Quote Originally Posted by Jock Scot View Post
It was indeed Gavin Maxwell who used(not sure if he bought it) the island as a base for his basking shark enterprise. Those that might be looking for the Isle of Soay, it is situated just off the Southern shores of Skye.
Different Soay. The Soay these sheep are named for is in the St. Kilda archipelago, of the northwest coast of Lewis (there is also a Soay south of Skye, so it gets confusing). The Soay near Skye is a larger island. If you go to Google maps and just type in "Soay, Scotland," it will show you the one off Skye. However, if you type in "St. Kilda, Scotland," it will show you a tiny dot far off the coast of Lewis. And if you zoom in on that tiny dot, you will see it is actually three tiny dots. The small dot to the far left (west) is Soay.

The largest of the St. Kilda islands, just to the east of Soay, is Hirta. Most Soay sheep have been moved in modern times to Hirta for conservation purposes. My sheep all descend from sheep on Hirta.