before visiting the island and in the village allows visitors to learn about the special cultural and natural heritage features.

Rum will continue to be a National Nature Reserve (NNR) for the people and visitors of Scotland. The wide range of benefits is delivered in partnership with communities of place and interest who continue to play a central role in determining the outcomes delivered by the reserve, and helping secure a bright future for it.

The reserve is managed throughout to high standards through the combined efforts of communities, other organisations and interest groups. The reserve's natural resources provide sustainable economic opportunities and support the local economy. Volunteers, both local and from further afield, gain skills and experience and play a valuable role in the continuing success of Rum NNR.

The mosaic of heath, bog, grassland and woodland is rich and vibrant through careful management of grazing animals. The island's biodiversity benefits are maximised as a result of appropriate management put in place to achieve bold and challenging standards.

The characteristic plants and animals, including otters, golden eagles, red-throated divers and the wide ranges of insects, mosses and liverworts, are flourishing. The island continues to be renowned for its globally important colony of Manx shearwaters. Species foreign to Rum are controlled so that they do not threaten important habitats and species. Much of our natural heritage work will consider how to help the Rum ecosystems become more resilient to climate change so that the diversity of wildlife has a long-term future on the island.

Rum's important rock landforms and natural habitats, which are world renowned, are a popular and accessible outdoor classroom for a wide range of audiences. The fascinating cultural history of Rum is woven into the visitor experience.

The NNR shows best practice in all aspects of its management, and is regularly used to demonstrate land and visitor management which enhance the value of Scotland's natural places. The reserve is an important site in Scotland for trialling adaptive management of island ecosystems which seeks to improve the resilience for the nation's populations of island species. A comprehensive record about the NNR and its management has been built up through research, survey, surveillance and monitoring.

3 Natural Heritage Management

Protected Areas and special features

Feature	Protected Area
Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), breeding	Rum SPA
Guillemot (Uria aalge), breeding	Rum SPA
Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), breeding	Rum SPA
Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), breeding	Rum SPA
Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), breeding	Rum SSSI
Red-throated diver (Gavia stellata), breeding	Rum SPA
Seabird assemblage, breeding	Rum SPA
Maritime cliff	Rum SSSI
Vegetated sea cliffs	Rum SAC
Tertiary Igneous	Rum SSSI
Quaternary of Scotland	Rum SSSI
Acid peat-stained lakes and ponds	Rum SAC
Clear-water lakes or lochs with aquatic vegetation and poor to moderate nutrient levels	Rum SAC
Invertebrate assemblage	Rum SSSI
Otter (Lutra lutra)	Rum SAC
Bryophyte assemblage	Rum SSSI
Blanket bog	Rum SAC
Depressions on peat substrates	Rum SAC
Species-rich grassland with mat-grass in upland areas	Rum SAC
Dry heaths	Rum SAC
Wet heathland with cross-leaved heath	Rum SAC
Base-rich fens	Rum SAC
Acidic scree	Rum SAC
Base-rich scree	Rum SAC
Grasslands on soils rich in heavy metals	Rum SAC
Plants in crevices on acid rocks	Rum SAC
Plants in crevices on base-rich rocks	Rum SAC
Tall herb communities	Rum SAC
Alpine and subalpine heaths	Rum SAC
Upland assemblage	Rum SSSI
Vascular plant assemblage	Rum SSSI

 

Objective NH1:  To enhance the mosaic of habitats and populations of associated species and increase resilience to climate change.

Over 70% of Rum's surface carries internationally important habitats, the majority of which are large areas of open-ground habitats such as heath, bog and grassland. In addition there are significant areas of screes and rocky slopes with crevice plants, coastal cliff, and a large number of small freshwater lochs. These habitats are all described in 'The Story of Rum National Nature Reserve'. Much of the open-ground habitat was affected by burning and heavy grazing before Rum became a NNR, and some areas still need careful management to maintain the high NNR standards.

We reviewed our herbivore management plan for 2009-16 and will now move to a Habitat Management Plan. This will reflect the focus of our work onto habitat quality and actions to enhance and improve resilience in a changing climate.

Grazing management is an essential tool for managing habitats. The attractiveness and sensitivity of different plant communities to grazers varies in many ways. Some plant communities require heavier grazing levels to maintain their structure and species diversity than others. We carefully manage the grazing impacts from all herbivores on Rum. The greatest grazing impact comes from the red deer herd, but we also manage goats, cattle and ponies to achieve appropriate grazing levels in localised areas.

On an island the deer population can be managed in its entirety as a closed population. Therefore, on Rum, we are able to test the population models we use over the red deer range in Scotland. Our management of all herbivores is driven by the condition of the habitats and making sure we manage the impact of browsing and trampling across island to achieve enhanced and improving condition. Our current population target for red deer across the whole island is 7-8 deer per km2; we will review and revise this as required through the term of the plan. Controlling deer numbers has a positive effect on habitat condition in particular for the most sensitive areas of wet heath and bog.

We will continue to work on encouraging species diversity. We will concentrate on improving the condition of existing woodlands. Healthy woodlands support a broad range of biodiversity and therefore it is beneficial to have a variety of tree and shrub species of different ages.

We will continue our work in converting areas dominated by purple moor grass on the lower slopes into wet heath. We will use our domestic stock to achieve this by targeted grazing and trampling to break through the grass sward.

Projects planned to deliver Objective NH1 during life of plan:

NH1.1	Produce a Rum NNR Habitat Plan (including annexes for management of deer, cattle, goats and ponies) in 2018.
NH1.2	Implement Rum NNR Habitat plan.
NH1.3	Continue to train and work Rum Highland ponies for Reserve management purposes.
NH1.4	Trial stock grazing management in areas dominated by purple moor grass to improve species diversity and habitat structure starting in 2018.
NH1.5	Implement the reserve deer management. Oversee the stag cull through a sporting lease. Ensure that cull targets, animal welfare and stalking activity follow best practice guidance.
NH1.6	Improve the condition of existing woodlands by managing stock and deer access.

Objective NH2:  To maintain and safeguard the landscape and nationally important rocks and landforms of Rum

Large areas of the rocks and landforms of Rum are of national importance, and the island is a popular destination for geological research and specialist field trips.

Our main aim is to safeguard the earth science features and at the same time ensure they are available and accessible for study and as an educational resource. We will also ensure that these features are not compromised by any other activity taking place on the NNR.

Projects planned to deliver Objective NH2 during life of plan:

NH2.1	Liaise with and advise geologists in order to minimise damage to important geological features.

 

4 Management for People

Objective VM1:  To ensure there are opportunities for communities, volunteers and educational groups to make significant contributions to the management of the reserve

We will produce and implement a programme of activity which could be delivered by communities and volunteers.

The reserve already hosts regular visits from universities and schools, as well as occasional vocational visits. Rum has been particularly well used by university groups who have developed long term data sets, and provided valuable information to the reserve.

Groups can stay overnight to make the most of the time spent travelling to the island and to fully explore the educational opportunities available, however spaces are limited. We will continue to support visits by educational or vocational groups with a staff member providing an introduction to the reserve, but we do not have dedicated staff to support educational visits.

We will continue to work with Rum Primary school and visiting school groups.

We will take the opportunities available through the Lochaber Geopark to promote the island to people who want to learn about its fascinating geology.

An over-arching principle of our work on Rum is that we work in partnership with the local community. In addition, we welcome the interest of the wider community in the management of the reserve. We will continue to support and collaborate with the local community in managing our assets to mutual benefit.

We will continue to recognise the benefits volunteers can make to the reserve and the valuable experience that volunteering can offer to individuals. We will continue to provide residential volunteering opportunities through a suitable programme of work and provision of accommodation. We will publicise these opportunities using volunteer outlets and social media.

Projects planned to deliver Objective VM1 during life of plan:

VM1.1	Produce a programme of activity which could be delivered by communities and volunteers and designed to make a significant contribution to the management of the reserve.
VM1.2	Implement the programme of activity for communities and volunteers.
VM1.3	Work closely with visiting educational groups to enhance their experience by offering tasks on the reserve.

 

Objective VM2:  To work with Rum and the other Small Isles communities to promote the special qualities and visitor experience of the isles

We want to do more to help the public get a clear idea of what Rum is all about, why they should visit, and how they should prepare.  Rum is somewhere that welcomes visitors who will find plenty that matches their interests and abilities. We want this positive image to be developed in partnership with the local community and to be used consistently by everyone involved in promoting Rum.  We will develop a visitor management plan in partnership with the local community to enable us to focus our joint efforts on facilities and messages that will be most meaningful to island visitors.

We aim to get better at portraying what Rum is about with local businesses, tourist information providers, and the media and through other broader designations such as the Lochaber Geopark. We will continue to promote the island and encourage people to come and explore its fascinating wildlife and landscapes including through Tourist Information Centres across Lochaber.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust and the National Trust for Scotland are both important partners, sharing similar issues to us and working on adjacent islands. The Small Isles presents opportunities to work together promoting the natural and cultural heritage, and we will approach both organisations to investigate collaborative approaches.

Each visitor’s experience of Rum starts long before they step off the boat. We will help them prepare for their visit in many different ways, through websites and guidebooks, at Tourist Information Centres, at the harbour-side in Mallaig, and even on the ferries themselves.

