Linga is a small uninhabited island in the

Bluemull Sound Bluemull Sound is the strait between Unst and Yell in Shetland's North Isles. A ferry service crosses it regularly. Cullivoe is on the Yell side, and the island of Linga A lingam ( , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as ...

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

, 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 Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is co ...

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

and

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) 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. This rock is formed under p ...

." It is situated off the east coast of

Yell A yell is a loud vocalization; see screaming. Yell may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Yell, Shetland, one of the North Isles of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland * Yell Sound, Shetland, Scotland United States * Yell, Tennessee, an uni ...

, near the village of

Gutcher Gutcher is a settlement on the northeast coast of Yell, Shetland, Yell in the Shetland islands. From here, rollon/roll off ferry services to Belmont, Shetland, Belmont on Unst and Hamars Ness on Fetlar operate. The settlement has a harbour, and a ...

, and has an area of . It is separated from Yell by Linga Sound, and

Unst Unst (; ) 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 Shetland Mainland, Mainland and Yell (island), Yell. It has an area o ...

is to the northeast. Sound Gruney and

Urie Lingey 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 name. Lingey means a "heather island". Daaey is to the south e ...

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

History

It is said that Jan Tait of

Fetlar 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. Other settlements incl ...

once kept a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

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 countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, where he had been taken for a murder trial, but he was pardoned for capturing this particular bear, which had been causing problems over there. An abandoned chapel is located on the island. After buying land, an unknown duke once planned to build a large house there. However, this was cancelled as doctors and other services refused to provide services 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 are also the remains of a

sheep fold Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to dom ...

in the north.

Wildlife

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

Otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

guillemot Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family, part of the order Charadriiformes. In Europe, the term covers two genera, '' Uria'' and '' Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species are called mu ...

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, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

s breed on the island.

Footnotes

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