A cardboard parcel addressed to Swona, a tiny uninhabited island in Orkney, Scotland, was opened by the island's owner to find a pair of women's Adidas trainers — a delivery that has left him and local postal staff puzzled.
Alexander Annal, whose family owns Swona and who lives on nearby South Ronaldsay, said he was alerted by postal staff that a parcel had arrived for the island. He said he had no idea who the person named on the address was and could not understand why anyone would post goods to an island with no permanent human residents. Annal said the shoes were a women's size five while he wears a size 11, and that Swona has no internet connection, making it impossible for anyone on the island to order online.
Swona is about a mile long and half a mile wide and lies in the Pentland Firth, a stretch of notoriously rough sea between Orkney and Scotland's north coast. Its last permanent residents left in 1974, but a herd of feral cattle descended from livestock once farmed on the island continues to live there. The island is visited by a special charter boat in summer that provides some income to help care for the animals and the abandoned houses.
Annal said the parcel was packaged in a cardboard box and that he was left "scratching his head" over why anyone would send post to the remote isle. He told BBC Radio Orkney it was bewildering to open the box and find trainers. Postal staff had notified him after the delivery was made to a local sorting point rather than to the island itself.
Officials said the parcel could be the result of a genuine addressing mistake or part of a wider pattern of unsolicited deliveries used in online-sales scams. Consumer watchdog Which? warned in 2020 about a practice called "brushing," in which sellers send unrequested items to obtain fake positive reviews. Gary Foubister of Orkney Islands Council trading standards said people can contact his office if they are concerned about unexpected deliveries and noted, "With received unsolicited goods you are not obliged to return them." He added that his office has contacts at UK delivery companies and can assist if a parcel needs to be returned.
The cattle on Swona are thought to be a cross between Aberdeen Angus and Shorthorn stock. They mainly graze on grass around the island's ruined houses and also forage for seaweed along the shoreline.
Annal said the unexpected delivery posed practical questions about how and why the parcel was sent to an island that is difficult to reach because of strong tides and swell. He said he had no immediate plans to return the trainers and doubted they would prove useful on Swona, where the only likely recipients are a herd of feral cattle and the occasional summer visitor.