Projects planned to deliver Objective VM2 during life of plan:

VM2.1	Where possible, support community events.
VM2.2	Liaise with other organisations and groups who also promote the special qualities of the Small Isles

 

Objective VM3:  To provide facilities and information where necessary in order for visitors to value and enjoy the reserve and leave people with a positive experience and wanting to return

We will work closely with the local community to update our existing visitor management plan and set out the direction and principles for future visitor management on the reserve. This will help us to focus on what is required in terms of maintaining facilities and meeting any additional visitor needs. Together with the Isle of Rum Community Trust, we are keen to ensure that any visitor facilities are well co-ordinated and jointly promoted. To help achieve this we will continue to work collaboratively to guide management of facilities and promotional work.

Accessibility information will also be made available on the Scotland's NNRs website in the future. Most first-time visitors will want to orient themselves by walking the three existing trails so we will ensure that the starting points of these are clearly marked, and that they are covered by a single leaflet that can be kept up-to-date. Rum's natural and cultural history is a great story and we will work in collaboration to promote the opportunities for visitors.

Projects planned to deliver Objective VM3 during life of plan:

VM3.1	In partnership with IRCT produce a visitor management plan in 2018.
VM3.2	Implement NNR actions in the visitor management plan.
VM3.3	Ensure a visible staff presence.
VM3.4	Re-assess the condition of promoted routes on the reserve.
VM3.5	Implement a programme of maintenance for promoted routes on the reserve.
VM3.6	Repair and maintain the pony paths, rapidly addressing unforeseen path erosion.
VM3.7	Liaise with and provide advice to anglers to minimise disturbance to red-throated divers.
VM3.8	Liaise with and provide advice to climbers to minimise disturbance to crag nesting birds.

Objective VM4:  To safeguard and promote the reserve's cultural and historical heritage

The archaeological and historic buildings designations give us an additional set of responsibilities and legislative requirements. We must keep all Listed Buildings in a reasonable state of repair and ensure that any work on or near a Scheduled Ancient Monument does not damage the monument.

We feel that there is more that could be done to safeguard and promote these important historical links to our cultural past. We will work with experts both on and off island to support maintenance of these features and develop opportunities for promoting areas of cultural interest.

We will continue to work to maintain the Rum highland pony special characteristics including exploring options for expanding the mainland population by supporting efforts by others.

Projects planned to deliver Objective VM4 during life of plan:

VM4.1	Work with specialist interest groups and contribute to the promotion of the historical and cultural heritage of the reserve.

 

Objective VM5:  To use our work and experience to train, demonstrate, and influence present and future land managers and policy makers

Rum is well established as a location for training and demonstration. The reserve has built up a regular programme of events in collaboration with universities and colleges.

We will continue to make our information available on adaptive management, habitat restoration and deer management. The reserve will continue to provide a base for a number of residential student placements with a land management focus.

We will also look for opportunities to develop and demonstrate ideas and projects on further collaborative working with communities of place and interest.

Projects planned to deliver Objective VM5 during life of plan:

VM5.1	Support tertiary education group visits to the reserve.
VM5.2	Support student and graduate placements on the reserve.
VM5.3	Develop case studies using our experience of managing the NNR.

5 Property Management

Objective PM1:  To manage the reserve property and facilities responsibly following best practice.

We will manage the reserve and NatureScot property responsibly and efficiently following good practice.

We manage the infrastructure and do regular maintenance and health and safety checks. We maintain equipment used on site and ensure it conforms to the appropriate regulations.

We have responsibility for the upkeep of a number of buildings on site; we inspect these on a regular basis to ensure they are fit for purpose. We review and update our fire plan annually.

NatureScot will support a joint application for Dark Skies status for the Isle of Rum, which will have benefits to nature, visitors and the landscape.  New and existing lighting on NatureScot buildings will be informed by the Isle of Rum Lighting Management Plan

The built infrastructure includes an office base for staff and residential accommodation for volunteers. In addition to this we have facilities for managing livestock. We will manage our livestock by observing the industry best practice and the relevant animal welfare regulations.

We have a number of sheds for storage of equipment and materials. We also have infrastructure for the micro-hydro scheme.

We will look at the best options for use or disposal of redundant buildings in Kinloch village.

Projects planned to deliver Objective PM1 during life of plan:

PM1.1	Produce a NNR property asset plan.
PM1.2	Implement the NNR property asset plan.
PM1.3	Update and maintain the Reserve Health & Safety Plan and ensure staff are familiar with its content.
PM1.4	Maintain all visitor infrastructure (trails, viewpoint etc.) in good condition for visitors.
PM1.5	Carry out quarterly safety and condition assessments of all visitor infrastructure and keep accurate records.
PM1.6	Ensure property and equipment is maintained and conforms to Health & Safety Regulations including risk assessment and fire plan reviews and maintain records.
PM1.7	Ensure payments are made for annual contributions to e.g. community roads.
PM1.9	Paths - management and repairs. Dibidil

 

6 Document properties

Authors: Lesley Watt, Reserve Manager and Ian Sargent, Reserves Manager

Editor: David Miller, Operations Officer – Protected Areas

Signed off: Chris Donald, Operations Manager

Date: October 2018

Links

For information about Scotland’s National Nature Reserves and further information about Rum NNR please visit the NatureScot website 

For information on the protected areas associated with Rum NNR please go to Site Link

Foreword

Extinct volcanoes, wilderness, and spectacular wildlife await visitors to Rum National Nature Reserve (NNR).  The island of Rum lies 25 kilometres off the coast from Mallaig on the west coast of Scotland.  Conical shaped mountains and ancient rock formations provide clues to the dramatic volcanic beginnings of Rum.  Ice has also shaped this island, but it is the debris from the volcano that is responsible for one of the great marvels of Rum.  Here, on a mountain top, is one of the world’s largest colony of Manx shearwater – at least 23% of the world’s breeding population.

Sea cliffs also support magnificent colonies of other seabirds, red-throated divers breed on inland lochans and golden and white-tailed eagles soar high above the mountains and moorland.  More obscure wildlife includes rare plants, a rich diversity of mosses, lichen and fungi, and thousands of types of invertebrates.  Otters also abound along the shorelines.  An incredible mix of habitats supports this wealth of wildlife.  Heaths, grasslands, sea cliffs, crevices and peatlands peppered with lochs and lochans have also earned the Reserve international recognition.

Thousands of people visit Rum each year, many to see the wildlife, others just to walk and enjoy the landscape.  While much of the island looks wild and natural, it bears the imprint of human settlement over much of the last 8000 years.  From Kinloch Castle to lazy beds, Rum’s past human history is a story in itself.

Rum is one of 43 NNRs in Scotland.  Scotland’s NNRs are special places for nature, where some of the best examples of Scotland’s wildlife are managed.  Every NNR is carefully managed both for nature and for people, giving visitors the opportunity to experience our rich natural heritage.  More visitors than ever before are coming to Rum.  A trend we aim to encourage whilst also ensuring Rum remains a special place for wildlife.

The Story of Rum National Nature Reserve contains background information about Rum NNR, describing the wildlife interest, its land use history and management since it became a Reserve.  

1. Introduction to Rum NNR

Things can get rough on Rum.  Battered by gale-force winds for 50 days a year and drenched in up to four metres of rain, Rum NNR is certainly open to the elements.  The island of Rum is the largest of the “Small Isles”, tucked in below Skye along with the other Small Isles of Eigg, Muck and Canna.  Visitors arrive by sea, mostly on the ferry from Mallaig which docks in the relatively calm waters of Loch Scresort.

Rum’s most distinctive features, the Cuillins and the western hills, were formed 60 million years ago with the eruption of a volcano.  The volcanic origins of Rum’s mountains may seem dramatic, but this small island bears testimony to other great events in the distant past.  The mountains and hills are scarred by glaciers that ground their way through the island during the Ice Age.  Rum also shows signs of higher sea-levels in the past.  At Harris, an old beach is stranded 30 metres (m) above the present-day beach.

The Reserve covers 10,684 hectares (ha) of mountain and moorland fringed by precipitous cliffs plunging into the sea.  It is cut across by glens that run down to flatter, more fertile ground at the coast.  The varied landscape, harsh climate, maritime influence, and isolation from the mainland, have together produced an equally varied and distinctive range of habitats, plants and animals. 

There is a spectacular array of internationally important habitats.  A range of heaths from wet and dry to montane cloak the hillsides and mountain tops.  Unusual grasslands, influenced by metals in the soil, fens, blanket bogs, lochs and lochans all contribute to this rich open ground habitat mosaic.  In more precarious locations specialist scree and rock-crevice plants and a tall-herb vegetation found only on cliff ledges hang on. 

Natural woodland is scarce on the Reserve with only scattered pockets of the original woodland surviving, mostly on cliffs or in gullies where grazing animals cannot reach it.  Most of the woodland seen by visitors is the legacy of many years of tree planting management to restore woodland to the Reserve.  Other habitats on Rum include small areas of machair and sand dune.   

Some animals, common on the mainland, have never managed to make it across the short stretch of sea.  There are no snakes, frogs or toads and few mammals.  There is no doubt however, that the plants and animals that Rum does have make up a fascinating assemblage that draws many visitors to the island.  Internationally important breeding colonies of seabirds, two species of eagle that nest regularly, red-throated divers, otters and invertebrates all thrive on the island.  This wildlife resource and the island’s red deer population have made Rum world famous as a centre for ecological research. 

Rum is easier to visit than ever, now that the ferry can dock directly at the quayside, and there’s plenty to do for visitors; fabulous scenery, great walking, world-class wildlife and fascinating history.

