Mugdrum Island lies in the Firth of Tay

Firth of Tay

The Firth of Tay is a firth in Scotland between the council areas of Fife, Perth and Kinross, the City of Dundee and Angus, into which Scotland's largest river in terms of flow, the River Tay, empties....

, offshore from the town of Newburgh

Newburgh, Fife

Newburgh is a royal burgh of Fife, Scotland having a population of 2040 . Newburgh has grown little since 1901 when the population was counted at 1904 persons....

, Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

, in the east of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

Geography

Mugdrum is low-lying and reedy, with the "North Deep" and "South Deep" channels on either side of the island. It covers an area of 32 acres (129,499.5 m²).

History

Mugdrum's name is from muc-dhruim, the Scottish Gaelic for hog-back. However, this was applied to the coast opposite, which part it was named for.

The reeds were once harvested for thatching

Thatching

Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...

 and for protecting potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es during transshipment

Transshipment

Transshipment or Transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, and then from there to yet another destination....

. Until 1926, a 50 acres (202,343 m²) farm grew cereals, potatoes and turnip

Turnip

The turnip or white turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock...

s in the island's alluvial soil. It is now a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

under the stewardship of the Tay Valley Wildfowlers' Association.

The Laing Museum in Newburgh preserves the stuffed body of a two-headed kitten born in the 19th century on Mugdrum.

External links

• Ariel photograph of Island