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Island Years, Island Farm
Unhappily land-locked in his early adult life, Frank Fraser Darling's fortunes changed when he began visiting Scotland's west coast in the 1930s. Surviving treacherous boat journeys, a broken leg, and hell-bent storms, he made temporary homes with his family on some of the remotest Hebridean islands so he could study the habits of grey seals and seabirds. The family finally settled on an abandoned croft in the Summer Isles, on Tanera Mor, and started farming the barren land. They repaired a ruined herring fishery and its stone quay. They fertilized the ground with seaweed, cut peat for the fires, and planted a garden behind sheltered walls. Slowly, they brought life back to the island.
Island Years first published 1940 by G. Bell and Sons. Island Farm first published in 1943 by G. Bell and Sons.
Island Years first published 1940 by G. Bell and Sons. Island Farm first published in 1943 by G. Bell and Sons.
- GenresNonfictionScotlandNature
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
4 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Frank Fraser Darling
39 books3 followersSir Frank Fraser Darling FRSE LLD (born Frank Darling) was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author, who is strongly associated with the highlands and islands of Scotland.
While working as a Clean Milk Advisor in Buckinghamshire, and longing for a research post in Scotland, Fraser Darling heard about the work of the Institute of Animal Genetics at Edinburgh University, and in the early 1930s the Director, Francis Albert Eley Crew, offered him a place there to study for a PhD. From 1929–1930 he was Director of the Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Breeding and Genetics, part of the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, at Edinburgh. In 1934 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Living at Dundonnell and later in the Summer Isles, Fraser Darling began the work that was to mark him as a naturalist-philosopher of original turn of mind and great intellectual drive. He described the social and breeding behaviour of the red deer, gulls, and the grey seal respectively, in the three academic works A Herd of Red Deer, Bird Flocks and the Breeding Cycle and A Naturalist on Rona.
In 1944, the wartime Secretary of State for Scotland, Thomas Johnston, appointed Fraser Darling as Director of the West Highland Survey, tasked with gathering facts to inform future land use and management in the Highlands and Islands. His report, West Highland Survey: An Essay in Human Ecology, was finally published in 1955.
While working as a Clean Milk Advisor in Buckinghamshire, and longing for a research post in Scotland, Fraser Darling heard about the work of the Institute of Animal Genetics at Edinburgh University, and in the early 1930s the Director, Francis Albert Eley Crew, offered him a place there to study for a PhD. From 1929–1930 he was Director of the Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Breeding and Genetics, part of the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, at Edinburgh. In 1934 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Living at Dundonnell and later in the Summer Isles, Fraser Darling began the work that was to mark him as a naturalist-philosopher of original turn of mind and great intellectual drive. He described the social and breeding behaviour of the red deer, gulls, and the grey seal respectively, in the three academic works A Herd of Red Deer, Bird Flocks and the Breeding Cycle and A Naturalist on Rona.
In 1944, the wartime Secretary of State for Scotland, Thomas Johnston, appointed Fraser Darling as Director of the West Highland Survey, tasked with gathering facts to inform future land use and management in the Highlands and Islands. His report, West Highland Survey: An Essay in Human Ecology, was finally published in 1955.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 22, 2017
Fraser Darling was born in Chesterfield in northern England, the illegitimate son of Harriet Darling and Frank Moss. At the ages of 15 he ended up working on a farm and that led him to study agriculture. That led to a PhD at Edinburgh University and in time he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. At the end of the 1930’s when he was married with a young child he began his work on the Summer Isles studying gulls and grey seals as well as reclaiming land that could be used agricultural production on Tanera Mòr.
Slowly he fell in love with these bleak but beautiful islands. They are places of two seasons; a short but intense summer before a rapid switch to the winter sometime in October. They lived in a tent some on some of the islands, hunkering down as the storms swept in off the Atlantic even in the summer months. His careful observations of the wildlife and the work he carried out making a living on the islands enabled him to write a book on crofting and these two books, Island Years and Island Farm. It is a simple but tough life living as a crofter on the islands, some of the gales that he describes sound horrendous, even getting to the islands was not easy with strong swells and very few places to land. It was something that Fraser Darling relished though, he even made the commitment to buy land and settle and spent time restoring a quay and property to make life a little more comfortable.
His prose is not flowery, just solid and rational, but he still manages to fill your senses with the smell of the sea and sound of the waves. It was a uncompromising life there and whilst it wasn’t hand to mouth existence it was much made tougher when he broke his leg. This simpler time just prior to World War II, is brought vividly to life, a nature classic that made for enjoyable reading.
