It is the most northerly island in the Orkneys and home to fewer than 60 people.

But North Ronaldsay is celebrating the arrival of its first baby in more than three decades.

Duncan Wilder Thorstein Traill Suarez Ford was born last week at Holland House on the island, which his family has a centuries-long link to.

He was born at 8lb 9oz to Alice Traill Ford and partner Jorge Suarez, and is the youngest of four.

The family live in the Central American country of Costa Rica where they run a school, but when they brought their three children to visit Alice’s Orcadian family home in June they decided to have Duncan born on the island instead.

Ms Ford, whose ancestors, the Traill family, bought the island in 1727 and built the family home, said: ‘It wasn’t our plan, but we came here to the island and felt that it was right to have the baby here.

‘We contacted the NHS and they were incredibly supportive of our wants for having the baby on the island.’

She continued: ‘I felt so alive here, being in this wild environment and so I felt it instantly when we arrived.’

The last baby to be born in North Ronaldsay was in August 1992.

Two midwives were transported by a coastguard helicopter to help with Duncan’s birth.

They had planned to stay at the island’s Bird Observatory for two nights over the course of six days but the baby arrived the evening before he was expected.

Ms Ford said: ‘It was a really fun birth. The girls that ended up being out here with me made it really fun. We were laughing a lot and it was just a beautiful experience.’

The 41-year-old has visited the island for every year of her life and explained: ‘I think my first one was inside mum’s womb.

‘It’s my favourite place in the world to come visit. Wherever I’ve lived in the world, I’ve always made sure that I’ve come back every summer.’

She will stay in Orkney until November when she will fly back to Costa Rica to join Jorge, who has flown back so two of their children can start school.

It takes 12 flights for the family to reach North Ronaldsay from their home in Nosara.

London-raised Ms Ford’s grandfather was the Laird of the island – and called Duncan.

But she said the name had not really featured in the shortlist for their son and added: ‘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.

‘He was an incredible man, very kind and really strong and I felt like there would be no better name than his to carry on and continue his legacy in the world.’

She admitted she felt for the islanders, who would have been nervous for the birth after a 34-year absence, but said she was ‘completely safe with the decision, especially with the NHS support’.

The mother-of-four contacted The Balfour hospital, in Kirkwall, mainland Orkney, with her wishes and said they were ‘just so cool about it’.

She added: ‘North Ronaldsay has always been a very special place for me and I felt alive and free here every summer when I came up as a little girl.

‘My intuition was telling me this was the right place for us so we spoke to the NHS to see if it would be possible.

‘We have this beautiful family home steeped in our history and ancestry so to be surrounded by that felt a very special introduction for him to come to Earth.’

Historically when the Laird was on the island, a flag was flown at Holland House to inform the residents and when baby Duncan made his appearance at 4.05am on Tuesday, September 15, Ms Ford and her partner followed the tradition to share the news.

She said: ‘Over the years we have found a lot of magical four-leaf clovers here and have kept them in a book.

‘We stuck a four-leaf clover to a glass bottle, glued a Groatie Buckie [a type of shell] to the lid then filled it with whisky and gave it to each of the islanders.

‘We raised the flag and everybody opened their whisky and shared a dram - a celebratory drink - together.’

North Ronaldsay, which has a population of 59 according to the last Census, is known for its historic lighthouse, migratory bird life and unusual breed of seaweed-eating sheep.