Handa Island was home to man for many centuries. The islanders survived on a diet of potatoes, fish and seabirds, and they even had their own queen and parliament. Today, the island has no permanent human residents, but it is a very important bird reserve providing sanctuary for some of most significant seabird breeding colonies in the UK. The island's magnificent Torridonian sandstone cliffs come alive in the summer, when nearly 200,000 seabirds come here to breed. Guillemots, razorbills, great skuas, kittiwakes, arctic skuas and puffins are here in significant numbers. The island is owned and managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and a boat service operates from Tarbet during the summer months.