Æðey (; Eider Island) is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

located in the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords (, ) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative region, the least populous in the country. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast of Greenland. It is connected to the rest of I ...

region of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. A höfuðból was built in the 19th century with a farm, with descendants of the family going to the house in the summer to maintain the farm. Other structures include a lighthouse and a weather station owned by the

Icelandic Meteorological Office Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO; ) is Iceland's national weather service and as such a government agency under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. It is also active in volcano monitoring, esp. volcano seismology, and, toget ...

. The island is home to multiple species of birds such as the

common eider The common eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria mollissima''), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large ( in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breed ...

, with its feathers being harvest by the family that resides on the island. Mammals such as sheep can be found on the island though are often shipped to the mainland to not disturb the eider and puffin population.

Geography

Æðey is the biggest of the four islands located on the biggest bay of the

, being located in

Ísafjarðardjúp Ísafjarðardjúp () is a large fjord in the Westfjords region of Iceland. Its name translates to ''Depth of the fjord of sea ice''. Originally named simply Ísafjörður, the semantic run around happened through the -Deep meaning the inner pa ...

. The island is separated by of water away from

Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...

. It is long and wide, with it's highest point being above sea level. The island is vegetated.

History

In 1615, some Basque whalers were whaling and had crashed in

Strandir Strandir () is the eastern coastal region of Iceland's Westfjords (Strandasýsla). It encompasses 3,500 square kilometers and is considered remote and difficult to access. It has a population of around 800 people, with the largest community being ...

. Five of the whalers traveled to Æðey and settled there. After the magistrate of Ísafjörður, , had found out about the whalers on the island, he ordered a fleet of ships to go to the island. All of the whalers on the island were killed by the forces.

Structures and demographics

A höfuðból (manor house) was built in the 19th century on the island by married couple Guðmundur Rósinkarsson and Guðrún Jónsdóttir. After Rósinkarsson's death in 1906, the couple's children: Ásgeir, Halldór, and Sigríður, inherited the house and ran the farm alongside their mother. As of 2019, the descendants of the family reside in the house every summer to rear cattle, geese and sheep, and harvest eiderdown. A lighthouse was built on the island in 1944, though it was not active until 1949 due to lighting material shortages during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It is located on the southern tip of the island and measures high. There is a weather station on the island owned by the

. In 2010, the island had one resident named Ólafur Ragnarson. He was a worker at the weather station and monitored the weather data. The station was made automatic in 2012.

Fauna

The island is home to species of bird such as the

black guillemot The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the ...

puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

s, and breeds of geese. In a survey made by ''Náttúrustofa Vestfjarða'' in 2022, they had counted around 667 pairs of the black guillemot. Mammals such as cattle, sheep, and

mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...

s can be found on the island. The sheep are often ferried to the mainland during summer for grazing to not interfere with the eiders. A dog named Tása is owned by the family that resides on the island. Marine life such as

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the monotypic taxon, only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh u ...

Geography

History

Structures and demographics

Fauna

References

Citations

Bibliography