St Kilda World Heritage Site
The UK’s only dual UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of only 35 in the world.
Home to nearly 1 million seabirds, including the UK’s largest colony of Atlantic puffins.
Evacuated on 29 August 1930 after the remaining 36 islanders voted to leave as their way of life was no longer sustainable.
St Kilda has its own unique wren, as well as a sub-species of mouse which is twice the size of a British fieldmouse.
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The abandoned village on the main island of Hirta
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A puffin on the cliffs at St Kilda
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Looking towards Village Bay
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Close-up of a cleit on St Kilda
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The rugged coastline of St Kilda
About this place
There is no place like St Kilda. Towering out of the storm-tossed waters of the Atlantic Ocean, its cliffs and sea stacs clamour with the cries of hundreds of thousands of seabirds.
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 in 1930. Now uninhabited, visitors can brave the weather to sail to the ‘islands at the edge of the world’ for the experience of a lifetime.