NARRATOR: We are a nation of islands.

PAT O'DOHERTY: Come on, you two!

NARRATOR: Over 4,000 are scattered along our coastlines, with hundreds more in our lakes, lochs, and rivers.

VIDURA DASA: Being surrounded by water, it has a very calming effect on the mind.

NARRATOR: Many of these islands are tiny.

Many are remote.

AMIE PERREE: I love so much about island life.

NARRATOR: But over 200 are called home.

[sweeping music] ROC SANDFORD: I don't own it because you don't own an island.

If anything, it owns me.

NARRATOR: With rugged cliffs and sandy shores, wildlife and family, and lives very different to most of our own.

IAIN MILLER: Going over the edge here is a bit cheeky.

Shall we?

NARRATOR: These are the stories of Our Tiny Islands.

AMIE PERREE: The fact that you just walk out your door and you're straight in to sea, that sense of freedom is amazing.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: This time, the incredible beach runways of Barra, a tiny island with the smallest cathedral in the UK, the fascinating street life of Rutland, and father-son bonding on the crystal clear seas around Sark.

The island of Barra sits around 60 miles from the Scottish mainland, near the bottom of a chain of islands known as the Outer Hebrides.

This busy island is 8 miles long and 7 miles wide, with a population that's currently booming at 1,174 people.

It's an island known for its rich Gaelic culture and stunning beaches, one of which doubles up as a runway, but only when the tide is low enough.

It's 8:00 in the morning, less than three hours until high tide and the airport's fire team are getting ready for the 8:22 scheduled flight from Glasgow.

There's a lot to do.

The fire watch are responsible for safety.

And Iain, who was born on the island, is hoisting the windsocks.

Basically, when the watch is open, so that's kind of like when the proper operational hours of the airport are open, you have to have the windsocks up.

Obviously, the windsock is for the pilot's benefit.

But it's also a kind of marker to let the public know that, don't basically go onto the beach.

NARRATOR: Inside the terminal, Phil, the fire watch manager, is getting ready to begin his shift.

Welcome to Barra Airport.

This is a brand-new terminal.

And we have a great cafe down the end there, serving fantastic food.

We have our check-in desk here and our departure point, very unique to any other airport that you'd like to come across.

It's a very small airport.

It's not like anything you'll see in London or a big city.

It's very special and unique to Barra.

It's the only airport in the world that has regularly scheduled flights that land here on the beach.

Our daily schedule is very much dictated by the tide.

Peak times are different.

The peak times at the cafe are different.

Everything is very much driven by the tidal schedule.

Generally, we have two flights a day.

But in the summer, the schedule will change to three on the weekends and one in the wintertime.

The flights can carry up to 14 passengers.

So we would have 28, up to 28, 42 people coming in in the summer and 14 on the winter.

NARRATOR: There have been scheduled flights on Barra's beach runway since 1936.

And the daily arrivals draw in quite a crowd.

Luckily for them, the wind conditions mean that the plane can land in front of the terminal building.

Barra information ops 1, permission to enter runway areas to conduct a beach inspection.

RADIO OPERATOR: Ops 1, permission approved.

Report vacated.

Permission approved.

Report when vacated.

On the beach here, there's three runways.

It's obviously handier for pilots because they always want to try and land into wind.

So I think there's only one wind direction that's a bit dodgy for us.

It's kind of southerly.

It just comes off the hill there, and it kind of swoops down.

So that's a wee bit dodgy.

But you know, that's one direction out of 360.

NARRATOR: Before the first plane of the day can land, the team have many jobs, including making sure the runway is clear after last night's high tide.

IAIN BEGGS: Right now, I'm just looking at the beach surface, the kind of conditions.

Is it wet?

Is there standing water, big pools?

Also looking out for birds.

You can see a few just on the left-hand side, a couple of plovers and some common gulls, and also looking for any rocks which might come in with the tide.

You can get stones as big as your head that come up with the seaweed.

You do get some strange stuff that do come up.

I think some people have found live dolphins before and managed to get them back into the water.

So there's a few strange objects you might find.

Yeah.

So it's mostly just algae, actually.

There's no stone inside it.

But just even for the pilot's peace of mind, just to know that there's no rock in there, I'll just get rid of it.

NARRATOR: The runway is safe, and anticipation is growing.

Barra's first flight of the day is due any minute.

IAIN BEGGS: It's a major tourist attraction, very unique.

It's not the only one in the world where the plane lands on a beach, but it's only scheduled flights that land on the beach.

Sometimes you get big busloads turning up.

This is very quiet.

