FACTOID #53: If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again - its land area is only ninety-eight percent ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as "barren rock".
The main settlement on the island is Breaclete, home to a small museum. Bernera is also known for its Iron Age (or possibly Pictish) settlement, discovered in 1992 and now covered by sand to preserve it. A replica Iron Age house matching those now buried is sited nearby.
The island was also the location of the Bernera Riot, where crofters resisted the Highland clearances. The main industry on Bernera today is lobster fishing.
The island should not be confused with islands called Berneray, nor with Little Bernera.
At the start of the 1950s the 400 residents were so keen to bridge the 150m gap between Bernera and Lewis they threatened to build their own causeway by dynamiting the cliffs on either side.
Bernera and the surrounding islands are owned by Count Robin de la Lanne Mirelees, also known as Prince of Coronata who is a resident of GreatBernera.
En route to Bostadh you pass the distinctive cairn erected by the people of Bernera in 1992 to commemorate the participants in the Bernera riot of 1874.
Living on GreatBernera I have got very used to the abundance of wildlife to be seen on this island.
Despite the general lack of trees on Lewis the Grey Heron is a very common sight here on GreatBernera and as I walk or drive between Valasay and Hacklete I am often greeted by the sight and sound of the Heron flying off having been disturbed from its fishing post.
Summer has surely arrived here on Bernera with the song of the Skylark filling the air over the moorland and the resident Blackbirds and Thrushes already raising their first broods on a number of local crofts.
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