Island 454 - Eilean na Coilleag, Eriskay

Eilean na Coilleag is a very small tidal island at the south end of Prince's Beach (Coilleag a Phrionnsa) on the west coast of Eriskay, close to the Calmac ferry terminal.  I visited in mid June 2018 during Storm Hector, so visibility wasn't great and it was a wee bit wet and windy.  Thrift and bird's foot trefoil were in flower on the island.

Prince Charles Edward Stuart (son of the deposed King James II) and better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender, first set foot on Scottish soil on this beautiful beach on Eriskay on 23rd July 1745, at the start of his unsuccessful attempt to regain the thrones of Scotland, England and Ireland.  He arrived in a boat called Du Teillay  from France with 7 supporters, who became known as the Seven Men of Moidart.  The following day Alexander MacDonald of Boisdale advised him to return home. Bonnie Prince Charlie replied "I am come home" and on 25th July he left Eriskay and sailed on to Arisaig.

A striped pink convolvulus/sea bindweed flower (Convolvulus soldanella), which is not native to the Outer Hebrides, grows on Prince's Beach.  The story goes that Bonnie Prince Charlie brought the seeds with him from France and that they fell out when he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket.

Looking north up Prince's Beach from Eilean na Coilleag

Looking south from Eilean na Coilleag towards the ferry terminal

Eilean na Coilleag with the Calmac ferry to Barra in the distance

This cairn was erected by the children on Eriskay School on 23rd July 1995 to commemorate the landing of Bonnie Prince Charlie here on 23rd July 1745

 Looking north up Prince's Beach towards Eilean na Coilleag