I think it's because it's so early in the morning.

But the afternoon, you could have 100, 200 looking at the plane.

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Safely on the ground at Barra Airport, the fire team also double up as baggage handlers.

PHILLIP KLAR: It's really very quick to unload the plane.

We work as a team here, get the bags unloaded.

Generally, we will have the bags here before the passengers arrive.

IAIN BEGGS: There's only two bags today.

But there's quite a lot of passengers, so that kind of tends to tell you that they're just day trippers to come in the first flight, stay for a few hours just to say they've landed on the beach, and then head off again.

NARRATOR: Today's pilot is Joseph.

It's a route he always looks forward to.

Definitely, I remember the first time I came-- came in here when I was line training.

It was really special because it's not actually a solid, like, tarmac.

It's a bit more forgiving.

It makes your landings seem nicer than they might actually be.

And the takeoff, like you'll see, is interesting because we pop a wheelie to protect the nosewheel because it's quite bumpy.

PHILLIP KLAR: This is a fantastic place to work.

I've spent over 20 years previously working in submarines, 15 years working in the nuclear industry in Canada.

But there's not a lot that can beat this view.

IAIN BEGGS: I was at a stage in my life where I didn't want to be moving around anymore.

I think I'd lived on six different islands in Glasgow and all these places.

And I thought, no, I've kind of had enough of that.

I do want to be home and just settle down and enjoy myself.

There's a saying in Barra that says, [non-english].

And it means, basically, as far out as Barra is, you'll always reach there.

So it's always that you can be as far away as you want, but you're always going to come back home.

We're literally just doing startups in the aircraft.

So it's one-- engine two first.

So I'll give him a wee signal for engine two.

So basically, I'm just looking for any flames when you're starting off, make sure everything's all right when the engine's starting.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Many tiny islands don't need an airport, as the mainland's only a stone's throw away.

But however close it is, the strong sense of island community and identity remains as firm as ever.

Great Cumbrae sits in the lower part of the firth of Clyde, a couple of miles from the Ayrshire town of Largs.

It's 3 and 1/2 miles long and 2 miles wide, with a thriving population of 1,376 people.

Most of them live in the island's only town, Millport, which has also become the unofficial name for the island.

Millport's been a popular tourist destination since the 1830s, when steamers brought visitors down the Clyde from the city of Glasgow.

But behind all the ice cream shops is a resilient community.

And at its heart is Cumbrae's community forum.

Lorraine's been on the board since they formed 20 years ago.

LORRAINE FRASER: I'm a third-generation Millportonian because my grandmother was born here, and my mother and I was born on the island in 1963 at the local hospital.

Lived here all my life, never moved, never lived anywhere else.

NARRATOR: It's a busy time of year for Cumbrae.

This week, children are graduating from the island's only primary school, and the forum are helping by providing free new uniforms for their next school on the mainland.

Need to get my pen 'cause I've spelt someone's name wrong.

Morning.

Morning.

LORRAINE FRASER: The Cumbrae Forum started out as the elderly forum in 2005.

And it's grown from there.

So now we're for every single member of our community, from the youngest baby to the oldest.

A cardigan, what size was it, Eleanor?

13.

How do you know what is a cardigan?

What's-- CATH TURNBULL: It tells you on it there.

Black cardigan, 13.

There you go.

ELEANOR BROWNE: That's what it says.

LORRAINE FRASER: Being this community we are, we know the people that need help.

Most of our work is done very confidentially.

Is that a jumper?

No, that's a hoodie.

Right.

That's a jumper.

We have great fun.

We have loads of laughs.

Yep.

That's us.

That's the ties in.

So that's the bags completed, ladies.

Well done, and thank you for your help.

I'm just getting organized to go up to Plant to Plate.

NARRATOR: Plant to Plate is another scheme Lorraine's involved in that teaches the island's five- to eight-year-olds how to grow food, particularly useful on an island with plenty of rain and accessible, fertile soil.

Today's their last session before the summer holidays.

The tomatoes, they planted from seed.

And there are the courgettes with the flowers on them.

A local man that likes to come and pick the flowers, and he cooks them, he's Italian.

And his name is Luigi.

Everybody knows Luigi.

He used to own the Ritz Cafe.

It's great for me because it's a school where I went to.

And it's great memories for me to go back.

Remember, two weeks ago, you planted your pumpkin seeds.

Yes.

Well, they've all grown massively.

So you're now going to plant them into one of the raised beds.

They come here with their school uniforms on.

They don't mind getting muddy.

I can smell a tomato.

LORRAINE FRASER: You can smell the tomatoes.

