In June 2018 the North West Mull Community Woodland Company completed a buyout backed by the Scottish Land Fund, and Ulva, off the west coast of Mull, has been owned by its own community ever since. A small passenger ferry crosses on demand from Ulva Ferry on Mull: flip the board at the slipway from white to red and the ferryman comes across. Once over, paths run through woodland and along the shore, past the stone footings of townships cleared of people in the 19th century. Sheila’s Cottage, a restored thatched cottage near the landing, holds a small heritage centre on the island’s history, and the Boathouse café nearby serves seafood, coffee and home baking.
Around half a dozen people live on Ulva now, down from 570 in 1841, before the Clearances emptied most of the island. At its far end, a bridge crosses to the even smaller island of Gometra.
