Scottish island welcomes its first baby in 34 years
Two midwives were flown in by helicopter as tiny North Ronaldsay celebrated a rare arrival
For 34 years, no baby had been born on the tiny Scottish island of North Ronaldsay. That changed at 4.05am on September 15, when Duncan Wilder Thorstein Traill Suarez Ford entered the world in an ancestral family home on the remote island.
His arrival was such an occasion that a flag was raised outside Holland House to announce the news and islanders toasted the newborn.
Duncan is the first baby known to have been born on North Ronaldsay since Thomas Brookman in August 1992, according to BBC Scotland.
North Ronaldsay, the northernmost of Scotland’s Orkney Islands, is a small and isolated community. Scottish government figures put its population at 72 in 2024, although Duncan’s mother, Alice Traill Ford, told CNN that only 51 people currently live there.
The island has no hospital or resident doctor, only a resident nurse. Reaching Kirkwall on Orkney’s main island takes about 20 minutes by plane or two hours and 40 minutes by ferry.
So giving birth there required some planning.
Midwives arrive by helicopter
Traill Ford and her fiancé, Jorge Suarez, had originally expected their son to be born in Costa Rica, where the family also lives.
But after arriving on North Ronaldsay, where Traill Ford spent summers throughout her childhood, their plans changed.
“My intuition was telling me this was the right place for us,” she told BBC Scotland.
The couple contacted the NHS to find out whether giving birth on the island would be possible.
According to local Scottish media, the family and maternity team prepared for various scenarios, including the possibility that bad weather might prevent midwives from reaching the island.
In the end, two midwives made it to North Ronaldsay aboard a Coastguard helicopter and were present for Duncan’s birth.
Traill Ford told local media that the delivery went well and praised the support available to people living on Orkney’s outer islands.
The logistics were particularly important because her waters broke a few hours after the final scheduled flight to the island had departed.
Born in an ancestral home
Duncan was born not in a medical facility but at Holland House, the historic home of Traill Ford’s family.
Her ancestors, the Traill family, bought North Ronaldsay in 1727, according to BBC Scotland, and Holland House has remained in the family through generations.
Traill Ford told CNN that her connection to the island had brought her back every year since she was a baby.
Duncan’s name also carries that family history. He was named after his mother’s grandfather, Duncan, the former Laird of North Ronaldsay.
“I didn’t know I was going to name him after Duncan when we arrived but I was sitting on the sofa and right in front of me was a collage of his pictures with my grandmother, so he has been very present with us,” Traill Ford told BBC Scotland.
Why 34 years without a birth?
The absence of births on North Ronaldsay for more than three decades may be explained partly by the island’s isolation and lack of medical facilities.
Traill Ford told CNN she believed expectant mothers understandably felt safer giving birth in hospitals, where emergency medical support was immediately available.
In an emergency on North Ronaldsay, a Coastguard helicopter can be called, while patients well enough to travel would normally have to make the journey to Kirkwall.
The family plans to return to Costa Rica in November, but Duncan’s connection with North Ronaldsay is unlikely to end there.
Traill Ford told BBC Scotland she intends to bring him back every year, just as her mother brought her to the island during her childhood.