They smell good, don't they?

Put some of this in.

Look.

Right there.

My hands are dirty now.

Your hands are dirty.

Oh, well, that's-- you can get them washed, can't you?

I want the children to enjoy being outdoors and to teach them how important it is for people that live on islands to grow their own food and to have a lot of different skills.

There are farms on the island that they could have jobs in the farms or go on to be farmers themselves.

We just hope that this is a seed planted for them for their future.

Once you've got your strawberry, bring it over to me and let somebody else in.

OK?

Excellent.

Excellent.

Yeah.

They're going to all get washed before we eat them.

You've got three, Brodie, got strawberries, carrots.

We can give those to the rabbits.

Yeah.

Who's got a rabbit.

Has anybody got a rabbit?

I have a Guinea pig.

You have a Guinea pig.

They like them, do they?

I have fish.

I don't know if fish will eat carrots.

I don't know whether they will or not.

NARRATOR: With the harvesting complete, it's now time to taste all their hard work.

I've prepared a wee salad here from stuff that we've grown in the garden, spring onion.

And we've got-- Cucumber.

LORRAINE FRASER: Courgette.

- Courgette.

LORRAINE FRASER: Courgette.

OK.

Nearly.

It encourages the children to try vegetables that they say they don't like.

And 9 times out of 10, they do.

They like what they're tasting.

Make sure you get a wee bit of everything, Olivia, a wee bit tomato.

You like that?

- Yeah, I like tomato.

You like tomato.

Yeah.

What's your favorite?

I just like it all.

LORRAINE FRASER: You like it all.

Good.

Louisa.

I like coming to play and grow things because it's really fun, like, growing and playing around while we're doing it.

I like when we dig for the potatoes because Toby and me pretend we're digging to somewhere, We dig to China.

Yeah.

Oh.

You're welcome.

Have a good summer.

You too.

[inspiring music] NARRATOR: Although many tiny islands around our coasts have thriving communities, some were abandoned, their stories coming to an end.

But for those with connections, they are never forgotten.

And sometimes, new chapters can be written.

I was just checking for oil there.

NARRATOR: Denis runs a tourist boat service from Burtonport in Donegal.

And we do that on a daily basis, you know.

NARRATOR: His dad was born on Rutland Island.

And although Denis lives on the mainland, the island is still a huge part of his life.

Today, Denis is going over to make repairs to the remarkable house his dad used to live in.

I love going back to the island.

There's hardly a day goes by that I wouldn't.

Even go on Christmas to help feed the cows there.

NARRATOR: Rutland is just over a mile from the Irish fishing village of Burtonport.

It's only a mile long and just under a mile wide, with a varying summer population, but only two permanent residents all year round.

DENIS O'BOYLE: You would have to have your own boat to get to Rutland island, really.

It's just about a mile across from here.

It only takes us three or four minutes to get over.

That's breezy enough today now.

But we can always make a crossing here because we're sheltered by the small islands, you know.

I suppose you could call it a natural breakwater.

I made the crossing at least 300 times in the year, I would say, if not more.

The name of the island is Inis Mhic an Doirn, which means island of the son of Dorn.

But it was renamed after a visit from the Duke of Rutland.

It was renamed Rutland island.

The local people would still calling it Inis Mhic an Doirn.

NARRATOR: Denis's dad's house is special.

It's on Duck Street, which is famous for being one of the best preserved 18th-century terraced streets in the whole of Ireland.

DENIS O'BOYLE: [irish].

It means "O'Boyle's house."

It's the old family home, goes back generations.

My father was born and reared in this house.

And my grandfather was born there, his father before him.

We go back a fair bit.

I can remember the last people leaving Duck Street, I think it might have been the early '70s.

And then some relatives of ours renovated a couple of the old houses over the years, bit by bit.

And then we would come in for the summer.

When my children were young, we were in here all the time.

We used to come in at Easter, and we wouldn't go back out till September.

They had a great childhood.

They were swimming, kayaking.

Sometimes we had to go down at 11 o'clock at night to get them out of the water.

There's nine houses altogether on the street that's just mainly relatives from the island.

Their grandparents or their parents came from the island.

Just straightening up the railings here because with the harsh winters we get in here, there's a sore on the timber.

NARRATOR: Back in the day, despite its small stature, Inis Mhic an Doirn was a big deal.

Denis's street was built in 1778 to house workers who would process and cure huge quantities of herring on the island.

DENIS O'BOYLE: This building was the old kippering station.

Although it was demolished and rebuilt, but it was built on the same scale.

You know, the high part there, they had three chimneys.

