St Kilda World Heritage Site

With its dramatic landscape of sheer cliffs and sea stacks, St Kilda National Nature Reserve feels like a place perched on the edge of the world. It is Europe's most important seabird breeding area and includes the world's largest northern gannet colony. St Kilda has an enigmatic past and the people who lived here had a unique lifestyle, dependent on the riches of the seas around Britain's most remote point.

Internationally recognised for its birdlife, St Kilda is no less famous for its human history. A community existed here for at least 4,000 years, exploiting the dense colonies of gannets, fulmars and puffins for food, feathers and oil. The final 36 islanders were evacuated almost 90 years ago. Now uninhabited, visitors can brave the weather to sail to the ‘islands at the edge of the world’ for the experience of a lifetime.

St Kilda has its own unique wren, as well as a sub-species of mouse which is twice the size of a British fieldmouse.

Facilities include a small museum in the 19th century village, and a shop which sells books, postcards and gifts. The ranger service is available between April and September.