Rum became Scotland’s second National Nature Reserve in 1957.  It also hosts a whole suite of accolades in recognition of its internationally and nationally important natural heritage.  Virtually the entire island is designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) recognising the importance of the otter population and a wide range of upland, coastal and freshwater habitats.  Rum is also designated a Special Protection Area (SPA) because of the internationally important breeding populations of Manx shearwaters, red-throated divers, and the wide range of other breeding seabirds.  Many of these features are also included in the island’s designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The Earth science importance of the Reserve is also recognised with no less than seven Geological Conservation Review (GCR) sites, all of which are protected as designated features within the SSSI.  On a wider scale, Rum is included within the Lochaber Geopark and also falls within The Small Isles National Scenic Area (NSA). 

Further details of these designations are provided in the Appendices. 

Rum’s archaeological and built heritage has also been recognised, with 19 Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAM) and seven listed buildings, as well as a garden on the ‘Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes’.

Table 1 Designations and qualifying features for Rum NNR

Designation	Special Area for Conservation	Special Protection Area	Site of Special Scientific
-	European	European	UK
Habitats -Sea cliffs	Yes	-	Yes
Habitats -A range of upland habitats, including:	-	-	Yes
Habitats -Base-rich scree	Yes1	-	-
Habitats - Dry heaths	Yes1	-	-
Habitats - Wet heathland with cross-leaved heath	Yes1	-	-
Habitats - Grasslands on soils rich in heavy metals	Yes	-	-
Habitats - Species-rich grassland with mat-grass in upland areas	Yes*	-	-
Habitats -Blanket bogs	Yes*	-	-
Habitats -Alpine and sub-alpine heaths	Yes	-	-
Habitats -Tall herb communities	Yes	-	-
Habitats -Depressions on peat substrates	Yes	-	-
Habitats -Base-rich fens	Yes	-	-
Habitats -Acidic scree	Yes	-	-
Habitats -Plants in crevices in base-rich rocks	Yes	-	-
Habitats -Plants in crevices on acid rocks	Yes	-	-
Habitats -Acid peat-stained lakes	Yes 1	-	-
Habitats -Clear-water lakes	Yes1	-	-
Species -Breeding seabird assemblage, including: guillemot and kittiwake	-	Yes	-
Species -Manx shearwater	-	Yes	Yes
Species - Red throated diver	-	Yes	-
Species - Otter	Yes1	-	-
Species - Vascular plant assemblage	-	-	Yes
Species - Bryophyte assemblage	-	-	Yes
Species - Invertebrate assemblage	-	-	Yes
Earth Science -Quaternary of Scotland	-	-	Yes
Earth Science -Tertiary Igneous	-	-	Yes

 

2. The Natural and Cultural Heritage of Rum NNR

The range of internationally and nationally important heritage on Rum is so extensive that it’s difficult to do it justice in a short text.  Here we have concentrated on those features of the island that have resulted in designation of some sort, and touch on others such as plants and insects that are scarce or threatened.  Some aspects of Rum such as the deer and goats are well studied, but not protected – this work is described in later sections.  There are other aspects that have hardly been studied at all such as the marine life around Rum; initial studies suggest that it may be as rich as the island itself. 

Earth science

Rocks

The landscape and rocks of Rum tell of a turbulent past revealing evidence of significant events in the shaping of our Scottish landscape.  Rum’s story begins some 3 billion years ago when some of the oldest rocks in the world, Lewisian gneiss, were formed.  Since then the patch of the Earth’s surface which is now Rum has endured hot and arid climates, warm shallow tropical seas, and fiercely cold periods of ice and glaciers.

About 1 billion years ago powerful rivers flowed across the landscape of Lewisian gneiss accumulating a thickness of sands many kilometres in depth.  These sands compressed to form Torridonian sandstones, which can be seen north of Kinloch.  The land that is now Rum then experienced a long period of stability.  Meanwhile, to the south and east, the breaking apart of an ancient supercontinent and the later collision between two landmasses, destined to become Scotland and England, created a huge mountain range similar in scale to the Himalayas.   Eroded down over the years this mountain range now forms the Scottish Highlands. 

The next chapter in Rum’s story began about 250 million years ago when further deposits of sand and mud formed the Triassic sedimentary rock; a small area of which is visible on Monadh Dubh, north of Glen Shellesder. 

Volcanoes and glaciers

At times the history of Rum has been truly violent.  Explosive volcanic eruptions and the repeated collapse of Rum’s volcano gave shape to the island’s mountains.   New rock types were formed – breccias, granites, gabbros and peridotite.  Sheets of lava from neighbouring volcanoes also inundated the land forming the tops of Fionchra, Orval and Bloodstone Hill.  Here, the distinctive red-flecked green agate (bloodstone) is found.

More recently, between 2.5 million and 10,000 years ago, large ice sheets and smaller local glaciers have repeatedly sculpted the landscape of Rum.  Their effect on the different underlying rock types can be seen clearly from aerial views of the western hills and the Rum Cuillin.

The highest mountains on Rum remained free from ice during the last Ice Age.  On these peaks intense frost shattered the rocks into loose blocks and scree.  Continual freeze-thaw processes acting on these broken rocks have created distinct patterns of stones appearing as huge nets and stripes.  Smaller examples continue to form today, testament to the exposure and extremes of weather experienced in the Rum hills.

Raised beaches

Sea levels have also changed over the last million years or so.  These rise and falls have left stranded shorelines high on hillsides.  Almost encircling the entire island is a dramatic rock shelf, 30 to 40 m above the present coastline. This marks the sea level as it was 100,000 years ago.  Also, in several bays, old beaches five or six metres above present high-water show the sea level from about 6000 years ago. 

The exposed wet coastal climate of Rum has favoured the development of wet and peaty soils with only small areas of more fertile soil.  Together these processes and events have made the remarkable landscape of Rum that we appreciate today.

More detail of Rum’s geology can be found in the NatureScot booklet “Rum and the Small Isles: a landscape fashioned by geology”.

Habitats

Heaths and peatlands

Heath vegetation covers about half of the NNR and is found right across the island.  Dry heaths are widely scattered and are found on the Cuillins, Mullach Mor, Sron an t-Saighdeir and on coastal cliffs and slopes.   Rum has a range of dry heath types all influenced by the underlying soils.  Where heaths lie on base-rich soils the vegetation is of particular interest forming a species-rich heath.  Wild thyme is abundant in this habitat and plants such as mountain everlasting contribute to the varied flora of this heath.  There are also unusual stands of this heath that are rich in mosses and liverworts found only in wet, mild areas.  On acidic soils the vegetation is more typical of dry heaths found elsewhere in north-west Scotland, and includes species-poor heath dominated by heather and a type of heath rich in lower plants.  The UK supports the largest proportion of dry heath in Europe. 

Wet heaths are found mainly in the southwest of the NNR and are also influenced by the underlying soil.  Extensive areas of wet heath dominated by black bog-rush occur in areas where soils are flushed with base-rich water.  This type of wet heath is restricted to western Scotland and only found on the Atlantic fringe of Europe, between Norway and Normandy.  More acidic types of wet heaths are also found on the Reserve.

Alpine and sub-alpine heaths rich in moss and liverwort species are also found on the Reserve.  One type is found in higher corries or on ridges with plenty of woolly-hair moss and patches of dwarf juniper.

Blanket bog occurs throughout the Reserve covering about 1,280 ha (12%) of the island, and often lying on level and gently sloping ground.  Carpets of sphagnum moss interspersed with bog pools dominate the vegetation.  The pools support the nationally scarce brown beak-sedge.  Scotland holds the most extensive areas of blanket bog in the UK.

Other important peatland habitats on the Reserve include the low-lying areas around pool systems, rich in white beak-sedge, and some alkaline fens with common butterwort. 

Grasslands and tall-herb vegetation

About 1,600 ha (15%) of the Reserve is covered by grassland.  One-third of these grasslands is species-rich and can be found up to about 750 m.  They display a whole variety of flowering plants including some uncommon ones such as small-white orchid, alpine lady’s mantle and field gentian.  These species-rich grasslands are rare in mainland Europe only being found in the cooler parts of mountain regions in central Europe and along the Atlantic fringe.  Most UK locations are within Scotland. 

The rocky debris on Ruinsival, and eastwards towards Sgurr nan Gillean supports a very rare and unusual type of grassland found only on ultrabasic soils with relatively high levels of heavy metals (such as zinc, lead or chromium).  Sometimes this sort of grassland is found growing on mine spoil or on soils affected by water running out of mine workings.  On Rum this is entirely natural vegetation affected directly by the underlying rock and includes rare plants such as arctic sandwort, purple saxifrage, and mossy cyphel.  In Europe this habitat is very rare along the Atlantic fringe.  There are only very few sites in Scotland with Rum being one of the best places in the UK to see this type of grassland.

Small patches of tall-herb vegetation can also be found on the Reserve.  These occur mostly on cliff ledges, notably on Fionchra, where grazing animals can’t reach it.  This type of habitat is very rare in the UK being found mostly in the Scottish Highlands.

Rocks and screes

Rum has various types of scree (slopes with masses of small loose rocks) including some quite small areas made up of basic rocks.  A wide variety of mosses, liverworts and lichens thrive on these rocks and screes.  On more gravelly slopes purple saxifrage, mountain everlasting, Scottish asphodel and coastal species such as sea plantain and thrift make up the unusual mix of plants.  Where the scree is made up of larger rocks mountain sorrel, stone bramble and alpine penny-cress flourish.  Because grazing animals avoid the areas of loose rock ferns such as hay-scented buckler fern can also thrive.  This kind of scree habitat occurs in Europe mainly in and around the Alpine region.  In the UK it is found mostly in Scotland but is very scattered.