And there was three chambers in it, granite wall between each chamber.

NARRATOR: In kippering stations across Ulster, herrings were traditionally split, hung on lats, and cured over smoldering oak wood, creating a distinctive flavor.

There was up to 300 people working here.

There was also a kelp factory on the island and a factory that made sails and ropes.

Burton Conyngham was the man that was behind it all.

And he secured a grant that time of 66,000 to develop the island.

And they were supposed to build a bridge to the mainland.

But the herring fishery failed then for two years in a row, and that all went belly up.

NARRATOR: Duck Street is all that's left intact from the island's heady days of industry.

And descendants like Denis are determined to keep it standing.

DENIS O'BOYLE: I'll be very proud of my island roots.

We have electricity since 1956.

We have the fiber optic broadband here this last, maybe two or three years.

I have the oil in as well, like oil heating.

Water, that's our only problem.

Most of us are working off a stream.

So we're fiber optic, but we have no water.

[poignant music] There's something unique about waking up on an island.

It's very hard to explain.

♪ ♪ You wake up in the morning and hear-- and you don't hear the sound of traffic.

It's very peaceful.

It's very peaceful.

It'd be very easy to fall in love with the island all right, you know.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: 460 miles from the wind-battered West Coast of Ireland sits the Channel Islands.

Around 20 miles from the Normandy Coast of France, one of the tiniest of the inhabited islands in this archipelago is Sark.

It's just 3 and 1/2 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, with a year-round population of 562.

This small island has a rich maritime culture and a big tourist industry.

Two people that know that well are Morgan and his father, George.

Morgan should be coming in now.

Morning.

You all right?

NARRATOR: Morgan is a tour guide on the family boat, the Dorado, that's operating out of the island's Creux harbor.

It's a calm morning, and with no immediate tours booked, they've decided to do a spot of fishing.

Thank you very much.

Let's put those cushions away.

No.

We don't want blood all over those.

MORGAN GUILLE: You got lots of faith in us.

[chuckles] I run the boat tours around the island from about April to October.

I took over from my father, who'd been doing it for about 47 years.

Dad's always been a bit of a face of Sark, actually.

The family goes back 460 years.

NARRATOR: Sark was first officially settled in 1565, when it was colonized to defend against pirates and potential French invasion.

Coming up on our port side is the French boat.

Bonjour!

MORGAN GUILLE: Sark is definitely a very maritime little island.

GEORGE GUILLE: Just look around you.

It's relaxing, peaceful, and it's beautiful.

What more could you ask for?

And the pleasure of being out with my son, life is good.

MORGAN GUILLE: I was raised out on the boat with Dad.

Part of living over here is enjoying the sea.

GEORGE GUILLE: There's only razorbills out there.

NARRATOR: As well as many seabirds, Sark's temperate waters are also home to a wide variety of sea life, including three species of dolphin.

MORGAN GUILLE: Nice day for her, isn't it?

NARRATOR: They're normally seen in pods of 10 to 15, with the eastern side of Sark a particular hotspot.

Sarkees often see dolphins as good omens, aquatic guardians, reassuring sailors of safe passage.

MORGAN GUILLE: We'll head out to the little fishing spot.

It's just a bit further out.

GEORGE GUILLE: We're going to try for a few mackerel at the moment.

But hopefully, if we don't, we might get some pollock.

Be nice if we catch something.

Cool.

Glassy smooth.

Careful, your fingers, no messing around, hey, Pop?

OK.

GEORGE GUILLE: You getting some?

MORGAN GUILLE: No, no.

Nothing yet.

We're not catching much here, are we?

All right.

Come on, Pop, show us how it's done.

Look.

I've been trying desperately hard, Morgan.

Maybe the dolphin's already been through, Dad.

GEORGE GUILLE: Yeah.

Why don't we whip around to the back of the Burons.

MORGAN GUILLE: All right.

NARRATOR: Morgan had better catch something soon.

A tour is booked to start in half an hour.

MORGAN GUILLE: We originally had a beautiful wooden boat.

She was one of the last locally built ones built on Sark.

She was about 42 years old.

And very sadly, a couple of years ago, in the winter, she got caught out by a storm, broke through the mooring, drifted around, and ended up on the beach just over in the corner there.

She was sunk.

It was a little bit like losing a member of the family.

We grew up with that boat.

So when it was lost, it was not just the emotional cost of it going down, it was also the fact that it was-- it is my business.

The following year, I was looking for another boat.

Someone mentioned, why not come and have a look at the Dorado, which is this boat?

We bought her and refurbished it.

