Over the years, the Lochbuie branch has held lands in Mull, Scarba, Jura, Morvern, Locheil, and Tiree.
He carried out a lot of the early earliest mapping of the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland, including the Lewisian of Coll and Tiree, the Mesozoic sediments and Tertiary lavas of Morvern and Ardnamurchan, and the Moine Schists of Ardnamurchan, Sunart and South Morar.
Sands also spent time on the remote Scottish islands of Vaila, Papa Stour and Foula in Shetland, and also lived on Tiree in the Inner Hebrides and the Faroe Islands.
Other than the signal tower, the land and buildings on Tiree were sold to George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll who had witnessed the laying of the first stone on Skerryvore fifty-two years previously.