Whalsay ( sco, Whalsa; non, Hvalsey or ''Hvals-øy'', meaning '

Whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

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 isla ...

') is the sixth largest 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 n ...

in the north of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Geography

Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and ...

-covered island in the Shetland Islands. It is situated east of the

Shetland Mainland The Mainland is the main island of Shetland, Scotland. The island contains Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick, and is the centre of Shetland's ferry and air connections. Geography It has an area of , making it the third-largest Scottish island ...

and has an area of . The main settlement is Symbister,Haswell-Smith (2004) pp. 454–55 where the fishing fleet is based. The fleet is composed of both

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or w ...

and

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer ...

vessels. Other main settlements include Clate,

Isbister Isbister may refer to: People * Alexander Kennedy Isbister (1822–1883), Canadian explorer * Bob Isbister (1885–1963), CFL football player * Bob Isbister Jr., Canadian Football League player in the 1930s and 1940s, son of the above * Brad Isbi ...

, Sandwick, Saltness, Huxter, Challister, Marrister, North Park and furthest north is Skaw. The island is fertile and fairly densely populated, with

crofting Crofting is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production particular to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th century townships, individual crofts were established on the bett ...

taking second place to

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

as the main local industries.

Transport

Ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

sail from Symbister to Laxo and Vidlin on the

. When normal service is in operation two ferries run a tandem service between Symbister and Laxo. Departure times from the two terminals are normally around every 35 minutes according to a timetable, with the crossing taking approximately 30 minutes. The two ferries currently in service are the ''Hendra'' and the ''Linga''. The Vidlin terminal is used when the weather causes the crossing to Laxo to become too rough. The journey between Symbister and Laxo takes around 30 minutes, but can take slightly longer depending on the weather and tides. The island also has an airstrip, Whalsay Airstrip, at Skaw which is used only for emergencies.

Recreation

Skaw is home to the most northerly 18 hole golf course in the UK. There is a club house with adequate parking. Other sporting facilities on the isle are the Whalsay Leisure Centre, a snooker club and Harbison Park artificial sports field. Sailing dinghies and Shetland model boats are popular, with an annual Whalsay Regatta, usually taking place in the last week of July. In recent times, the popularity of sailing has declined, with the number of participating boats decreasing with each passing year. Whalsay has an amateur football club, as well as hockey and netball teams. These teams participate in Shetland leagues. Whalsay F.C.'s home ground is Harbison Park. In 2005, Whalsay F.C. took part in the Highland Amateur Cup, reaching the fourth knockout round. They beat Halkirk FC 2–0 in the 3rd round, but lost to Pentland Utd 2–1 in the 4th.

Attractions

Attractions on the island include the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

ruin of Benie Hoose and the settlement of Sudheim where Hugh MacDiarmid lived in the 1930s and early 1940s. Grieve House is now one of Shetland Amenity Trust's Böds which offers economic, self-catering accommodation in a traditional building. Scotland's great poet Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Grieve) lived for nine years in this croft house, where he wrote some of his best work.

Media and the arts

Whalsay is the location for the 2011 novel ''Dancing with the Ferryman'' by Frankie Valente and is the main location of Ann Cleeves's novel ''Red Bones'' (Macmillan, 2009), the third of her Shetland quartet.

'Black fish' scandal

In 2012, a number of Whalsay fishermen were fined for a 'cynical and sophisticated' fishing scam involving the landing of tens of millions of pounds of illegally caught fish.

Footnotes

References

External links

Listen to recordings of a speaker of Whalsay ScotsBBC Voices: further example recordings of speakers from Whalsay, 2004
{{Coord, 60, 20, N, 0, 59, W, region:GB_type:isle, display=title Islands of Shetland