The whole community came together.

And I did get a lot of support, especially from the local marine engineer.

He worked tirelessly for months to help get us operating again.

We're extremely grateful for him, but for everybody else on the island that contributed in.

It was good to see everyone come together.

Somewhere around here, you reckon?

Be nice if we can catch a few fish.

Let's see.

Oh, got a little one.

Yeah.

GEORGE GUILLE: Oh, a nice size one.

We've got a nice mackerel here.

NARRATOR: Success and a lovely morning of father-son time, island style.

Boy, boy, oh, boy.

MORGAN GUILLE: This is for us today.

They're pretty fish, aren't they?

Lovely looking animals.

Take our one big mackerel back home.

Hey?

- Yeah.

MORGAN GUILLE: Just our one lonely little mackerel.

GEORGE GUILLE: One is better than none.

MORGAN GUILLE: Yeah.

[stirring music] NARRATOR: The tiny islands around our shores are well used to welcoming tourists from all over the world, showcasing their natural beauty, rich history, and culture.

Just a couple of miles off the Ayrshire Coast, the Isle of Cumbrae is no stranger to holidaymakers.

Most are day trippers catching the regular ferry from Largs to the island town of Millport, where the majority of the islanders live and work.

But away from the bustle of tourists, outlying farms continue a way of island life that has existed here for centuries.

Come on.

NARRATOR: Rena and her husband Alistair have 350 acres to the north of the island, where they have a herd of 100 beef cattle.

Do you remember their names?

No.

Angus and Hamish.

Oh, was this a calf's name?

Right.

NARRATOR: They're calving at the moment.

And Alistair's dad, Willie, is helping out.

RENA MCINTYRE: I initially came to the island as a day tripper.

I was on my time off from work and drove down to Largs.

And the friend I was with asked me, what's over there?

Where's that ferry going?

What's over there?

And I had no idea.

And so I says, let's go over and have a look.

That's a big boy.

That was the start of a love relationship with the island.

NARRATOR: 17 years ago, Rena married Willie's son Alistair and moved to the farm.

RENA MCINTYRE: Willie was born and bred on the island, actually on the farm.

So he's 92.

And he's still working away, aren't you?

Yeah.

Trying to.

And when it was his 80th birthday came up, and we had a wee party for him.

But it was first thing in the morning.

And he asked, was it OK to go into our bedroom, which I thought was a bit of a strange question.

And I said, yeah, that's fine, but why?

And he told me the story that that was the room he was born in.

He was born in the front room.

And the doctor, was it McTabish?

WILLIE MCINTYRE: Dr.

McTabish.

RENA MCINTYRE: The story goes that he picked him up as a baby and took him to the window and basically said to him, so one day, this is going to be yours.

So when he was 80, he wanted to go back out and look at the same view that he'd looked at when he was initially born.

In his head, Willie's 21.

He wants to be involved in everything.

And where possible, we try and make adaptions so that he can feel involved because that's what keeps him going.

NARRATOR: Now the small calves are fed, it's time to check on the rest of the herd who are being moved to fresh pasture.

Have you got your stick?

Go and get your stick.

When you're working with cattle, you always have a stick handy just in case they turn on you or anything like that.

Not that I've known that to happen so far.

But there's always a first time.

RENA MCINTYRE: Sometimes he uses a stick to scratch the cow's back and the bull's back.

He goes like that and gives him a wee, don't you?

Scratch bits that they can't get to.

I could scratch bits that I can't get to as well.

Watch it.

[cows mooing] Open the gate, Willie!

On you go then.

That's brilliant.

Willie.

Hi you, big girls.

You like the view.

NARRATOR: The vista may be stunning and island grass good quality.

But farms surrounded by sea do come with unique challenges.

RENA MCINTYRE: The biggest difficulty working on an island is cost.

You have a ferry to pay for if you want to-- any machinery, you have to pay to get that machinery over.

Any manure or fertilizer feed, all of those things have to be brought in they're at a cost.

Sometimes it can be difficult when you're at calving, and you have an issue that you need a vet.

The good thing on the island is that the farmers will talk to each other, and they'll support each other ALISTAIR MCINTYRE: No bother.

right?

Right.

Smashing.

OK.

Let's go then.

NARRATOR: With the morning's jobs done, it's time to relax with a trip to Millport and a special treat because Rena has arranged a surprise for Willie with the help of her friend Eileen.

RENA MCINTYRE: Eileen will be better known on the island for introducing the Cycling Without Age Scotland program.

Woohoo!

Here we go.

Are we heavy, Eileen?

