The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Handa island ranger job attracts 100 applications
Almost 100 people, including many from around the world, have applied to look after 200,000 birds on an isolated Scottish island.
A seasonal ranger is wanted on uninhabited Handa which is also home to Britain’s remotest and most expensive public toilet.
You cannot easily skip to the loo, or the shops or pub for that matter, on Handa, off the north-west coast of Sutherland.
But more than 7,000 visitors flock to the remote isle every summer and in growing numbers because it is now a skip and a jump from the booming North Coast 500 road route.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), which manages Handa in conjunction with owners Scourie Estate, advertised for a seasonal ranger and when the deadline closed on Monday there were nearly 100 applicants for the £14,500-a-year post.
Even job seekers in Australia and New Zealand applied.
“Our team is still processing applications, but there have been almost 100 applications for the Handa ranger post. A number of couples have also applied on a job share basis,” said a spokesman for the SWT.
“We’ve had interest from Scotland, England and Wales, elsewhere in Europe such as France, Germany and Italy, as well as Australia, New Zealand and the USA.”
“We’ve had interest from Australia and New Zealand”