East Linga is one of the

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

. It lies between

Whalsay Whalsay ( sco, Whalsa; non, Hvalsey or ''Hvals-øy'', meaning 'Whale Island') is the sixth largest of the Shetland Islands in the north of Scotland. Geography Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland I ...

(to the west), and Grif Skerry to the east.

Geography and geology

The bed rock is

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

with

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

veins. There are many skerries and rocks in the channel south of Whalsay and East Linga, some of which have disputed names, i.e. one local version, and a different one on Admiralty Charts and/or

Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...

maps. For example, "Muckla Billan" is listed on the latter, but is known locally as "Peerie Fladdacap". In December 2008 the corpses of eighteen

grey seal The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or " ...

s were discovered on the island, some of them apparently clubbed to death. Police have charged a forty-seven-year-old man in connection with the discovery. According to

Scottish Natural Heritage NatureScot ( gd, NàdarAlba), which was formerly known as Scottish Natural Heritage, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for the country's natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and ...

, about thirty grey seals are born on East Linga each year."Man charged with seal slaughter "
''Shetland Marine News''. Retrieved 14 December 2008. The smaller Calf of Linga lies to the north and is connected to East Linga at low tide.

West Linga West Linga is an uninhabited island located between Mainland and Whalsay in Shetland, Scotland. Geography and geology West Linga is a long narrow island covered in rough heath. It is separated from Whalsay by Linga Sound, and Lunning on Ma ...

lies on the other side of

References

External links

Uninhabited islands of Shetland {{Shetland-geo-stub