Hjelmsøya is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Måsøy Municipality Måsøy ( sme, Muosát; fkv, Moseija) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Havøysund. Other villages include Bakfjord, Gunnarnes, Ingøy, Måsøy, Slåtten, ...

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The island lies west of the islands of

Måsøya Måsøya ( sme, Muosáidsuolu) is an island in Måsøy Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The island is located west of the large island of Magerøya and to the east of the islands of Hjelmsøya and Havøya. The Porsanger Penins ...

and

Magerøya Magerøya ( sme, Máhkarávju) is a large island in Troms og Finnmark county, in the extreme northern part of Norway. The island lies along the Barents Sea in Nordkapp Municipality, just north of the Porsanger Peninsula. The mouth of Porsangerfj ...

, north of

Havøya Havøya ( sme, Ávvá) is an island in Måsøy Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The island lies just off the coast of the Porsanger Peninsula with the island of Hjelmsøya to the north, Måsøya to the east, and Rolvsøya to th ...

and the mainland, and east of

Ingøya Ingøya ( sme, Fávle-Iččát) is an island on the edge of the Arctic Ocean in Måsøy Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The island lies just north of the island of Rolvsøya and west of the island of Hjelmsøya. The sparsely ...

. The mountainous island has been uninhabited since 1967. There are connections to the island other than by private boats.

Nature reserves

There are two large nature reserves on the island. The northernmost part of Hjelmsøya has a large

bird cliff Bird cliffs, or nesting cliffs, are steep cliffs with numerous small shelves which serve as nesting locations for bird colonies. Bird cliffs are found on islands in the North Atlantic and Arctic, such as the Faroe Islands, Iceland, the Svalbard ...

called ''Hjelmsøystauren'', which is one of Norway's most important breeding colonies of

guillemot Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family (part of the order Charadriiformes). In British use, the term comprises two genera: ''Uria'' and ''Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species are c ...

s. It has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

. The other one is at Sandsfjord, a fjord surrounded by high mountain cliffs.

References

Måsøy Islands of Troms og Finnmark Nature reserves in Norway Important Bird Areas of Norway Important Bird Areas of Arctic islands Seabird colonies {{TromsFinnmark-island-stub

Nature reserves

See also

References