click on picture by Charles Tait to enlarge

Sule Skerry is still the most remote Scottish lighthouse station, lying forty miles west of Orkney and as far north of the coast of Sutherland. With a surface area of 35 acres, and rising 45 feet above the high water, it is almost out sight of all land but in clear weather the higher ground in Hoy and Sutherland is visible from it. The island, as an old rhyme recalls, was the haunt of seals when it was literally a 'no-man's land' and among the host of sea birds the cheeky puffin predominates - 'the air is black with them, the ground is cover with them, the sea is alive with them', as James Tominson wrote. Charles Tait has captured this deserted lighthouse beautifully with the air full of puffins.

An exciting book about 31 of the best scottish lighthouses explained in insightful text and magnificent colour photographs is available here.

If you would like to know what it is like to buy a Scottish lighthouse then check out The Last Lighthouse.

You can find more articles in the archive under Lighthouse Beacons From Scotland.