Book 3 - Sightlines

Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie – first published 2012

This book was recommended to me by a lady I shared a room with in Islay Youth Hostel.  It is a collection of natural history and archaeological essays, some of which are unconnected.   Several of them are about Scottish islands – the gannetry on Noss, Shetland; North Rona and the author’s 3 attempts to visit St Kilda.  All the chapters are captivating and informative.  The author, who is also a poet, has a great eye for detail and a gift for describing landscapes, archaeological sites and the natural world.  This is the only account of a visit to North Rona that I have read.  The author helped two friends carry out seabird and archaeological surveys and they all followed a family of killer whales as they circled the island in search of seals to eat.  

The other chapters are about a visit to a pathology lab, an archaeological dig in Perthshire, and visits to see some prehistoric cave paintings, the aurora borealis in the Norwegian arctic and a hall full of whale skeletons at Bergen Natural History Museum in Norway.  7/10

Islands covered - Noss, Shetland, North Rona and Hirta (St Kilda)