Climate in St Kilda

- August has the highest temperature with an average of upto 12 degrees.

- At around February/March time the temperature tends to be at its lowest, being roughly 4 degrees.
- It is more common for the climate to consist of cloudy overcast than heat from sunshine.
- St Kilda is very much familiar with the passing of storms and heavy gusts of wind.
- Being mountainous with uneven ground results in foggy higher regions.

Fun Fact: The fresh spring water lakes in St kilda provides a water supply for occupants.
 Access to Resources
For centuries long, St Kilda was home to hundreds of residents who performed
practical duties in order to recieve essential resources to survive in
the village.

- Islanders would eat meat from local seabirds and fishes that were caught near
the ocean shore.
- Jobs included fishing, farming, weaving, spinning wool and gathering supplies
- Puffins were used as bait to catch seabirds, gannets skin helped produced shoes
and sewing thread was made from feathers
- Oil from fulmars and other birds created fuel for lamps

- Potatoes and oats would be grown in summer and saved for winter.
- Main courses would most commonly be oatmeal, salted mutton and salted fowl.
- Although they managed to survive with the facilities available, meals lacked
variety asnothing new was accessed i.e. fruit and vegetables
weren’t grown – other than outdated potatoes.

- Travellers would often deliver resources such as tobacco, sugar, tea and flour.
- They would often bring tourists. These tourists were fascinated by the genuine
happiness of residents living in this environment.
- Islanders took full advantage of tourists by selling the most random objects such
as socks and bandanas as ‘souvenirs’

- Poor weather conditions often disrupted food source availability and prevented
crop growth meaning islanders would starve.
 Nursing
- Healthcare was difficult as specific customs and requirements must be set for individuals that locals were unable to keep up with.
- Health support would either be too expensive, or difficult to transport too as there were very few places on ecould go to recieve this help.
- Medical records weren’t traced so diseases spread or number of deaths were unknown.
- This was up until the Scottish government later supplied financial support and a fully qualified nurse, Nurse McLennan, with her own
cottage to live in St Kilda. She soon reported the outburst of influenza.
- Nursing progressed when she later organised a first aid training course for local women. She used her own resources as well as St Kildas
facilities to produce treatments for common illnesses.
- Unfortunately, Nurse McLennan considered St Kilda “Imprisonment” and disliked the way of life there.
- Between 1915 & 1930, 8 more professional nurses came to St Kilda. All of whom complained about the lack of fresh food options and
the dreadful weather conditions there.

“Do you know that St Kildan men developed large muscular feet and ankles
over time due to constant rock climbing in search of eggs and birds? Here is the
a comparison between a St Kildan's (right) and a mainlander's feet (left).”

- https://twitter.com/stkildants/status/1356945312238206977
 Evacuation
- In 1861, the traditional alignment of thatched ‘blackhouses’ positioned on the main road of Hirta had been replaced by sixteen individual cottages
with cramped households. Each included chimneys and slate roofing.

- Island visitors would record the number of inhabitants in Hirta in each of their visits. They did not, however, track the more personal information
such as the names or specifc details of each individual resident.
- In 1727, an upsurge of smallpox disease caused the population to dramatically decrease, with the island occupying from around 180 residents, to
42. This increased to 88 people by 1758.
- In 2015, a private revelation of recorded documents for each individual resident had been discovered. Stating that during 1766, 52 females and 38
males lived in St Kilda, consuming a total of 3240 eggs and 1620 birds daily.
- Throughout the 20th Century, there became huge reductions in the amount of occupants in St Kilda.
- With less people, the community struggled to complete survival duties.
- In 1930, the last death took place in St Kilda. It was the accepted that the Island should remain abandoned.
- After all the deaths, there were only 36 residents left in St Kilda by 1928 living in 10/16 homes
- Sustaining the traditions of farming and fishing became difficult so it was decided that leaving would be reasonable
- People were beginning to leave which left the remaining islanders struggling to perform their tasks
- By 1986, St Kilda became a Heritage Site for Scotland

- Battling against weather, land and ocean current

- Visits would be in complete isolation, with no resources, stores or hotels

Images from - https://geographical.co.uk/places/item/3805-spotlight-on-st-kilda- image from: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18682154.90-years-since-st-kilda-evacuated/

those-who-leave-and-those-who-stay
 Traditional cottages in the 1900s
How the historic black houses were built:

Ropes would be pro-

Washed up timber found by duced by heather and
Fire could brew within shore were used to construct straw to thatch the roof
the home for warmth the frame
and the thatch would
allow smoke to escape

Stones would then secure

these ropes and provide
additional protection
from wind

Clay and turf was used

for the tops of the wall

Earth mortar attached

the pieces of stone used
to build the structure
Site Analysis

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This represents the degree at which St Kilda

directs to from Birmingham.
 Images of the site

Images from: https://earth.google.com/web/search/st+kilda/@57.83481322,-8.563544,-0.64205165a,19813.91983132d,35y,0.00001561h,0t,0r/data=CnMaSRJDCiUweDQ4ZjJiYzRiNmU5NGU3MDE6MHgzZGY3ODE1MDE0Y-

jRjNDA5GQfihinb6kxAIR-1LtqIICHAKghzdCBraWxkYRgDIAEiJgokCYMq2u6m8kNAEURcV-GFEVHAGYKDrk7lDmJAISZv0oOIBGbA
 Plant Agriculture
Two types of grass:

Gaps – Smaller portions of grass which could be eaten through out the day. Included lots of clover which requires no fertilizer and stays green all year.
Biomass is higher in summer.

Tussocks – Larger grass which becomes natural, raw matter produced from leftover summer grass during winter. Higher biomass than summer. Suits the
climate well as they grow in low temperature conditions which is common in St Kilda. However due to the affects of climate change, biomass
decreased slightly overtime.

The availability of these plants hugely affected the population of sheep in St Kilda. Due to the consumption of grass by sheep, an increase in sheep would
result to a drop in the amount of tussocks grown in the grassland.

After 2005, tussocks became rare which made distribution and food intake difficult for sheep as not much plant source was available during winter.
 Crop Growth
In order for crops to grow, they require:

Both ocean release and respiration are able to release carbon dioxide which benefits
Carbon dioxide (CO2) the process of growing crops. An issue with this could be the lack of people living
in the building to release enough CO2 and the distance of the ocean from the plot.

Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen can be recieved from water and air. Crops are able
Nutrients to recieve the right nutrients via these sources as St Kilda can provide fresh air and
natural local lake water.

With properly checked fresh soil and mixed manure, potatoes, beet, radish and
Sunlight carrots require minimal sunlight if any as they grow beneath soil underground.
This should be the specific variety of crops to grow for a green house entreprise.

Water is an easily accessible resource in St Kilda as the small island surrounds

Water (H2O) itself by ocean water. As well as this, lake water can be locally available especially
in Hirta.

For crops such as carrots and many other vegetables, the correct temperature
Appropriate temperature should be between 60 and 70 degrees. This is difficult to achieve in the conditions
of St Kilda however with an extensively thermal interior of a greenhouse structure
it could work.
Specific location - Spot H