Slowly he fell in love with these bleak but beautiful islands. They are places of two seasons; a short but intense summer before a rapid switch to the winter sometime in October. They lived in a tent some on some of the islands, hunkering down as the storms swept in off the Atlantic even in the summer months. His careful observations of the wildlife and the work he carried out making a living on the islands enabled him to write a book on crofting and these two books, Island Years and Island Farm. It is a simple but tough life living as a crofter on the islands, some of the gales that he describes sound horrendous, even getting to the islands was not easy with strong swells and very few places to land. It was something that Fraser Darling relished though, he even made the commitment to buy land and settle and spent time restoring a quay and property to make life a little more comfortable.
His prose is not flowery, just solid and rational, but he still manages to fill your senses with the smell of the sea and sound of the waves. It was a uncompromising life there and whilst it wasn’t hand to mouth existence it was much made tougher when he broke his leg. This simpler time just prior to World War II, is brought vividly to life, a nature classic that made for enjoyable reading.
November 27, 2015
I enjoyed lots of parts of this book, but overall is was average for me, because the story line was really hard to follow. I wondered if I was reading a poor translation? But here and there and everywhere the writing was really wonderful. I really got a sense of the tenuous nature and beauty of living and thriving on the small islands off the coast of Scotland. The author was a peculiar character and his oddness (in a positive way) was captured in his writing. But they moved from island to island and it was difficult to know why . Much seemed missing. Chunky story line instead of a seamless flow of story. Still evocative.
June 6, 2020
An account of a couples existence on the North West coast of Scotland and remote Scottish islands during the first half of the 20th century. The author and his wife Bobbie spend periods of time on North Rona, the Treshnish Isles (off Mull) and the Summer Isles where they live as much as possible off the land and study seals and bird life. The author describes his drive and the steps taken to achieve his ambition to farm/Croft sustainably on such islands, eventually making his way to Tanera Mor. The development of the latter into a sustainable homestead coincided with the start of World War 2 (an interesting description of this period in its own right). The authors love of these wild places comes through in his lovely descriptive prose, capturing the essence of these beautiful (and often harsh) locations. Much appreciated in these difficult times when we ourselves can not access these places that I also love, due to the covid lockdown.
September 18, 2014
In Island Years Fraser Darling describes his experiences living on remote, uninhabited Scottish islands as a naturalist and scientist during the 1930s. On expedition to study the seabird and seal populations on islands such as the Treshnish Isles and North Rona, he details the daily ocurrences of his family (he was accompanied on all his expeditions by his wife Bobbie, and on some by his son Alastair) in a convivial and eminently readable manner.
Island Farm is a companion piece to Island Years, overlapping the time between expeditions and recounting Fraser Darling's efforts to re-establish a croft on Tanera Mòr in the Summer Isles following the advent of World War II. It gives a glimpse into the traditional way of life, and Gaelic culture, that was being lost throughout the Scottish Highlands in Fraser Darling's time.
Island Farm is a companion piece to Island Years, overlapping the time between expeditions and recounting Fraser Darling's efforts to re-establish a croft on Tanera Mòr in the Summer Isles following the advent of World War II. It gives a glimpse into the traditional way of life, and Gaelic culture, that was being lost throughout the Scottish Highlands in Fraser Darling's time.
September 20, 2013
Another life-enhancing read from Little Toller Books series of classic works.
This book seemed different from others I've read covering similar ground, perhaps because more than lip service is paid to the role of Fraser Darling's wife (who appears on the cover) There's a definite unsentimental love story theme. One wonders what her version might have been however, since the introduction by their son, who also shared many of the experiences recounted, refers to the breakdown of their marriage in the years following, which is not something I would have guessed at from the main text.
I enjoyed sharing their Scottish island exploits vicariously - my ears almost ache from the description of the relentless winds - and I found it telling that despite months on North Rona, he never considered it safe to explore many of the caves.
This book seemed different from others I've read covering similar ground, perhaps because more than lip service is paid to the role of Fraser Darling's wife (who appears on the cover) There's a definite unsentimental love story theme. One wonders what her version might have been however, since the introduction by their son, who also shared many of the experiences recounted, refers to the breakdown of their marriage in the years following, which is not something I would have guessed at from the main text.