The Reserve has other important areas of rocky habitat including scree with more acid rocks where a few plants manage to scrape out an existence.  Crevices are found on both acid and basic rocks, and support some of the rarer plants found on Rum such as roseroot, brittle bladder fern and the nationally scarce alpine saxifrage.

Tiny areas of native woodland are also found in steep gullies and on cliff ledges. 

Freshwater

The lochs of Rum are some of its most important habitats and they differ quite widely from place to place.  Their most significant quality is that they contain little in the way of nutrients to encourage plant growth; so they have only a limited variety of specialist plants and animals.  Where they are amongst bog and wet heath, for example at Mullach Mor, they are stained by peat and can be very acidic.  Bog bean and bulbous rush flourish in these conditions.  Scotland is the UK stronghold for this type of loch. 

The majority of the Reserve’s lochs however occur where there is no peat; so the waters are clearer and less acidic.  These lochs are scattered across the island at a range of altitudes with Loch Coire nan Grunnd (320 m) being one of the highest.  Inland, water plants such as, awlwort and floating bur-reed can be found in these lochs.  Near the coast lochs catch the salt spray and this, in turn, affects the plants that live in them. 

Sea cliffs and coastal habitats

Rum’s sea cliffs fringe most of the island’s coast, and are principally sandstone and granite.  They are of importance principally because of their extent and exposure, and as the habitat of the internationally important assemblage of breeding seabirds.  At Kilmory and Samhnan Insir there are small pockets of sand dunes which, at Samhnan Insir, grade into machair (grassland on soil rich in shell sand). 

Fauna and Flora

Mammals

Rum has very few native wild mammals simply because of its isolation from the mainland since before the Ice Age.  Amongst others there are no rabbits, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, voles, house mice, moles, squirrels or roe deer.

The Reserve is a however a hotspot for otters.  With its extensive coastline, wide range of small rivers, streams, inland lochs and lochans Rum is an ideal place for these often elusive animals.  Otters breed all around the island with four known holts just around Loch Scresort. 

Rum is famous for its red deer which roam freely over much of the Reserve.  The island is considered an important refuge for the species because the deer population are protected from the possibility of hybridising with non-native sika deer which occur on the mainland.

Other mammals on the Reserve include at least two species of bat.  Pipistrelle bats roost in the Castle and in several other buildings around Kinloch.  Recently Daubenton’s bats have been seen picking insects off the water surface at Rockery Burn.  Pygmy shrew, wood mouse, grey seal and common seal also make their home on Rum.

Birds

Seabird assemblage

Rum is recognised internationally because of its huge number of breeding seabirds; the island regularly supporting more than 130,000 birds during the breeding season (5 year mean at 1992).  Eleven different species of seabirds make up this assemblage including guillemots (1372 birds), kittiwakes (551 pairs), fulmar (46 pairs), razorbills (210 birds) and Rum’s most important breeding seabird, the Manx shearwater.  The main seabird colonies are on the sea cliffs of the south coast near Dibidil.  The only exception to this is the mountain-top breeding ground of the Manx shearwater (data from 2018 counts from south sea cliffs). 

Manx shearwater

After a journey of 10,000 miles from the coast of South America around 120,000 pairs (2001) of Manx shearwaters return to the tops of the Cuillins each March. The most recent population count (2001) of Manx shearwater is a rough estimate.  The nocturnal burrowing habit of Manx shearwaters makes it difficult to determine whether burrows are occupied or not. This means that robust, reliable counts of these birds are difficult.  This is one of the largest colonies of these birds anywhere in the world.  Feeding at sea by day they mass together in huge rafts before coming ashore under cover of darkness.  On land they burrow into the soft volcanic soil of Askival, Hallival, Barkeval and Trollaval to make their nests.  Hearing their nocturnal calls from the mountain-top Viking visitors to Rum thought that the mountains were inhabited by trolls (hence Trollaval)!

At least 23% of the world’s breeding population of Manx shearwater breed on Rum. 

Red-throated diver

Between, eight and fifteen pairs of red-throated diver breed on the Reserve.  They nest close to the water’s edge on the small freshwater.

lochans that pepper Rum and fly out to sea to feed.  Despite, their nests being susceptible to flooding, in most years, the Rum birds manage to successfully rear fledglings.

Rum regularly supports more than 1% of the UK breeding population, with on average 10 pairs breeding each year.  In the UK, the breeding strongholds are in Shetland, Orkney, the Western Isles, Sutherland and Wester Ross. 

Eagles

Two species of eagle breed on the Reserve.  Three pairs of golden eagle nest here regularly which is now just below 1% of the UK population.  The number of breeding pairs has remained constant since our records started; each pair using a distinct home range and a set of traditional eyries (nests).  Their breeding success has been variable with anything from one to four eaglets fledging on the island in any year.  Young birds will often stay around Rum, so it is not unusual to see 2-4 birds at any one time. 

Rum also has two pairs of white-tailed eagles.  The Reserve was the location for the first successful release of white-tailed eagles from the re-introduction project during the 1970s and ‘80s.  Most surviving birds dispersed and formed small breeding centres on Mull, Skye and the Western Isles.  White-tailed eagles are now well established on the west coast with over 120 breeding pairs in Scotland.  Since 1995 Rum has supported three territories each year.

Other birds

Two hundred and six species of bird have been recorded on the Reserve with approximately 90 species breeding on the island.  Amongst these there are 13 UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP) species including twite, skylark and song thrush.   Britain’s smallest bird of prey, the merlin, nests on the open heath.  Hen harriers are a welcomed recent addition to the Reserve’s list of breeding birds.  They are seen regularly just passing through during migration, but they have now found a permanent territory on Rum where they have successfully bred since 2010. Golden plover, teal and red-breasted mergansers also breed in good numbers on the Reserve, and in 2008 we recorded sand martin breeding for the first time.

Invertebrates

The Reserve has an exceptional variety of invertebrate species especially considering the island’s remoteness and inhospitable climate and terrain.  The insect list for the Reserve runs to an impressive 2418 species which is about 10% of the total British insect fauna.  This includes 15 Red Data Book (RDB) species and 62 nationally scarce species; one of the highest numbers for any upland site in the UK.  The insect community is more like that of south-west Scotland and western Britain generally, rather than the Highlands, though there are a few Highland and montane species.

The insect assemblage on the Reserve includes 19 species of butterfly with 11 of these breeding on the island.  The commonest butterfly is probably the small heath which is abundant on heath and grassland up to an altitude of 300 m.  Other butterflies include the large heath, meadow brown, small pearl-bordered fritillary (UKBAP), and dark-green fritillary.  Woodland species are represented only by the speckled wood.  The Reserve also supports 500 species of moth including the nationally scarce transparent burnet and 3 other UKBAP species - argent and sable, narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth and goat moth.  The transparent burnet can be found feeding on wild thyme and needs areas of dry heath where there is bare ground and thin soils, often around rock outcrops.

There are 11 species of dragonfly breeding on the Reserve.  They are all moorland species typical of the west Highlands and Islands.  The most notable, because it occurs only in a few areas of Scotland, is the azure hawker. 

We have recorded over 500 species of beetles including 9 UKBAP species. Flies are also numerous especially in the form of biting midges which cause great discomfort to visitors during the summer, from late May until September. 

Higher Plants

The Reserve’s plants have been well surveyed with about 600 species of native higher plants being recorded since 2000.  There are 11 RDB species and 12 UKBAP species including arctic sandwort, pyramidal bugle, wood bitter-vetch and alpine penny-cress.  The Rum population of arctic sandwort is the second largest in the UK; plants are scattered but plentiful on the rock debris of Ruinsival.  Small colonies of pyramidal bugle are found in the maritime grassland and heath, and on sea-cliffs.  In ravines large cascading patches of wood bitter-vetch are found with their attractive pale pink-purple flowers.  Wood bitter-vetch is quite rare along the west coast of Scotland, and the Rum populations are large and important.

The Reserve is an important stronghold for the internationally threatened pillwort and rare Lapland marsh orchid.  Pillwort flourishes at one location on Rum spreading each year.  The Lapland marsh orchid was first found in Britain in 1967 but not properly named until 1988.  There are scattered populations of this orchid across the Western Isles and the western mainland.  The Reserve has just one small population. 

Most of these rare and protected plants are associated with the montane, sub-montane and coastal habitats. 

Lower Plants and Fungi

For a relatively small island there is a remarkably diverse moss and liverwort (bryophyte) flora.  In 2004 a survey recorded 468 taxa on Rum nearly 50% of the UK moss and liverwort flora (Rothero, 2004).  Of these species three are nationally rare, three are Scottish endemics, five are listed in the RDB and 68 are nationally scarce.  This diversity reflects the wide range of habitats that occur on Rum and the clean oceanic climate (warm winters with lots of rain!). 

One of the most important bryophyte communities, which is widespread but patchy on the more montane parts of the island, is the assemblage of oceanic-montane liverworts that occurs in association with dwarf shrub heath on steep and rocky slopes.  Common species include western earwort, Taylor’s flapwort and purple spoonwort, but within this, on the best sites, occur uncommon species like Hutchins juniper prongwort, Wood's and arch-leaved whipworts and Carrington's featherwort.  All of these species are rare in Europe and the community is of international importance.

