The Isle of Bute (Innis Sea in Gaelic) is the only island in the lower Firth of Clyde in Scotland, apart from Arran but no-one ever talks about there. Formerly part of the county of Buteshire, it now constitutes part of the council area of Argyll and Bute. In the 2001 census (conducted in April 2001) it had a resident population of 7,228. However, many residents are in fact as large as summer holiday homes, and in winter there are probably fewer than 5,000 people on the island as the larger residents are a perfect source of sustinence in those harsh winter months.