LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY
Shetland sits at an ocean crossroads where the North Sea meets the Atlantic, lying on latitude 60° north – as far north as southern Greenland and Alaska.
Islands measure 152 km (95 miles) from north to south, and 75 km (47 miles) from east to west. The amazingly indented coastline is 2575km (1600 miles) long, enclosing a land area of just 1468 square km (567 square miles).
About 22,000 people live on the 15 inhabited Shetland islands, but they’re greatly outnumbered by about 54,000 gannets, 175,000 guillemots, 200,000 puffins, 360,000 fulmars, and at least 330,000 sheep!
CLIMATE
Thanks to the warming effect of the Atlantic, the islands have a milder climate than you might expect and more daylight in summertime than anywhere else in Britain. The average annual rainfall is only 39 inches, with April to July being the driest months. The weather can be changeable, though, so it’s best to bring warm and waterproof clothes with you just in case.
Midsummer’s an especially magical time in Shetland, when the sun is up for almost 19 hours and the air can be stunningly clear. In the late evening, the light gradually fades into a long, bright twilight known as the ‘Simmer Dim’. On a cloudless night, the glow of the sun under the northern horizon leaves a wash of gold between dusk and dawn. It’s an unforgettable experience.
From September through to March you’ve a chance of seeing the stunning light show of the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. The shimmering arcs and streamers of the ‘Merry Dancers’ can take many forms: sometimes an unearthly glow, almost as bright as twilight, sometimes many brilliant rays shooting across the sky.
NATURE
Shetland is a birdwatcher’s paradise – one of the major seabird breeding and feeding areas of the North Atlantic. More than a million birds nest in large colonies such as Hermaness, Foula, Mousa, Noss, Sumburgh Head and Fair Isle.
What makes these Shetland seabird cities so special is not just the quantity and variety of birds but their spectacular setting. Nowhere else in Britain, and hardly anywhere in Europe, can you get so close, so easily, to so many seabirds (including some very rare species) in such awe-inspiring scenery.
Shetland’s undisturbed beaches and sheltered inlets are havens for both common and grey seals. Together with porpoises they’re Shetland’s only native breeding sea mammals. Good places to find them are at Mousa and Sound (Lerwick) where they like to sunbathe on the rocks at the base of the cliffs, and Lerwick harbour where they’re on the look out for scraps from the fish processing factories.
NATURE RESERVES
Shetland is famous for the wildlife of its rolling hills and rugged coast Some of the best wildlife watching, year round, is found in our seven internationally important nature reserves: Fair Isle; Sumburgh Head; Loch of Spiggie; Mousa; Noss; Fetlar; Keen of Hamar; and Hermaness.
You’re guaranteed daily sightings in summer of red-throated divers, fulmars, gannets, shags, kittiwakes, great skuas, arctic skuas, guillemots, tysties, razorbills, puffins, arctic and common terns, grey seals and common seals.
A few whooper swans also nest in Shetland. More arrive in autumn with other sub-arctic species such as great northern divers, long-tailed ducks and Slavonian grebes.
You have a good chance of seeing otters and porpoises at any time of year. Less numerous but still regular are orcas and minke whales, with occasional dolphins and larger cetaceans.