Mousa

Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia that anyone can edit

^{Mousa seen from above Sandwick, with the Setter area of Sandwick in the foreground.}

**Shetland Islands**
OS Name:	Mousa
Shetland Name:

UK Grid Reference:	HU462240
Area (ha):	410
Population:	None (Inhabited until mid 1800's)
Community Council:
Ferry Services:	Passenger service in summer from Leebitton.
Notes:	See below for conservation status

Mousa seen from Blett, Cunningsburgh.
Mousa Lighthouse can be seen to the left of the island, and the Mousa Broch is visible near the right.

Approaching the island of Mousa

Mousa, seen from the Mail sand, silhouetted by a December sunrise. Photo:Jim Work

Tysties - (Black Guillemots) on Mousa. Photo by Jaydee67

Mousa, from old norse Mosey, meaning Mossy Island, lies on the east side of Mousa Sound which separates it from Sandwick on the east side of the south Shetland Mainland.
The island is almost split in two by the inlets of West Ham and East Ham, and in fact maps show the island named in two parts as North Isle, and South Isle.
At the east side of the island the Mousa Lighthouse stands on the small islet of Peerie Bard, which is separated by Bard Sound from the Muckle Bard, on the south side of which it The Swarf, a rocky area most notable as the point where the St Sunniva was wrecked on 10th April 1930.

Other wrecks on the isle have included the Haabet which wrecked on January 2nd 1826, the Provide was beached on the west coast after going on fire on December 7th 1932, and the Dyrhaug on the Muckle Bard on April 16th 1959.

Mousa was populated until the mid 19th century and the ruins of the laird's house can still be seen near to the world famous Mousa Broch, which was the home of the early iron age residents.

During the summer months a passenger ferry, which can carry 60 passengers, operates from Leebitton in Sandwick, to a jetty at West Ham. This ferry service is very popular with visitors to Shetland who are interested in wildlife, as Mousa is home to large colonies of grey and common seals (selkies), otters (dratsies), guillemots (tysties), fulmars (maalies), arctic skuas (skootie aalins), great skuas (bonxies), arctic terns (tirricks), and, perhaps most notably, storm petrels (alamooties).
Special night time ferry trips are laid on to the island so that visitors can witness the spectacle as hundreds of these dainty little birds return from feeding far out to sea, to the walls of the broch, using the cover of Shetland's partial summer darkness, known as the Simmer Dim, to avoid predators.

The whole of Mousa is a Designated Nature Conservation Area with the island itself being scheduled as