Shear terror...

The Norse inhabitants of Rum believed that the eerie noises drifting down from the Cuillin hills at night were the sounds of trolls, even going so far as to name one of Askival’s neighbours ‘Trollabhal’ – Hill of the Trolls. In truth, these sounds were the calls of shearwaters returning to the colony. But even knowing this may have given them cause for concern. In 1014 a Viking fleet was forced to defend itself with sword and shield during three nights of massed attack as hundreds of shearwaters – described by the Norsemen as ‘iron-billed ravens’ – flocked back to their colony.