Iceland message in a bottle washes up on Tiree after a year

A message in a bottle dropped into the sea off Iceland has washed up in Scotland - despite predictions it would make landfall in Scandinavia.

Rhoda Meek with the 'bottle'. Picture: Contributed

Scientists had dropped two ‘bottles’ fitted with GPS trackers from a helicopter into the sea off the island country’s south coast as part of an science TV show experiment.

Both floated west, with scientists expecting the devices to eventually wash up in Norway.

The bottles passed Greenland’s coast before heading in the general direction of Canada, but then floated east across the north Atlantic.

The route taken by the bottle. Picture: Contributed

One of the devices washed up on the island of Tiree, near Coll, while the other is still bobbing about in the sea off the Western Isles.

Members of the public were able to track the routes taken by the two bottles on a website, with the experiment aimed at teaching young viewers of the show that dropping rubbish in the sea doesn’t vanish, but can cause problems wherever it washes up.

Tiree resident Rhoda Meek said she had been expecting to find an actual bottle, rather than a large yellow floating device.

She told BBC Alba: “I saw a bright yellow float sitting on the rocks and, following my natural curiosity, found that this was the ‘bottle’.”

Ms Meek admitted she would have liked to have kept the bottle as a souvenir, but had already posted it back to Iceland.