My week surviving on an uninhabited Scottish island

Patrick Galbraith joins the Country Life podcast to talk about his week living on the uninhabited island of Scarba, off the west coast of Scotland.

The Isle of Scarba, Patrick's home for the week, as viewed from Luing.
The Isle of Scarba, Patrick Galbraith's home for the week, as viewed from Luing.
(Image credit: Stephen Finn / Alamy)

In 2019, the journalist and author Patrick Galbraith spent a week on the uninhabited island of Scarba, a speck on the map in the Inner Hebrides.

In the course of his adventure, Patrick fished and foraged, walked and wondered, and went from moments of joy and beauty to pure misery. He came to the Country Life Podcast to tell us all about it, share some of the highs and lows, and explain what motivated him to give it a go in the first place.

You can read Patrick's original article about his time on Scarba on the Country Life website. You can find Patrick's book, In Search of One Last Song: Britain's Disappearing Birds and the People Trying to Save Them, from all good bookshops.

You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts, including:

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher Guest: Patrick Galbraith Produced and edited by: Toby Keel Music: ‘Summertime’ by JuliusH Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn


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Toby Keel

Toby Keel is Country Life's Digital Director, and has been running the website and social media channels since 2016. A former sports journalist, he writes about property, cars, lifestyle, travel, nature.

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