Auskerry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Auskerry | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
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| OS grid reference: | HY675165 |
| Names | |
| Gaelic name: | |
| Norse name: | Austrsker |
| Meaning of name: | rolling pin |
| Area and Summit | |
| Area: | 85 ha |
| Area rank (Scottish islands): | 154= |
| Highest elevation: | 18 m |
| Population | |
| Population (2001): | 5 |
| Population rank (inhabited Scottish islands): | 80= out of 97 |
| Groupings | |
| Island Group: | Orkney |
| Local Authority: | Orkney Islands |
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| References: | [1][2][3][4][5] |
Auskerry (Old Norse: Austrsker) is a small island at the east of the Orkney island group. It lies in the North Sea south of Stronsay and has a lighthouse, completed in 1866. The name Auskerry comes from the Old Norse for east skerry.
The island was uninhabited for a time after the automation of the lighthouse in the 1960s. It was previously a popular location for hunting seals.
Auskerry is inhabited by a family who keep sheep on the island. There is a wide variety of wildlife and the wreck of a cargo ship, the 'Hastings County', which ran aground on the south coast of the island during thick fog. Mail is delivered from Stronsay, once a month, by a fishing boat.
There are 3 small wind turbines and 4 solar panels on the island, which provide most of the power. After a series of expansions and renovations, the single roomed stone bothy is now a modern house with 4 bedrooms, kitchen, shower room and living room; the chemical toilet is outdoors due to the complication of installing septic tanks.
The lighthouse is attached to two flats; the lower one is used all year as a store and the top one is used mainly in summer.
Auskerry is designated a Special Protection Area due to its importance as a nesting area for Arctic Tern and Storm Petrel; 4.2% of the breeding population of Storm Petrel in Great Britain nest on the island.[6]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland.
- ^ Ordnance Survey
- ^ Haswell-Smith, Hamish. The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 1-84195-454-3.
- ^ Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) Orkneyinga Saga. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN 0-901824-25-9
- ^ Pedersen, Roy (January 1992) Orkneyjar ok Katanes (map, Inverness, Nevis Print)
- ^ Special Protection Area description: Auskerry. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
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