Orkney, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness and has about 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, the Mainland, has an area of 523 square kilometres (202 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. Orkney’s largest settlement, and also its administrative centre, is Kirkwall.
The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections.
Yell is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland. In the 2011 census it had a usually resident population of 966. It is the second largest island in Shetland after the Mainland with an area of 82 square miles (212 km2), and is the third most populous in the archipelago, after the Mainland and Whalsay.
Mousa is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-petrel breeding colonies.
The Northern Isles are a pair of archipelagos off the north coast of mainland Scotland, comprising Orkney and Shetland. They are part of Scotland, as are the Hebrides. The climate is cool and temperate and much influenced by the surrounding seas. There are a total of 36 inhabited islands. The landscapes of the fertile agricultural islands of Orkney contrast with the more rugged Shetland islands to the north, where the economy is more dependent on fishing and on the oil wealth of the surrounding seas. Both island groups have a developing renewable energy industry. Both have a Pictish and Norse history. Both were part of the Kingdom of Norway until they were absorbed into the Kingdom of Scotland in the 15th century. They remained part of it until the 1707 formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the 1801 formation of the United Kingdom. And they both played a significant naval role during the world wars of the 20th century.
The Out Skerries are an archipelago of islets, some inhabited, in Shetland, Scotland, and are the easternmost part of Shetland. Locally, they are usually called Da Skerries or just Skerries.
The MV Braer was an oil tanker which ran aground during a storm off Shetland, Scotland, in January 1993, and nearly a week later broke up during the most intense extratropical cyclone on record for the northern Atlantic Ocean, the Braer Storm of January 1993.
Grunay is an uninhabited island in the Out Skerries group, the most easterly part of Shetland, Scotland. Its area is 55.58 acres, or 22.49 hectares.
Dunrossness, is the southernmost parish of Shetland, Scotland. Historically the name Dunrossness has usually referred to the area on the Shetland mainland south of Quarff. However, in 2016 there were three separate Shetland Community Councils for a) Gulberwick, Quarff and Cunningsburgh; b) Sandwick; and c) Dunrossness. The 2011 census defined Dunrossness as including everybody within the British ZE2 postal code, which goes as far north as Gulberwick. It has the best and largest area of fertile farmland of any parish in Shetland. Dunrossness includes the island of Mousa, Levenwick, St Ninian's Isle, Bigton, Scousburgh, the Lochs of Spiggie and Brow, Boddam, Quendale, Virkie, Exnaboe, Grutness, Toab, Ness of Burgi, Clumlie Broch, Scatness, Sumburgh Airport, Sumburgh Head, West Voe, the islands of Lady's Holm, Little Holm, Horse Holm island and Fair Isle.
Tingwall, is a parish in Shetland, Scotland. Located mostly on the Shetland Mainland, the centre lies about 2 miles north of Scalloway. Tingwall Airport is located in the village.
Yell Sound is the strait running between Yell and Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. It is the boundary between the Mainland and the North Isles and it contains many small islands. Sullom Voe, on the shores of which is a substantial oil terminal, is an arm of Yell Sound.
Little Holm is a small island to the west of South Mainland in Shetland. It is near Scatness and Lady's Holm. A trawler was wrecked there in 1916.
There are numerous islands containing the word holm, mainly in northern Europe. In many cases the name is derived from the Old Norse holmr, meaning "a small and rounded islet". These include:
The Sea Empress oil spill occurred at the entrance to the Milford Haven Waterway in Pembrokeshire, Wales on 15 February 1996. The Sea Empress was en route to the Texaco oil refinery near Pembroke when she became grounded on mid-channel rocks at St. Ann's Head. Over the course of a week, she spilt 72,000 tons of crude oil into the sea. The spill occurred within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park – one of Europe's most important and sensitive wildlife and marine conservation areas. It was Britain's third largest oil spillage and the twelfth largest in the world at the time.
Holm of Grimbister is an inhabited tidal islet in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. Located in the Bay of Firth near Finstown it is connected to Mainland Orkney by a causeway.
Linga Sound is the strait between the islands of Linga Holm and Stronsay in the Orkney islands of Scotland. It leads into St. Catherines Bay from the north.
St Magnus Bay is a large coastal feature in the north-west of Mainland Shetland, Scotland. Roughly circular in shape with a diameter of about 19 kilometres (12 mi), it is open to the North Atlantic Ocean to the west. The indented coastline to the north, south and east between Esha Ness in the north and the Ness of Melby in the south contains numerous bays, firths and voes and there are several islands around the perimeter. The waters of the bay are up to 165 metres (541 ft) deep and may have been the site of a substantial meteor impact.