- Nope.

You're as light as a feather RENA MCINTYRE: People who have got less mobility can go out, and they have what's called a pilot behind, doing all the work for them cycling.

I feel like royalty here.

Well, do you know what you have to do?

You forgot?

That's it.

You practice.

Let me see yours.

You can salute them.

He's doing the bowing.

I'll do the-- So when was the last time you were on a pushbike?

WILLIE MCINTYRE: I can't remember.

RENA MCINTYRE: Was it when you were a kid?

WILLIE MCINTYRE: Oh, no.

It wasn't that long ago, maybe two years.

RENA MCINTYRE: Two years ago, you were on a bike?

WILLIE MCINTYRE: Ah, aye.

RENA MCINTYRE: If you ever speak to anybody on the mainland about Millport or Cumbrae, the first thing they'll say is, oh, I cycled around the island.

WILLIE MCINTYRE: I'm enjoying it very much.

OK.

Who's this guy over here in the water?

WILLIE MCINTYRE: That's the Crocodile Rock.

It was identified by a drunk that came out of the tavern.

Him and his cronies got flung out at closing time.

And he says, Christ, there's a crocodile down there.

So how long did it take from that sort of incident to somebody actually going and painting it a crocodile?

WILLIE MCINTYRE: Oh, I think it was painted the next day.

RENA MCINTYRE: And it's been getting painted ever since.

Where did Cathy work?

She worked in the cooperative bakery.

So where was that?

It was next door to the cooperative.

RENA MCINTYRE: And how did you meet Cathy?

WILLIE MCINTYRE: School.

RENA MCINTYRE: Did you meet Cathy at school?

WILLIE MCINTYRE: Yeah.

RENA MCINTYRE: Did you fancy her?

Did she fancy you?

[poignant music] NARRATOR: 130 miles away, the Hebridean island of Barra is also no stranger to visitors, although getting here is a bit more tricky.

It takes one and a quarter hours to fly from Glasgow to Barra, into the only airport in the world that has scheduled flights landing on a beach.

Keeping everything safe is a dedicated team of aviation firefighters, one of whom is Iain, who grew up on the island.

IAIN BEGGS: Our key main duty is to respond to any incidents that involves the aircraft.

To do that, you need to have your appliances all ready.

So what we do is, we have a daily checking that includes checking any equipment that we do use.

You don't want to be responding to an incident, and you haven't done your checks to find out that your pumps isn't starting or anything like that.

So basically, what I'm doing right now is just the daily checks on the fire trucks, just to check the lights are all working, there's no damage, levels are all OK, also checking the monitor that monitors the hose at the front, essentially, and the pump at the back, just to make sure that everything's fit for service.

Next thing to do after daily checks is you want to do a daily mileage, just to make sure that there's no faults with the vehicle.

NARRATOR: Like many young people on Barra, Iain moved away from the island for study and work when he was 18.

He returned just over a year ago.

IAIN BEGGS: I remember when I was 24, I was staying in Stornoway at the time, and I decided to go a walk down to the shore one evening.

And I was the first time I thought, no, I'm actually really missing home.

And it brought in a lot of this, what in Gaelic we would call "cianalas," which is, broadly speaking, you would say today, it would be homesickness, if you were to translate it.

But it also brings in different kind of words.

It can bring in nostalgia.

It can bring in just a longing to be home.

It can-- memories, your childhood.

So it brings in all these words together.

And I kind of felt that quite strongly at that age.

And then I kind of got past that.

And then when I was in Islay when I was 32, it kind of came back again.

And I thought, no, I'm pretty much done, I think, moving about.

I do want to move back home.

In terms of the job just now, continue on as a firefighter for a wee while longer, then hopefully, move up into crew manager position.

Also, I've been working towards becoming a FISO, a Flight Information Service Officer.

As a bit of prep work for that, today I'm going to be shadowing Angela up in the tower.

Barra Information Ops 4, permission to access all beach areas to conduct level 2 inspection.

RADIO OPERATOR: Commission approved.

Report vacated.

- Roger.

Permission approved.

Will report when vacated.

NARRATOR: Over at the terminal, watch manager Phil is squeezing in a detailed runway check before this afternoon's flight.

With two high tides a day, runway inspections are constant.

PHILLIP KLAR: On a monthly basis, we come out onto the beach here and conduct what we call a level 2 inspection.

And really what we're looking for is lots of uneven surfaces, any debris as well.

It's important for the planes when they land, we need a nice surface for them.

But it also keeps the condition of the beach nice as well.

You can see we're right now up to the tide.

This is an uneven area here.