On rock faces by burns, particularly in ravines, and on very sheltered boulders below crags stands of small Atlantic liverworts are frequent including pearl, western and pointed pounceworts. The best examples of these communities are found on the Torridonian sandstone of the raised-beach cliff line in the northeast of the island.  The small stand of this community on Fionchra is particularly important as it contains the nationally scarce UKBAP species, Wilson's pouchwort.  Fionchra and Bealach an Oir also supports excellent populations of Scottish beard-moss, a nationally rare Scottish endemic which is also a UKBAP species. 

The most notable species on the ultra-basic rocks is the nationally scarce black-tufted moss which is widespread on open crags and large isolated boulders.  A few of the flushes in these areas have small stands of the nationally scarce three-ranked spear-moss, and in the flushed grassland nearby, there are stands of Irish crisp-moss.

Rum’s wet heath is one of only 3 sites in the UK to support a recently described species of bog moss, Skye bog-moss.  Endemic to the UK until 2004 this plant was only known as an enigmatic record from Skye, but has now been shown to be widespread on that island, on Rum and on Harris.

Rum has been well studied for fungi by scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, and an amazing 900 species have been recorded.  One of the key habitats is the semi-unimproved grassland which supports 25 species of the colourful waxcap fungi including the provisional European RDB species: goblet, spangle, earthy, slimy, nitrous and fibrous waxcaps.  British RDB species include golden chanterelle, violet coral and olive earthtongue. This diversity makes Rum an internationally important site for grassland fungi.                   

The clean, oceanic climate and long periods of habitat continuity on Rum are also good for lichens. There are 400 lichen species of which 64 are nationally scarce and two are nationally rare.  Four of the species are UKBAP priority species. The most important habitats for these species on Rum are open rocks in the mountains and around the coast.

Archaeological, historical and cultural heritage

Rum is steeped in archaeological and cultural history much more so than most Scottish NNRs.  The wealth of archaeological sites (see Appendix 1) on the Reserve graphically demonstrates many aspects of the island’s history.  The more important remains include townships and farmsteads, monuments, forts, cairns, middens, shielings, deer traps, and a 19^th century dam.  There are a few other structures including a circular enclosure at Harris, a possible Norse burial cyst near Bagh na h-Uamha and the graveyard at Kilmory.

Dwellings and community remains

Groups of dwellings are found in a number of places across the island with the largest concentrations at Harris, Kinloch, Kilmory, Port na Caranean, Bagh na h-Uamha and Camas Pliasgaig.  The pattern of occupation shows how every substantial area of fertile land on the island was brought into use.  In places buildings or remains, from different times, can be seen side-by-side, a vivid expression of the successive occupation of the land.

The most numerous remains on the Reserve are those of shielings.  These tiny huts were occupied by womenfolk during the summer when stock were kept away from the settlements to prevent them damaging crops.  Rum has about 400 shielings which fall into three distinct types. 

Although there are no confirmed records of an Early Christian community on Rum two incised stones from that period indicate that there probably was one.  The graveyard at Kilmory has a stone with three crosses, and a further stone was found on the beach at Bagh na h-Uamha.

Forts

The promontory forts at Kilmory and Shellesder are thought to be Iron Age in origin, the only sites from this period known on the whole island.  As such they are very important to the understanding of the history of Rum.

Bloodstone, shells and bones

As so often is the case it was the geology of Rum that first drew people to visit regularly right back in the Middle Stone Age.  They came because Rum has a ready supply of bloodstone, a green form of agate with red flecks of iron minerals.  Scotland had a shortage of stone suitable for making implements, but bloodstone could be worked like flint.  Scatters of stone implements have been found on Rum possibly marking the places where Middle Stone Age people camped when visiting Rum to collect bloodstone and shape it into tools.  Rum bloodstone implements have also been found nearby on islands and the mainland.  More recently it has been treated as a gemstone; Queen Victoria was presented with a table made from Rum bloodstone.

When people visited Rum they left their mark.  Seashells and bones – of sheep, deer, horses, seals and seabirds – have been found in a deep midden in a cave at Bagh na h-Uamha.  These are thought to have accumulated over a long period possibly from Middle Stone Age to Viking times.  There are also cairns on Rum but none have been investigated yet to determine what their purpose was, and their age is often not clear.

Deer traps

Deer traps are known from other parts of Scotland, but those on Rum are possibly the best preserved anywhere.  Two traps are known on the island, but as deer traps on Rum were described as “numerous” in the past it seems possible that there may be others to discover.  One trap can be seen at Orval; the other is between Ard Nev and Orval. 

More recent structures

The Reserve also has a number of complete structures and buildings of historical importance including a pier, kiln and gazebo (see Appendix 1).  The most obvious, and spectacular, of these is Kinloch Castle itself.  The multi-millionaire, George Bullough, built the Castle at the end of the 1890s.  It has been described as a fantasy castle; money was clearly no object, and Bullough made it as ostentatious on the inside as it was on the outside.  Every conceivable technological comfort was included; central heating, electric lighting powered by a hydro-generator, and the Orchestrion, an automatic orchestra programmed by punched paper rolls.  The Castle is thought to have the finest surviving Edwardian interior in the UK. 

A quarter of a million tons of best Ayrshire topsoil were imported to make the gardens, bowling greens and golf course, and the remaining gardens are included in Historic Scotland’s Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes.

3. Management of Rum before it became a NNR

History of Rum

About 8500 years ago	People visit Rum for the “bloodstone” found on the west side of the island.
7500-8500 years ago	People settle just outside Kinloch in one of the earliest known sites in the whole of Scotland.
800-1100	We don’t know if the Vikings colonised Rum, but there is at least one Viking burial site on the island, and many of Rum’s place names are Viking in origin for example, all those ending in ‘val.
1400 – 1800	Rum’s human population grows from a few to a peak of 443.
c. 1800	The original deer population becomes extinct, and the last woodland copse is felled.
1819	The first geological map of Rum is produced.
1826-28	The entire human population of 350 is cleared from Rum and sent to Port Hawksbury, Nova Scotia, Canada.  They are replaced by a new tenant and 8000 sheep.  Shortly after, twelve families were brought from Mull and Skye to manage the sheep.
1845	A new owner, the second Marquis of Salisbury, sets about transforming the island into a typical Victorian Highland estate, strong on field sports.
1871	The birds of Rum are described in The Birds of the West of Scotland, including the Outer Hebrides.
1884	The earliest records of insects (water beetles) from Rum are published.
1886	The botany of Rum is first described.
1886	Rum is bought by John Bullough, a wealthy industrialist from Lancashire who further develops the sporting estate, and starts a large-scale programme of tree planting at Kinloch.
1891-1901	Rum passes to George Bullough who builds Kinloch Castle.
1908-12	The last white-tailed eagle on Rum is shot.
1914	The outbreak of the Great War and the Kinloch estate is in decline.  The deterioration continues after the end of the war.
1949	Rum is recommended as a Nature Conservation Area in the government’s Nature Reserves in Scotland report.
1957	George Bullough’s widow sells Rum to the Nature Conservancy.

Land use history

People survived on Rum in the past by working its land and using its natural products.  Much of the land has been used as rough grazing, but there is evidence of cultivation, managed woodland, and peat digging.  These provide the basic needs for survival in such a wild and remote place.  A visitor in the early 19^th century described Rum as “…one heap of rude land, scarcely possessing an acre of level land.  It is the wildest and most repulsive of all the islands.”.  Yet an earlier visitor had been surprised, in 1764, by the size of the population living on such a small area of unproductive land.  And the population continued to grow from just a few folk before 1700, to about 180 in 1728, 304 by about 1770, and peaking at 443 in 1795.

Cultivation, timber and fuel

Cultivation only really took off on Rum in the 18^th century.  Even then there was never more than about 400 ha of cultivated land (about 3.5% of the island), much of it so-called “lazy beds”, shared between crofters through the runrig system.  This was all largely abandoned when the crofters were cleared from the island in 1825 and 1826.  Some new cultivation was started around 1900 when an estate farm was established at Kinloch.

Woodland seems to have largely disappeared from Rum, by the beginning of the 19^th century, except where tiny patches clung on in the steeper gullies and on cliff ledges.  The Kinloch estate planted areas of policy woodland at the turn of the 20^th century mostly around Kinloch Castle.  For fuel the crofters used turf (dried peat sods).

Domestic grazing

The main land-use on the island seems to have been grazing animals.  Domestic farmed livestock kept by crofters included black cattle, goats and small native sheep.  These were kept on communal pastures in and around the villages during the colder months, but in summer were grazed in the hills.  Goats were kept in large numbers towards the end of the 18^th century when their hair was exported to Glasgow for wig-making.  Later they were valued as sporting trophies by the Victorian owners and visitors, and attempts were made to improve their characteristics by introductions from mainland herds in the early 1900s.

Eight thousand sheep were imported onto Rum in the 1820s.  This was not a successful enterprise, but flocks totalling about 5000 were maintained in the mid-19^th century.  This period also saw the beginnings of drainage schemes in Kinloch Glen apparently to help support the sheep.  The flock was gradually reduced in size through the turn of the century until they had completely disappeared from the island by 1926.  Some new grazing tenancies were created during and immediately after the Second World War, and there were about 40 cattle and around 1700 sheep on Rum when it was sold to our predecessor, the Nature Conservancy. 

The mix of domestic grazing animals on Rum included ponies.  Early farmers probably brought Celtic breeds of ponies with them.  We suspect that these ponies interbred with Norse ponies, during the Viking occupation, which could explain the strong resemblance of Rum ponies to Haflingers and Fjord ponies of Norway.