I enjoyed sharing their Scottish island exploits vicariously - my ears almost ache from the description of the relentless winds - and I found it telling that despite months on North Rona, he never considered it safe to explore many of the caves.
February 10, 2025
This book is a compilation of two books, Island Years and Island Farm. I read Island Years many years ago, so when I saw this in a charity shop, I jumped at the chance of rereading it, as well as finding out 'what happened next'.
Island Years is the account of the time Fraser Darling and his wife and son spent on remote Hebridean islands, using research grants to study grey seals and bird life. In Island Farm, the family move into an abandoned croft in the Summer Isles and start to bring it back into productive life.
The Fraser Darlings were obviously not afraid of hard work or hard living - while I love being out of doors, I'm not sure I'd want to spend several months living in a tent on a Hebridean island! And the amount of work they had to do to rebuild the croft was phenomenal.
Fraser Darling is brilliant at evoking atmosphere and sense of place - many times during reading this volume, I felt as if I were really there, part of the events he was describing. He does have a tendency to overwrite in some places, and to repeat himself, but this is a minor issue and doesn't detract from the pleasure of reading.
Both books have a similar flavour, although Island Farm is perhaps a little more melancholic, since the shadow of war hangs over it. Several of the naturalist friends who helped them in earlier years are now either prisoners of war, missing in action or have been killed, and there is a strong awareness of the contrast between the peaceful life on Tanera Mòr and the turmoil the world outside is experiencing. Living so close to the sea, they are also aware of the high cost the merchant navy paid during wartime to keep Britain supplied with necessities. "I think our life on this fring of the ocean has given Bobbie and me the deepest possible sense of responsibility about the use of imported things...The island years impressed on us most surely the sin of waste, but the war years of trying to make a home on Tanera have been an education in making do on the least possible, in being resourceful, and in never taking goods from a needy outside world if we could help it."
The book closes as Fraser Darling is finally given the opportunity he had wanted to contribute to the war effort, by using his farming expertise to advise crofters on how to work their land more efficiently and by establishing some 'demonstration' crofts. But while he is pleased with what he has been able to bring to the islands, he is also conscious of all he has learned: "Perhaps we shall never finish Tigh an Quay and it will remain a road on which we have travelled hopefully. The place and our work on it have had their influence on the outside world, for good or ill. A wind-swept doom-ridden island property has begun to flower again and the principles we have used can be applied elsewhere...And if the red stones and rough acres of Tanera could talk, they might tell another tale - of what all these islands have done to us."
Island Years is the account of the time Fraser Darling and his wife and son spent on remote Hebridean islands, using research grants to study grey seals and bird life. In Island Farm, the family move into an abandoned croft in the Summer Isles and start to bring it back into productive life.
The Fraser Darlings were obviously not afraid of hard work or hard living - while I love being out of doors, I'm not sure I'd want to spend several months living in a tent on a Hebridean island! And the amount of work they had to do to rebuild the croft was phenomenal.
Fraser Darling is brilliant at evoking atmosphere and sense of place - many times during reading this volume, I felt as if I were really there, part of the events he was describing. He does have a tendency to overwrite in some places, and to repeat himself, but this is a minor issue and doesn't detract from the pleasure of reading.
Both books have a similar flavour, although Island Farm is perhaps a little more melancholic, since the shadow of war hangs over it. Several of the naturalist friends who helped them in earlier years are now either prisoners of war, missing in action or have been killed, and there is a strong awareness of the contrast between the peaceful life on Tanera Mòr and the turmoil the world outside is experiencing. Living so close to the sea, they are also aware of the high cost the merchant navy paid during wartime to keep Britain supplied with necessities. "I think our life on this fring of the ocean has given Bobbie and me the deepest possible sense of responsibility about the use of imported things...The island years impressed on us most surely the sin of waste, but the war years of trying to make a home on Tanera have been an education in making do on the least possible, in being resourceful, and in never taking goods from a needy outside world if we could help it."
The book closes as Fraser Darling is finally given the opportunity he had wanted to contribute to the war effort, by using his farming expertise to advise crofters on how to work their land more efficiently and by establishing some 'demonstration' crofts. But while he is pleased with what he has been able to bring to the islands, he is also conscious of all he has learned: "Perhaps we shall never finish Tigh an Quay and it will remain a road on which we have travelled hopefully. The place and our work on it have had their influence on the outside world, for good or ill. A wind-swept doom-ridden island property has begun to flower again and the principles we have used can be applied elsewhere...And if the red stones and rough acres of Tanera could talk, they might tell another tale - of what all these islands have done to us."