You can see that it's raised here.

And this is directly in line with the runway marker.

And it gets worse the further on we go.

It's well known, this area up here is pretty bad.

See the green stuff?

This is all the algae.

And it's important that we mark all these on the map as well so that we can come and scrape them off, because they can have a big effect on the surface of the beach.

So it's a race against the tide now.

We can see the tide's coming in.

It's past the marker post for runway 29 already.

IAIN BEGGS: This is the Barra Information Tower, so this is where the pilots will speak to Barra Airport.

Watch them as aircraft at 10 miles.

Let's call finals for runway 07.

ANGELA: Roger.

IAIN BEGGS: We're known as FISOs, Flight Information Officers, so that they give basic service, whereas a flight controller, they can tell aircraft what to do in the sky, stuff like that.

We can't really do that.

We can only advise.

ANGELA: 08006 knots.

Land at your discretion.

CREW: What's Iain like as a trainee?

Very enthusiastic.

Keen to learn.

She's full of rubbish.

I've got to be nice cause he's going to be making the coffees.

[laughter] On final.

IAIN BEGGS: So that's-- it's just been called final, so it's just ready to basically land now.

So it's in line with the runway.

[thoughtful music] ♪ ♪ First thoughts when I moved back to the island was, it has gotten busier, I would say, with tourists and people coming in and moving here.

But some people integrate fantastically into the community and their assets.

You won't find many other places around Scotland that's as remote as us.

But for me, it's not-- I would say Glasgow is far more remote, as in personally.

I can come out in the road in Barra, and I can meet 20 or 30 people that I know and have a conversation.

You can't do that in Glasgow.

So is it remote?

Yeah, technically.

But for me, no.

As the doors just closed to the aircraft after their day in Barra, they're heading back on the plane back to Glasgow now.

This is the last flight, scheduled flight, of the day.

So what would happen now is, we have 15 minutes where we just stand down in case there's any problems with the aircraft that has to come back.

After 15 minutes, that's us, But essentially, the watch is closed.

And we'll head home.

NARRATOR: In Burtonport in County Donegal in the northwest of Ireland, Denis is filling up the boat, ready to make another short trip over to Rutland, a tiny island that is a massive part of his life.

Rutland Island, Inis Mhic an Doirn in Irish, is part of a group of islands that sit just off County Donegal's west coast.

Only two people live on the island full time.

They are heavily outnumbered by Denis's herd of 26 beef cows, which he's come back over to feed.

Come on!

DENIS O'BOYLE: Ah, well, I enjoy it very much.

Like, when I'm up here working with the cattle.

I'm in heaven.

You do get attached to the animals, too.

And some of these animals, I have are reared from calves, maybe 12 years old, some of them, you know.

Keeping the cattle here, it's a bit less work than the mainland in one way.

We don't have a lot of fencing to do.

They're free to roam out through the commonage and all.

I don't think I would be interested in farming on the mainland, to be honest with you.

Come on.

They're called Irish Moileds.

They're a traditional, rare breed.

Come on!

They didn't hear me.

If you go back over 100 years ago, it would have been all Moileds in this part of the world.

They were known as the poor man's cow at one time.

Come on!

They're a very hardy breed.

And they're outliers.

We don't house them at all.

Come on.

Come on.

It can be harsh enough in the wintertime when you're coming over and the hailstones hitting us in the face and the fingers numb.

We do get a lot of storms here, you know, like, gale force 10.

But the cows always seem to know when it's coming.

NARRATOR: The cows all fed and checked, Denis usually ends a visit with a walk along the beach before he heads home, especially on a day like this, when the sun brings out the white sands and glistening turquoise waters.

DENIS O'BOYLE: You would do the whole island in less than an hour, you know.

Aye, you have to climb over a few rocks here and there, you know.

But it's an easy enough walk.

You could walk around here 300 days of the year, not meet anybody.

It's only in the busy summer you might meet somebody, you know.

When we were young, we spent all our time around here, you know.

We would be in swimming and messing about.

We'd be playing football on the beach, too.

Later on, then, we would have barbecues over here when we were older, you know, big bonfire and good craic.

We didn't have mobile phones.

It was a great place to grow up, you know.

Oh, it means everything to me.

I couldn't imagine life without this island.

Sometimes when you're stuck in a traffic jam in a city, you think of this beach.

I can see people moving back to the islands.

I don't think they would have left in the first place.

It would have been another 10 years when you had more available outboard engines.

And it would have made life a bit easier, you know.

I would say in the future, with this remote working and all that, people will be able to move back to the islands.

