Yell and Unst

Yell

Yell is the largest of the Nothern Isles, during the summer its long and varied coastline is alive with breeding birds such as whimbrel, golden plover, dunlin, eider, arctic skua, great skua, red breasted merganser, red throated divers and merlin, Britain's smallest bird of prey. Inland is a landscape of blanket peat bog dotted with crofting settlements. Otters are numerous around shores.

At the Wick of the Breckon is one of the finest beaches in Shetland, where the dunes and coastal plain behind it have a quite different flora from most of Yell, and shifting sands cover the burials, pottery and ruins of viking and earlier settlements. Tide races skirt gloup holm and the Northern end of Bluemull Sound.

Unst

Unst, Britain's most northerly inhabited island, has rocky sea stacks, sheltered inlets, golden beaches and magnificent cliffs. It is a major breeding ground for sea birds including gannets, guillemots, rasorbills, kittiwakes. shags, and the great squa, as well as being prime seal, porpoise, whale and (if you are lucky) otter watching country.

It is a produtive community making real ale, handmade chocolates, knitwear and pottery, and there is a monthly farmers market in the Baltasound Hall.

Cruising North and East

Rounding Muness, on the south-eastern corner of Unst, Skuda Sound leads to the exposed anchorage of Uyeasound, where there is a small dock (only accessible at high tide), toilets, telephone and a youth hostel.

Shetland's second Uyea Isle has a ruined mansion house and is a paradise for nesting birds, as are the nearby holms of Haaf Gruney, Sound Gruney, Urie Lingey and Wedder Holm. Basta Voe, a former naval anchorage, and Hacksaw (where there is a day anchorage on the westside) are good places to see otters at dawn and dusk; food and drink are available at the nearby North Isles Motel. Recent excavations have uncovered an Iron Age settlement at the Tats of Bayanne, by Sellafirth.

The west coast of Unst has only one possible anchorage in settled weather, at Lunda Wick. The remainder of the coast from Bluemull Sound to Muckle Flugga is cliffbound, but with deep water and no unmarked hazards if an offing of at least 2 cables is maintained.

Hermaness Natural Reserve, on the north west promonantly of North Unst, is one of the wonders of the bird world. The gannetry extends onto the Muckle Flugga stacks. Beyond is the Out Stack, the full stop at the end of Britain. Extraodinary caves and natural arches buttress the eastern shore of Burrafirth, a spectacular anchorage but unsafe in northernly winds. The SNH Visitor Centre, based in the lighthouse shore station at Burrafirth, provides a great oppertunity to learn more about the Hermaness NNR (01957 711278)

Marinas In This Region