After the Clearances the ponies ran wild on the island, but had almost died out by 1888.  The numbers were built up again by the introduction of new blood.  The ponies ranged free on the hills for most of the year, and were gathered up annually and the surplus sold off in Oban.  During much of the 19^th century numbers seem to have fluctuated between seven and twenty.

Wild grazers and sporting interests

Red deer were common on Rum in the 16^th century, and an important source of food for the inhabitants.  The remnants of deer traps illustrate how they were hunted in the days before firearms.  Maintaining the deer herd would have been important, but as the human population rose towards the end of the 18^th century deer numbers declined until there were only about 80 in 1772.  They had completely disappeared by 1787.  Deer were re-introduced to the island in the 1840s when the island was re-stocked as a sporting estate; both red and fallow deer were brought in, but only the red survived and thrived.  The current deer population originates from a variety of introductions from different sources.

Sporting interests introduced other species to Rum including mountain hare, partridge and pheasant, but these didn’t survive.  Other game birds included snipe, woodcock and red grouse – the numbers of grouse were never very high because Rum is too wet for good heather. 

Recreation and research

Although Rum gained a reputation for being a forbidden isle visitors may have been encouraged by Sir Hugh Munro’s description, in 1891, of the attractions of the Cuillins.  Rock climbing on Rum began around 1932 when the mountaineering clubs of Cambridge and Oxford Universities explored routes on Hallival.  Studies of the wildlife were being made from at least the 1870s when the birds were described, with plants and insect records following soon afterwards. 

Studies continued during the 20^th century with the work of Professor John William Heslop-Harrison during the 1930s and ‘40s achieving a degree of notoriety.  Heslop-Harrison’s work on Rum was the subject of a major academic scandal sometimes referred to as botany’s “Piltdown Man”.  He is believed to have planted several rare species on Rum, then to have “discovered” them using their presence on the island to support his theory that some parts of the Hebrides didn’t lose their vegetation in the last Ice Age.  More recently his work has been subjected to further scrutiny, and it seems that he made other questionable discoveries.  Work on Rum by members of the Botanical Society of the British Isles partly restores his reputation.  It seems that much of the work he did on Rum was of good quality, and that many of his records, albeit not his theory, can be trusted.

Summary

By the time Rum became a National Nature Reserve, the landscape and vegetation had been shaped by deforestation and widespread grazing of domestic animals, mainly sheep, and latterly deer, the population having been built up for sporting purposes. 

4 Management of Rum NNR

Key events in the history of Rum since it became a NNR are as follows:

1957	Rum is declared a National Nature Reserve and the first warden/naturalist is appointed.
1958	Rum is notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.  Red deer research begins, and the first trees are planted as part of a woodland restoration scheme.
1960	Rum has a total staff of nine.
1960s	The nine major plant communities of the island are mapped. The rare upland moth Scrobipalpa murinella is recorded for the first time in Britain – on Rum.
1960-64	The first management plan is in operation.  The emphasis is on research to discover how best to recreate the natural character of a Hebridean island.
1964	The first Reserve list of fungi is drawn up.
1965	The first Reserve list of flowering plants, ferns, bryophytes, lichens and stoneworts is drawn up.
1965-69	The second management plan is in operation.  The primary objective is to restore vegetation that has been lost from the island, principally woodland.
1970-74	The third management plan is in operation; a more sophisticated plan that identifies important open habitats that will not be planted with trees.
1971	Hill cattle are introduced and numbers built up to 50 by 1975.
1972	Start of Kilmory (Block 4) deer research.
1975-85	The Reserve is the release site for the re-introduction of white-tailed eagle.
1976	Rum is declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
1977-82	The fourth management plan is in operation.  This plan tries to establish an ecosystem approach to managing the Reserve, still aiming for restoration of woodland, but looking for ways to do this with fewer inputs.
1977	Planting of 648 ha of woodland in the North Side exclosure is completed.
1978	A second exclosure is erected on the south side of Kinloch.
1981	Liverpool University starts to study the goat population.
1982	Rum is classified as a Special Protection Area under the EC Wild Birds Directive. First catalogue of Rum’s insects is published, including three species of aphid new to the British Isles, and ten new to Scotland. Monitoring of grey seal breeding sites begins.
1985	The first white-tailed eagle chick for 70 years fledges in Scotland as a result of releases from Rum.
1987-1996	The fifth management plan is in operation.  The aim is to allow natural development with minimum management necessary.  There is more emphasis on encouraging educational and research use of the Reserve.
1991	Start of the 10 year deer management study.
1996	The first white-tailed eagle chick fledges on Rum.
1997	The Reserve celebrates its 40th anniversary, and plants its millionth tree.
1998 - 2008	Sixth management plan is in operation.  The plan undertakes to extend woodland restoration to other parts of the island, necessitating a reduction in deer numbers.  Commitments are also included to expand knowledge of the marine environment around Rum, to encourage visitors, and to develop further our understanding of the cultural heritage of the island.
2000	Completion of the deer management study.
2002	Rum is removed from the list of Biosphere Reserves, in common with three other Scottish sites that don’t meet the revised criteria for this designation.
2003	An extensive Environmental Statement is prepared, to examine the likely impact of proposals for tree-planting on the Reserve. Kinloch Castle reaches the semi-final of the BBC TV’s Restoration series. The new pier is completed, and the ferry from Mallaig can now dock at Rum.
2005	Rum is designated as a Special Area for Conservation. The Reserve Display Centre opens.
2006	The largest earthworm in Britain is found on Rum!
2006 & 2007	Rum features on BBC TV’s Autumnwatch, seen by 11 million viewers.
2008	Nature trail and otter hide are completed at Kinloch. Commercial deer stalking was contracted out over part of the Island, to support independent economic activity on Rum.
2009	The Isle of Rum Community Trust takes ownership of the first area of land within Kinloch Village & appoint a Countryside Ranger, with support by NatureScot.
2010	The Isle of Rum Community Trust takes ownership of a second area of land within Kinloch village and 3 crofts are created
2012	A new waiting room constructed at the new pier.
2013	Whitehouse conversion to create accommodation for NatureScot staff and volunteers and office move
2016	Coire Dubh path re-surfaced and upgraded to provide a walking route for visitors.
2016	Management Plan 2016 – 2026 consulted on and published
2017	60th year anniversary of Rum NNR
2018	On 4 April 2018 an accidental Wildfire burnt 750ha of land in the northwest of the island.
2019	Harris woodland re-fenced with off-set solar electric fence
2022	Programme of Rhododendron removal in NNR adjacent to Kinloch Village
2022	Peatland Restoration of 17ha of deep peat in Kinloch Glen.

 

Management of the Natural Heritage

Rum is a large and complicated Reserve.  Our main focus for management over the years has been woodland restoration and the management of deer to maintain important upland habitats and species. There have been many other projects running in parallel.

Woodland restoration

Most of Rum’s original woodland has been lost over the centuries.  Throughout the Reserve’s long history a key aim has been to recreate something approaching the original Hebridean woodland. 

There was little experience of woodland restoration in the 1950s, so we set up experimental planting plots on differing soils and situations around the island.  With deer numbers being so high, at the time, it was decided to plant providing protection from browsing using fencing.  Five planting plots were fenced off in 1958, and at least a dozen plots in total were set up between 1958 and 1977 at various sites including Kilmory, Kinloch Glen, Harris, Papadil and Glen Guirdil.  Two high altitude plots were also established at Ard Nev and Ard Mheall.  We also started a nursery at Kinloch to help supply tree seedlings.  Altogether, over one million trees of 20 or more different species were planted in the first 40 years. 

In 2005, we commissioned a review of our tree planting activities on the Reserve.  The review concluded that we have managed to establish a significant area of native species woodland on the Reserve over a range of fenced sites.  Woodland development has been best in the lower, more sheltered areas lying on mineral soils.  Even on exposed sites with wetter, peaty soils woodland has still managed to establish, but is doing so at a slower rate.  Poor soil fertility and exposure to wind seem to be the dominant factors limiting tree growth on Rum.  Where trees have established well such as, at Harris and Kilmory, there has also been some colonisation by typical woodland ground-cover species.  In these woodlands, lichen and fungi are also evident and woodland birds have re-colonised.

We undertook further planting in 2008 on the east coast.  This planting was carefully planned to ensure that the important moorland habitats remain free of trees.  We have protected this area with fencing initially, but aim to remove the fences as soon as the trees are no longer vulnerable to browsing from deer and goats.

Whilst the planting has been generally successful natural regeneration from the established stands has been minimal.  In many areas the heath and grassland vegetation is too dense to enable seedlings to become established.   Where ground disturbance has enabled seedlings to grow high levels of browsing by deer and goats result in little regeneration developing above the sward.  As a result the potential expansion of second generation semi-natural woodland has not occurred.

Deer and goat management

Left with the legacy of a sporting estate and its deer population the Nature Conservancy’s main focus, in the early days, was to erect deer fences to prevent deer grazing damage on newly planted trees.  With the area available to deer reduced, as more fences were erected, it was recognised that displaced deer would need to be culled. 

Depending on the priorities at the time a greater or smaller proportion of the population was culled each year; usually between one-tenth and one-sixth of the population.  The old and sick animals are always targeted first in the same way that natural predators would.

We were keen to investigate what happens to the deer population if it is manipulated by different culling regimes.  So in 1991, we divided the Reserve into five deer management blocks.  The cull in Block 1 was targeted at reducing the stag population.  In Block 3 the target was to reduce the hind population.  Block 4 was left as a no cull area with Blocks 2 and 5 maintained by traditional cull practice.  We used data collated from 1981 through to 1990 for comparison.

