Mousa

Mousa lies directly on the 60th parallel, 60 degrees north of the equator and 30 degrees south of the North Pole. It lies {{convert|1|nmi|km|0|abbr=off|spell=in}} off the east coast of Mainland Shetland in the parish of Dunrossness about {{convert|15|nmi|km|abbr=off}} south of Lerwick. Almost divided in two by inlets, East and West Hams, the island is {{convert|1+1/2|mi|km|abbr=off|round=0.5}} long and almost {{convert|1|mi|km||round=0.5|abbr=off|spell=in}} in maximum width. Geologically beds of hard sandstone alternate with muddy limestones that weather to produce fertile soil. A quarry provided flagstones for Lerwick.

File:Off the east side of Shetland's south mainland showing the famous Mousa Broch.jpg

The Norse tended to consider an island to be something that they could circumnavigate, and this included being able to drag a boat over land. Thus Mousa was considered two islands, namely North Isle and South Isle.

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Mousa's fertile soil supports a rich diversity of plants, including sheep's-bit and creeping willow in the herb-rich grassland, despite the wind, salt spray and grazing by sheep.{{cite web|url=http://www.mousaboattrips.co.uk/Mousa_Leaflet_1.pdf |title=Mousa Reserve guide |publisher=RSPB |access-date=2007-12-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808175235/http://www.mousaboattrips.co.uk/Mousa_Leaflet_1.pdf |archive-date=2007-08-08 }}

Mousa is known for grey and common seals, black guillemots, Arctic terns and storm-petrels.{{cite web| url=http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/mousa/index.asp| title=Mousa| publisher=RSPB| access-date=2007-12-10}} It holds c. 6,800 breeding pairs of European storm-petrels in total. This represents about 8% of the British population and 2.6% of the world population.{{Cite journal | last1 = Ratcliffe | first1 = N. | last2 = Vaughan | first2 = D. | last3 = White | first3 = M. | year = 1998 | title = The status of Storm Petrels on Mousa, Shetland | journal = Scottish Birds | volume = 19 | pages = 154–159 }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Harrop | first1 = Hugh | last2 = Tipling | first2 = David | year = 2002 | title = The Storm Petrels of Mousa | journal = Birding World | volume = 15 | issue = 8| pages = 332–333 }} The island is designated as both a Special Protection Area (SAC) and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI){{cite web| url=http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/SPA/UK9002361.pdf| title=SAC Standard Data Form| publisher=JNCC| access-date=2007-12-10| archive-date=28 July 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080728175347/http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/SPA/UK9002361.pdf| url-status=dead}}{{cite web| url=https://sitelink.nature.scot/site/1204|title=Mousa SSSI|access-date=12 October 2020|publisher=NatureScott}} by NatureScot, and is run as a reserve by the RSPB. The island has also been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.{{cite web |url= https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/2548 |title=Mousa|author= |date=2024|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 2024-09-01}}

File:Peeriebard.jpg]]

The seas surrounding the island host a population of sandeel that provides a food source for many species of fish, seabirds, seals, whales and dolphins: the area is considered to have the most reliable population of sandeels of all the seas surrounding Shetland.{{cite web|url=https://apps.snh.gov.uk/sitelink-api/v1/sites/10410/documents/48|title=Mousa to Boddam Marine Protected Area Summary|access-date=12 October 2020|publisher=Scottish Government}} These seas are therefore also protected, forming both a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA).{{cite web|url=https://sitelink.nature.scot/site/8333|title=Mousa SAC|access-date=12 October 2020|publisher=NatureScott}}{{cite web|url=https://sitelink.nature.scot/site/10410|title=Mousa to Boddam MPA(NC)|access-date=12 October 2020|publisher=NatureScott}}

File:A misty day at Mousa Broch.jpg]]

File:Heladia Carta Marina.JPG in 1539]]

{{Main|Broch of Mousa}}

Mousa Broch is the best preserved Iron Age fortification in the British Isles.{{cite web| url=http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst1405.html | title=Overview of Mousa| publisher=Gazetteer for Scotland| access-date=2007-12-10}} The 2000-year-old round tower stands above a rocky shoreline, one of a pair of brochs guarding Mousa Sound. They may be part of a chain of brochs in this part of Shetland, visible from each other as beacons. The other of the "pair", at Burland on the Mainland is far less well preserved.{{Canmore | desc=Broch of Burland | num=998 | access-date=21 September 2017}} Many brochs were the focus of a settlement, but there has never been a full archaeological investigation to confirm this at Mousa. It was cleared out in 1860 and 1919. Mousa has survived intact to such a height and is thought to never have been much higher than it is today. It escaped stone gathering for nearby stone walls and croft houses (now ruined).{{cite web| url=http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/mousa/mousabroch/index.html| title=Mousa Broch| publisher=Undiscovered Scotland| access-date=2007-12-09}}

Mousa is mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga as being used as a place of defence during invasions, as well as a lovers' hideout.

The entrance passage into Mousa Broch is long, reflecting the enormous thickness of its walls.{{cite journal|first=D. |last=Thomas|year= 2011 |title=An Investigation of Aural Space inside Mousa Broch by Observation and Analysis of Sound and Light|website= www.intarch.ac.uk |issue=30|url= http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue30/thomas_index.html}} At its base the broch is 15m in diameter, but the interior is only 6m in diameter. Within the huge thickness of the base of the walls are a range of chambers probably used for storage, while at higher levels passages run between the inner and outer skins of the wall. On the inside a steep flight of steps leads to the top of the wall. Halfway up is a landing which probably gave access to an upper level of the interior of the broch, built on a ledge running around the circumference of the interior.

In July 1558, two Scottish ships from Aberdeen, the Meikle Swallow and Little Swallow, attacked an English fleet off Shetland. The Scottish sailors took cattle and other goods belonging to Olave Sinclair on Mousa. Sinclair claimed compensation in the Edinburgh courts.John H. Ballantyne & Brian Smith, Shetland Documents, 1195-1579 (Lerwick, 1999), p. 92 no. 129.

The island is readily accessed using the passenger-only ferry which operates from the Shetland Mainland at Leebitton, Sandwick in summer time.

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Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Shetland

Category:Important Bird Areas of Shetland

Category:Uninhabited islands of Shetland

Category:Special Protection Areas in Scotland

Category:Special Areas of Conservation in Scotland

Category:Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in Scotland

Category:Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas of Scotland