It would be great to see permanent residents back on the island, you know.

It would be.

My son and his partner are expecting a child soon.

So hopefully, the grandchildren will get as much enjoyment out of it as we did.

They'll certainly be out helping me with the cows, anyway.

It'd be great to see the islands alive again.

NARRATOR: 150 miles away in Scotland, just a mile from the southwest coastal town of Largs, are the Cumbrae Islands.

The great Cumbrae town of Millport has been a popular destination for tourists since the 19th century.

They come to soak up island life and also to see the majestic Cathedral of the Isles, opened in 1851.

Ready to welcome them in and share its stories is Alistair, the chaplain who holidayed on the island as a child and moved here to live full time 38 years ago.

ALISTAIR CHISHOLM: I always think that they're like a kind of Oxford College dropped on a Scottish island.

You've got college buildings which were for lectures and accommodation.

And in the middle, you've got a collegiate church, which for its 25th birthday, was made a cathedral.

This is the smallest cathedral in the UK.

You can look it up in the Guinness Book of Records.

It's there.

NARRATOR: Built by George Frederick Boyle at a cost of 30,000 pounds, this tiny cathedral holds just 70 worshippers.

As well as weekly services, it also receives thousands of visitors every summer.

And Alistair is busy getting everything ready.

ALISTAIR CHISHOLM: I'm putting this on because I'm about to enter the Holy of Holies, the sanctuary.

And I'm putting this on to show respect for the area I'm going into.

It's like a uniform.

It covers everything.

ALISTAIR CHISHOLM (VOICEOVER): A cathedral is not necessarily a large building or not indeed necessarily in a city.

A cathedral is the seat of a bishop.

And when it was made a cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of Argyll of the Isles was installed here.

There was, in the thinking of it, the idea that it would be a new Iona, a religious center.

This is a light which shows that the reserved sacrament is kept here.

That means the consecrated bread and wine.

It's important the place look ready for the day's visitors, checking that the lights are on for people coming in so that they don't fall and trip on things.

Remember, it's designed for 25-year-olds, so there are steps most places.

I've been involved with the cathedral for so long that there are various aspects to what I do here.

The primary thing is, I deal with the music.

This is a harpsicle.

[harpsicle playing] Such a lovely-- really.

This is part of another bit of the story of Millport.

That's meant to be the revenue cutter of the Royal George, which is the reason for Millport existing as a town, because they used Millport as a base and went and collected dues.

And this is late 18th, early 19th century.

So these things kind of coincided.

The real anomaly is that there.

That's my cat Bernard.

And my cat Bernard go everywhere.

JANE CADMAN: Oh, I don't blame.

I don't blame him.

ALISTAIR CHISHOLM: We try to make it open to the public as much as we can.

People should be able to go in.

They should be able to worship.

They should be able to pray.

That's very much part of what it's there for.

I always have in my mind what the founder would have wanted, what George Frederick would have wanted.

It's nowadays called the Lady Chapel.

And the lady is Mary, the Blessed Virgin.

[organ playing] The present organ is the third organ in the building.

It's an organ from 1867.

So it's an organ that's contemporary with the design of the building.

We found a redundant organ in a clachan in north of Brechen.

So we had the organ dismantled and brought it to the island.

A friend on the island stored it for about two years.

It wasn't right.

An awful lot needed done.

Everything was worn out, so all needed to be replaced.

And then I started fundraising.

Just give me a push-off, would you?

CREW: Push-off?

Ready.

NARRATOR: Alistair's big fundraising idea was to harness his other passion, rowing.

And he embarked on an epic 100-mile journey from Millport to Edinburgh, raising over 25,000 pounds for organ repairs.

He still rows regularly.

And today, to unwind after a busy day with visitors, he's taking the short trip over to his island neighbor, Little Cumbrae, Wee Cumbrae in Scots.

ALISTAIR CHISHOLM: When you're rowing out to Wee Cumbrae, you can feet it just entirely on your own.

It's extraordinary.

It's a very pleasant place to row to.

It's a very beautiful island.

It's very different from Great Cumbrae.

[birds cawing] I'm seeing the ancient castle, which I'm delighted to see.

This is, of course, one of the ancient keeps of the kings of Scotland.

And if you go back to the 14th century, sometimes the kings of Scotland occupied a keep like that and hunted deer on this island.

The astonishing array of seabirds, fabulous sounds, just beautiful.

[birds cawing] Sometimes people are very critical of the noise of seabirds.

I don't understand it.

I think they're lovely, such clever birds too, such clever birds.

[birds cawing] [closing theme] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