The current target deer population on the Reserve is in the range of 500-800 animals.  The deer population is regularly counted and we use this information in a population model to plan the forthcoming annual cull which is also informed by the results of Habitat Impacts Assessments. The overarching objective which is relevant for deer management on Rum is set out in the Rum NNR Management Plan 2016-26:

Large areas of Rum have been planted with native woodland over the last 50 years. We currently have no plans to undertake any more planting, but we will aim to reduce the deer density in woodlands. 

Recent surveys have shown that the deer population, and the impacts, are higher than desired, and so we are currently implementing a reduction cull across most of the island.   At present the Kilmory deer study area (Block 4) remains the only part of the island where we do not carry out deer management.

There are also about 250 feral goats on the Reserve.  Until recently only sick and injured animals were culled, but in 2001, recognising the damage that the goats were causing to important habitats a regular management cull was instigated. We recognise the feral goat herd as having cultural interest and some natural heritage benefits, particularly maintaining maritime grassland communities. We now have a feral goat management plan in place to ensure that the feral goat population is managed to maintain a healthy and genetically viable population on Rum which does not compromise the available habitat and is consistent with other habitat management objectives.

Domestic grazers

The Rum ponies play an essential role in deer management on the NNR; providing transportation for deer carcasses so they can be extracted, processed and sold for venison.  We maintain a herd of up to 20 ponies on the island which range freely most of the year either at Harris or Kilmory.  During the cull working ponies are kept in Kinloch together with pregnant mares and mares with dependant foals.

The Highland pony is a rare breed and consequently, over the years, we have endeavoured to ensure that our ponies are carefully bred and managed on the island to ensure their long term survival.  The Rum ponies are special in their own right. They are an island type of Highland pony with rare, ancient bloodlines that can be traced back more than 100 years. The first written record of Highland ponies on Rum dates back to 1778. Being an isolated island population, they could be vital to the long-term survival of the breed should infectious disease ever hit the mainland Highland pony population.

We maintain a herd of up to 12 highland cattle on the island which we mainly use to help manage some of the important habitats that require a delicate balance of grazing.   We move the cattle between key locations on the island where their grazing helps to remove aggressive plant species and maintain small areas of species-rich grassland.  Over the winter months we herd them back to Glen Harris where they are free to wander and graze the immediate hillsides.  Here their trampling of wetland areas maintains suitable conditions for pillwort to thrive.

​​​​​​​Re-introduction of the white-tailed eagle

White-tailed eagles were extinct completely in the UK by 1918; the last recorded nesting pair being on Skye in 1916.  Bringing the fourth-largest eagle in the world back to Britain was a goal of nature conservation dating from just after the Second World War.  After one or two false starts, our predecessors the Nature Conservancy Council, launched a programme for the re-introduction of the white-tailed eagle during the 1970s using Rum as the base for releases.

In collaboration with the Norwegian conservation agency and the Royal Air Force eaglets were flown to Rum for rearing and release.  Over a ten-year period 82 birds were released gradually spreading out from the Reserve, and settling within about 100 km.  The first eggs were laid in 1982, and the first wild white-tailed eagle chick for 70 years was raised on Mull in 1985.  There are now 120 breeding pairs in Scotland.  Up to three pairs breed on the NNR although the territories overlap with other islands in the Small Isles, so numbers can vary each year.

Re-introduction of pillwort

Together with Plantlife we undertook another successful re-introduction programme on Rum in 1998.  The internationally threatened tiny fern, pillwort, used to be found on Rum, and probably disappeared when cattle stopped roaming freely; it tends to grow in trampled and heavily poached mud at the edge of still water.  Since cattle were brought back to the Reserve in 1971 they have recreated ideal conditions for the plant.  A small cluster of plants (about the size of a margarine tub) were transplanted on the Reserve and now the population is flourishing covering a few square metres and spreading every year.

Other recent projects

Most of our more recent work on the Reserve’s wildlife has concentrated on monitoring so that we can get a better handle on how our plants and animals are faring.  The NNR staff keep track of feral goat and red deer numbers as well as monitoring the Manx shearwaters, eagles, seabird assemblages and Red-throated divers.  In addition those habitats and species that are of international and national importance are monitored on a rolling programme.

Research and demonstration

Research has been a significant aspect of the work at Rum.  Much of the research has contributed to national and international networks with other studies helping develop geological or ecological theories and understanding, or contributing directly to wildlife management. 

Earth science

The geology of Rum is amongst the most studied anywhere in Britain not only because of the variety of volcanic material, but also because of the much older rocks.  There is still much to discover - researchers from the University of London and University of Durham are just two of the academic institutions that have based recent studies on the Reserve.  Students from Uppsala University in Sweden also visit regularly and have contributed significantly to geological research on Rum.

Manx shearwater

The importance and novelty of the Manx shearwater colony at Rum has prompted a number of academic studies over the years as well as, more or less, continuous surveillance by NNR staff and others. 

Red deer

Red deer have been studied on Rum intensively.  In the early years, up until 1972, studies were led by scientists from the Nature Conservancy.  They looked at how the deer population changed; for instance the balance between sexes and age groups, and its effect on the plant communities of the Reserve.  From 1972 the University of Cambridge started their study on deer behaviour and physiology associated with breeding.  They also marked and identified individual deer in the Kilmory study area (Block 4) so that they could learn how breeding success varied on Rum.

More recently the University of Edinburgh and other universities and research institutes have joined the deer research project on the Reserve.  The work has continued to investigate details of red deer behaviour and ecology with some fascinating findings including:

• As hind numbers in a particular area rose, the number of resident males fell.  This is because as the density increases there is a reduction in the proportion of male calves being born; more male calves die in their first winter; and there is an increase in male emigration and a reduction in male immigration.
• These density related sex differences have implications for broader deer management, demonstrating that management to promote high hind numbers is likely to lead to reductions in the number and quality of resident stags.
• Environmental conditions, such as climatic conditions, experienced by individuals in early life have been found to have long-term consequences for reproductive success.

A leaflet has been produced which summarises the work of the project. 

Goats

Liverpool University studied Rum goats on-and-off since 1980.  The project was based on the west coast of Rum, about 13 km from Kinloch, and used the Harris Lodge as its base.  The work has focused on how the population is regulated, and how the animals cope with the winter weather.  Other studies have looked at how social groups split up and join together, and the different ways that the males find mates.

Plants and vegetation

The nine principal types of vegetation on the Reserve were mapped in the 1960s, and this survey has been an important backdrop to many of the other research projects, including those on red deer and Manx shearwater.  Initial lists of flowering plants, bryophytes, lichens, stoneworts, ferns and fungi were also researched and prepared during the Sixties.  The original vegetation map was brought up to date in 1998 when a complete re-survey of the island mapped the plant communities.  A few individual plant species have been studied in much more detail; for instance one study looked at the factors that determine where the alpine penny-cress lives.

The most important recent work on the plants on Rum was carried out from 2000 to 2006.  Special recording parties took part in recording as much information as possible about the plants on Rum publishing, in 2008, the most comprehensive account of Rum’s plants (Pearman et al, 2008).

Earthworms

Earthworms have been studied on the Reserve since 1995 by the University of Central Lancashire.  We now know where earthworms live on the island, and have started to understand how people have influenced this by where they set up home, where they grew their crops and, most recently, where trees were planted.  Now the Earthworm Research Group is looking at the possibility of introducing earthworms into moorland soils alongside new tree planting to accelerate soil improvement.

Management for People

Visitors are welcome at Rum NNR, and every effort is made to provide them with information and support to make their time on the island as enjoyable as possible.  The numbers of people visiting have increased considerably over the years, from about 2500 in 1974-5 to around 8-10,000 today.  The increase seems to be mainly in day visitors who since the completion of the pier in 2003, can now access the island relatively easily.  Most visitors come from the UK, with only about 9% of our visitors coming from overseas. They come primarily to watch wildlife and walk. 

There is accommodation available for visitors wishing to spend longer than the day trips between ferries.  There is an Isle of Rum Community Trust owned bunkhouse and camp site in Kinloch. The campsite also has luxury camping cabins and there is a privately owned B&B and self-catering Shepherds hut in the village. There are also two mountain bothies, one at Dibidil and the other at Guirdil.

In 2019, the Isle of Rum Community Trust put 10 yacht moorings in place in Loch Scresort to allow yacht owners to moor at the island for overnight stays. Fishing is also available in some of the lochs and rivers in season. Guidance on where and when to fish is available from the Rum Reserve Office.

Visitors are free to wander the island or to use the self-guided trails which highlight some of the more easily accessible aspects of the NNR.  We extended the Loch Scresort trail in 2008 and built an otter hide at the end of trail so that visitors will get a chance to see these elusive animals along with a variety of birds and other marine life.  Further information is provided in the small visitor centre that can be found on the bottom shore.

Not everyone takes Rum at an easy pace.  The island remains popular with hill walkers and climbers. 

Universities, special interest groups, secondary schools and the island’s primary school, also make full use of the NNR.  In many respects the Reserve is an outdoor laboratory ideal for immersing groups of students in a field subject, whether it is for examining volcanic rock or completing their Duke of Edinburgh Award.    

The Reserve is also used for practical training by organisations such as the University of the Highlands and Islands Wildlife and Countryside Management students.

Unusually for a National Nature Reserve the local community lives right on the doorstep and much of their everyday lives are in some way linked to the NNR.  The permanent population on Rum fluctuates between 25 and 35 people in all.  Rum is also part of the Small Isles community, and the Reserve provides opportunities for local employment in this remote location.

