In 1986, an American ad executive bought a Scottish island for his wife's 60th birthday; the couple immediately gave it away for wildlife

While most people mark a milestone birthday with a trip or jewelry, John 'Jock' Elliott did something far bigger in 1986. According to an account published by the National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA, this American advertising executive bought his wife Eleanor, known to her friends as Elly, an entire Scottish island, as a gift for her 60th birthday. But the couple, as per the National Trust for Scotland, the charity which has cared for the island ever since, did not keep the gift, handing it over the same year instead.

A love for Scotland, not a trophy purchase

Behind the gesture was a couple with deep roots in Scotland. Elliott, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 84, was the former chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, one of the world's leading advertising agencies, according to the Boston Globe's obituary. Records held by the charity's US affiliate show that Jock and Elly visited Scotland for more than 30 years before they purchased Staffa Island. They were drawn to its dramatic beauty, not to the idea of a private retreat.

The island at the center of the story

Staffa is located off the west coast of the Isle of Mull, in the Inner Hebrides. It's small, but it has drawn visitors from around the globe for one great reason: Fingal's Cave, a sea cave lined with tall, hexagonal columns of basalt. As National Trust for Scotland regional director Clea Warner put it, this place has attracted famous guests for centuries, from Queen Victoria to the poet Lord Tennyson and novelist Jules Verne. Fifteen years after the Elliotts' gift, in 2001, Staffa received the official designation of National Nature Reserve, a title it still holds; that designation, distinct from the original 1986 donation, marks its 25th anniversary this year. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the waters around it are a Marine Protected Area (MPA).

What lives there now

Today, the island’s wildlife is the main attraction for a lot of visitors. Puffins breed and raise chicks from April to August. In spring, the black guillemots mate and a colony of shags breeds beside the landing jetty. By June, the eiders are paddling their chicks in the rockpools, and by September the gray seal pups are napping on the beaches. The island’s grassland is home to wildflowers such as Devil’s-bit scabious and rare butterflies, including the elusive grayling, which are seen through the summer months.

Rebuilding an island for its visitors

Even a protected island needs upkeep once visitors start arriving in numbers. The Trust says visitor numbers are putting pressure on infrastructure that is more than three decades old, and the upgrades are aimed at managing that footfall safely rather than expanding it. Over the past year, the Trust has installed a wider, sturdier staircase to the puffin colony and restored the first section of the walkway to Fingal's Cave. This year also saw the completion of a nine-month construction of the new landing jetty, built to ease congestion during boat landings rather than to draw more boats. The project was supported by Scotland's Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund, Argyll and Bute Council, VisitScotland and NatureScot.

Why keeping a distance matters

Protecting the wildlife of Staffa is about much more than better paths and jetties. It also means controlling how close visitors get to birds that are nesting. As a comparable case rather than direct evidence from Staffa itself, the Trust points to a 2024 study on nearby Lunga, which found that ranger presence and barriers kept visitors farther from breeding puffins and reduced disturbances at the colony, a model the Trust is now applying to Staffa's own management. Warner has also spoken this year about the pressure avian flu is putting on Staffa's seabirds, making a calm, well-managed breeding season even more important for their survival.

A birthday gift that is still paying off

Forty years later, Staffa is now a nature reserve maintained by donors, members and local partners. Jock Elliott died in 2005, but the charity's US affiliate says a monument was built on the island in 2012 to commemorate the gift he and Elly gave to Scotland, and it still stands today as visitors continue to arrive. This story shows how unusual the gift was. This couple might well have had complete access to one of the most beautiful privately owned islands in all of Scotland for themselves. Instead, they chose to give it away the same year they acquired it, for reasons beyond themselves.