Island follies

NOT a lot happens on Tiree, a remote windswept island (pop. 850) in the Hebrides, far out in the Atlantic, three hours by ferry from the Scottish mainland. Its resident population, mainly crofters, scratch their living from the treeless sandy soil. Even less happens on the neighbouring island of Coll (pop. 150), whose only claim to fame is that it is one of the last nesting places in Britain of the corncrake, a secretive bird, rarely seen but which makes its presence known by its haunting “crek-crek” song.