Over the years much has been written about Rum.  We celebrated the 40^th anniversary of the Reserve with the publication of Rum: Nature’s Island by Magnus Magnusson.  There are also books on the geology, natural history and guides for walkers and climbers.

Likewise Rum is no stranger to the broadcast media either.  In October 2006 11 million viewers watched the BBC’s Autumnwatch.  The programme made live broadcasts of the red deer rut and returned to film again in 2007.  Back in 2003 Rum featured in the BBC Restoration series when Kinloch Castle represented Scotland in the final.  The Scottish semi-final was watched by 3.4 million people.  The Radio 4 Nature programme on the red deer rut on Rum was also a huge success.  It was featured as Radio 4’s Pick of the Week and their Pick of the Year in 2004.

We promote the Reserve through the Scotland’s NNR website which has basic and essential information for visitors, and a copy of the Reserve leaflet.  Visitor information about the Reserve appears on numerous other websites including the Isle of Rum Community Trust.  We also regularly issue press releases to local and national newspapers.  

Property Management

NatureScot owns the majority of Rum except for some land and buildings in Kinloch village owned by the Isle of Rum Community Trust; the school and school-house which are owned by The Highland Council; the mausoleum which has remained in the ownership of the Bullough Trustees; the telephone exchange which is owned by British Telecom, and Kilmory accommodation hut which is owned by the Red Deer Project.

We have recently been working closely with the Isle of Rum Community Trust to support the development of a larger resident community on Rum.  As part of this work, in 2009 and 2010, we transferred ownership of parcels of land to the Community Trust.  This land included the Community Hall as well as croft land, and land that is being developed for housing and community facilities.  The Community Trust also took over the management of the village campsite, which they are improving with the provision of a shower block.  They have also built a modern bunkhouse to provide overnight accommodation for visitors, and take a lead for providing visitor facilities for the land they manage in Kinloch Village.

We have an agreement with the Mountain Bothy Association who maintain and run the bothy accommodation at Dibidil and Guirdil. 

The presence of listed buildings and Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAM) on the Reserve gives us an additional set of responsibilities.  We are responsible for ensuring that all listed buildings are in a reasonable state of repair and need to ensure that our Reserve management does not damage any of the SAMs on the Reserve.

We maintain the 4wd track from Kinloch to Kilmory and the track branching off to Harris, which are essential for NNR management.  In addition five pony tracks extend access to Guidil, Bloodstone Hill, Coire Dubh, Loch Papadil (via Dibidil) and along Glen Shellesder.  Nature trails run along the south side of Loch Scresort and through Kinloch Glen.  We maintain all of these when necessary.

Summary

Since Rum became a National Nature Reserve management has concentrated on protecting and restoring the amazing variety of habitats and species.  This has allowed seabirds, including the Manx shearwater, eagles, red deer and otters to thrive.  Paths and tracks have been created and managed to allow visitors to explore the island.  Numbers of visitors to the Reserve have increased over the years, with thousands of people visiting annually to appreciate the spectacular walks, landscapes and wildlife.  The Reserve is actively promoted by NatureScot, but also gains a lot of publicity through other means.  In addition the natural heritage, Rum has plenty more to offer to visitors who can come for an adventure, experience a remote island community, and appreciate the broad mix of ancient monuments and history, there is always something new to discover...

5 Document properties

References

Brown, H.M.  (2000). The Island of Rhum: A Guide for Walkers, Climbers and Visitors.  Cicerone, Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

Clutton-Brock, T.H.  (1989). Rhum: The Natural History of an Island.  Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. 

Clutton-Brock, T.H., Coulson, T. & Thomson, D. (2002) Red deer on Rum: a 20-year study of the ecological consequences of changes to male and female numbers. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report F99AC417.

Emeleus, C.H.  (1997). Geology of Rum and the Adjacent Islands.  Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 60 (Scotland).

Goodenough, K. & Bradwell, T.  (2004). Rum and the Small Isles: A Landscape Fashioned by Geology.  Scottish Natural Heritage, Perth.

Love, J.A.  (2001). Rum: A Landscape without Figures.  Birlinn Ltd, Edinburgh.

Magnusson, M.  (1997). Rum: Nature’s Island.  Luath Press, Edinburgh.

Morgan, P.  (1999). Rum: Island Place-Names/Rùm: Ainmean Àite an Eilein.  Scottish Natural Heritage, Rum.

Murray, C.W.  & Birks, H.J.B.  (2005). The Botanist in Skye and Adjacent Islands: an annotated check-list of the vascular plants of the islands of Skye, Raasay, Rona, Rum, Eigg, Muck, Canna, Scarpay and Soay.  Privately published.

Pearman, D. A., Preston, C. D., Rothero, G.P. & Walker, K.J. (2008).  The Flora of Rum – An Atlantic Island Reserve.  Privately published.

Rothero, G. P. (2004).  Site dossier for bryological interest: Rum SSSI. Unpublished report to Scottish Natural Heritage.

Sabbagh K.  (1999).  Rum Affair: A True Story of Botanical Fraud.  Diane Publishing Co., Pensylvania.

Welsh M.  & Isherwood C.  (1996).  Walks on Canna, Rum, Eigg and Muck.  Clan Books, Doune.

Wickham-Jones C.R.  (1990).  Rhum: Mesolithic and Later Sites at Kinloch, Excavations, 1984-86.  Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Photography

Photography by Laurie Campbell, Lorne Gill/NatureScot, John MacPherson/NatureScot, P&A Macdonald/NatureScot and Peter Llewellyn (ukwildflowers.com)

Acknowledgements

The first edition of the Story of Rum National Nature Reserve has been written by Dr Terry Rowell (Freelance contractor), edited by Emma Philip (Managed Sites Officer - NNRs) and approved by Susan Davies (Director, Operations North).

We would like to thank the following NatureScot staff for their contribution to the first version:  Richard Kilpatrick (Reserve Manager - Rum), Marcel Blankers (Deer Management Officer), Lesley Watt (Reserve Officer – Rum), Sean Morris – Reserve Support – Rum), David Maclennan (Area Manager – Western Isles), Eileen Stuart (Rum Project Manager), John Burlison (Managed Sites Unit Manager), Jill Matthews (Managed Sites Manager – NNRs), Andy Douse (Senior Ornithologist), Rachel Haines (Policy & Advice Manager – Natura), Duncan Stone (Policy & Advice Manager – Land Use), Rachel Wignall & Vanessa Kirkbride (Policy & Advice Officers – Earth Science), Graham Sullivan (Policy & Advice Officer – Uplands), Jenny Bryce (Policy & Advice Officer – Deer), Dave Genney (Policy & Advice Officer – Bryophytes, Fungi & Lichens), Athayde Tonhasca (Policy & Advice Officer – Invertebrates), Susi Hodgson (Geographic Information Officer) and Sarah Eaton (Managed Sites Support).

We would also like to add our special thanks to David Pearman for sharing his expert knowledge on the flora of Rum and Ed Hawan (previous Reserve Manager).

Links

• NatureScot                   
• NatureScot Sitelink
• Joint Nature Conservation Committee
• Rum and the Small Islands: Landscape Fashioned by Geology – website version of printed publication
• Red deer research project
• Earthworm research
• UK Ammonia Network, with access to information and data from the Rum station
• The Rum meteorological station, and access to the data
• Community website
• Wikipedia entry
• A great collection of photographs of Rum

Appendix 1 – Scheduled Ancient Monuments and Listed Buildings on Rum NNR 

(a) Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs)

Site	Date scheduled
Settlement, 400m northeast of Kinloch Castle at Kinloch Farm	1996
Settlement at Port-na-Caranean,	1996
Cave at Bagh na h-Uamha, Mullach Ard	1996
Cross at Bagh na h-Uamha, 150m northeast of waterfall in An Uamh	1996
Cairn, 550m east-southeast of Harris Lodge	1996
Settlement, 900m southeast of Harris Lodge	1996
Cairn, 250m east-northeast of Guirdil	1996
Promontory fort, 970m northeast of Guirdil	1996
Shielings, 800m southwest of west end of Loch Sgaorishal	1996
Fort, 750m west-northwest of Kilmory Lodge	1996
Cairn, 250m north of Kilmory Lodge	1996
Salisbury's Dam and associated works	1996
Deer traps, 400m southwest and 1000m south-southwest of Spectacle Lochan	1996
Shielings, southeast of Loch Monica	1996
Settlement, 300m northwest of Harris Lodge	1996
Settlement at Harris	1996
Settlement, old burial ground and cross shaft at Kilmory	1997
Deer trap, 700m southwest of summit cairn at Orval	1999
Deer traps, east of Orval,	1999

 

(b) Listed Buildings

Building	Category	Date listed
Kinloch Castle	A	1971
Gazebo, Kinloch Castle Garden	B	1971
Bridge over the Slugan Burn, Kinloch Castle	B	1982
Bayview	B	1985
Bullough Mausoleum	B	1971
Old pier	C(S)	1985
Kiln by pier	C(S)	1971

Category A: Buildings of national or international importance, either architectural or historic, or fine little-altered examples of some particular period, style or building type.

Category B: Buildings of regional or more than local importance, or major examples of some particular period, style or building type which may have been altered.

Category C(S): Buildings of local importance, lesser examples of any period, style or building type, as originally constructed or altered; and simple, traditional buildings which group well with others in categories A and B or are part of a planned group such as an estate or an industrial complex.