June 14, 2022
Another captivating edition from Little Toller Press's wonderful Nature Classics series, ecologist Frank Fraser-Darling's memoirs of his life spent living on various uninhabited and remote Hebridean islands with his wife Bobbie and their son Alistair is the literary equivalent of getting a good lungful of fresh sea air.
The way the Fraser-Darlings cope with everything the wild Scottish weather can throw at them with such nonchalance and good humour, when most of us would probably have literally died, is almost comical. This small, hardy family have a lot in common with the rugged wildlife they're there to study, enduring hurricanes, howling fortnight-long gales, blizzards, tempestuous seas in tiny boats, illness and injury with only tents or tiny shacks for shelter, and all of it miles from any hospitals or civilisation.
But all of it is a small price to pay for the privilege of life in the beautiful nature of the West Isles, and reading how they made the most out of such meager means, cultivating small paradises out of what many people would see as barren, was truly inspiring, although it made me pine for a lost era. While it would be wrong to completely romanticise the time in which this book was written (the 1930s; the book has a backdrop of a world hurtling towards war, in stark contrast with their small idyll) Fraser-Darling depicts a simplicity of life in the Highlands which is fast disappearing, and his book serves as a wonderful record of that world.
The way the Fraser-Darlings cope with everything the wild Scottish weather can throw at them with such nonchalance and good humour, when most of us would probably have literally died, is almost comical. This small, hardy family have a lot in common with the rugged wildlife they're there to study, enduring hurricanes, howling fortnight-long gales, blizzards, tempestuous seas in tiny boats, illness and injury with only tents or tiny shacks for shelter, and all of it miles from any hospitals or civilisation.
But all of it is a small price to pay for the privilege of life in the beautiful nature of the West Isles, and reading how they made the most out of such meager means, cultivating small paradises out of what many people would see as barren, was truly inspiring, although it made me pine for a lost era. While it would be wrong to completely romanticise the time in which this book was written (the 1930s; the book has a backdrop of a world hurtling towards war, in stark contrast with their small idyll) Fraser-Darling depicts a simplicity of life in the Highlands which is fast disappearing, and his book serves as a wonderful record of that world.
December 18, 2024
4.5 for a comforting and haunting description of life in several locations in the Scottish Highlands during the 1930's - early 1940's. Comforting because there is something to be said for the structure of just doing the work in life that needs doing. Haunting as I think about the people who inhabited those islands in centuries past. The weather controls life in these places with ferocious winds but also charming, bluebird days. There is always the sea, but also hills and steep cliffs. The physical labor to renovate old stone homes and bring gardens and agricultural areas to life is sobering. I did have two favorite sections, the time the family spent on Eilean A Chleirich and on North Rona. While I dream of that kind of lifestyle, I don't know that I could really handle it, in fact I couldn't. I loved the hand-drawn maps of each location with names for all the geologic features. Geodha (sort of sounds like Gee-ohg-a) is a steep, narrow gully or cove.
July 18, 2018
This is a fascinating book about a dedicated enthusiast seeking peace and solitude in the Western Isles. Putting up with hardship, Fraser Darling and his wife embrace the crofting way of life in order for him to study the habits of grey seals and seabirds. They life the dream and produce worthwhile detailed research but it is not an easy life.
July 21, 2024
Vivid descriptions of island life, flora and fauna. The second half of the book describes the authors attempts to bring a derelict Croft back to productivity amidst world war. A reflection on both nature and human psyche, as well as the relationship between both those things.
April 21, 2025
An account of a family living on uninhabited Scottish islands in the 1930s. As an islophile this sounded right up my street. Sadly for me it didn't hit the mark. The majority of the narrative is descriptions of the islands' flora, fauna and landscape. Quite evocative but pretty boring too. Nothing really happens. Moreover, Darling writes very little about the rigours of living in these godforesaken places which for me was the main interest. Why is he there? How do they spend their days? Where do they wash and sleep? What do they eat? I gave up after the third of four accounts of his various island residencies.
I bought the book partly as a gift for my cousin, a keen birdwatcher and fellow Scottish traveller. I expect he'll enjoy it more completely that I did as will other fans of nature writing.
I bought the book partly as a gift for my cousin, a keen birdwatcher and fellow Scottish traveller. I expect he'll enjoy it more completely that I did as will other fans of nature writing.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews