Linga is a very small uninhabited island in the Bluemull Sound, Shetland, Scotland. It is one of many islands in Shetland called Linga. It has an area of 45 ha and is 26m at its highest point.

Geography and geology

Linga is made up of "coarse mica-

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

and

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 a ...

". It is situated off the east coast of Yell, near the village of Gutcher, and has an area of . It is separated from Yell by Linga Sound, and

Unst Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of . Unst ...

is to the north east. Sound Gruney,

Urie Lingey ''For other islands with similar names, see Linga (disambiguation)'' Urie Lingey is one of the Shetland Islands. It is between Fetlar and Unst, and Yell is to the west. Geography Urie Lingey is 1 km north of Urie Ness on Fetla whence the ...

are to the south east, and Hascosay to the south. There is little freshwater on the island.

History

It is said that Jan Tait of

Fetlar Fetlar ( sco, Fetlar) is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland, with a usually resident population of 61 at the time of the 2011 census. Its main settlement is Houbie on the south coast, home to the Fetlar Interpretive Centre. Fetlar i ...

once kept a bear on the island, and this is commemorated in the placename - "Bear's Bait". It was said to be from

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 the ...

, where he had been taken for trial for murder, but he was pardoned for capturing this particular bear, which had been causing problems over there. An abandoned chapel is located on the island. An unknown duke once planned to build a large house there after buying land on it. However this was cancelled as doctors and other services refused to provide a service to such a small remote island. On 19 July 1923, the SS ''Jane'' ran aground on the island. The 840-ton ship, carrying herring from Baltasound, Unst to Lerwick, later sank into 20m of water just off the island. There is also the remains of a sheep fold in the north.

Wildlife

Surprisingly for an island whose name derives from the Norse for " heather isle", very little grows here. Otters,

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 ...

s and

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

s breed on the island.

Footnotes

{{coord, 60, 40, N, 0, 59, W, region:GB_type:isle, display=title Uninhabited islands of Shetland