VisitShetland

St Ninians Isle and Sumburgh Head

Attractive places to see...

Sumburgh Head

Shetland's first lighthouse, on Sumburgh Head, is a listed building, built by Robert Stevenson, who accompanied Sir Walter Scott to Shetland in 1814 - a cruise that produced his novel The Pirate, set around Jarlshof and Fitful Head.

The RSPB's nature reserve on Sumburgh Head has the UK's most accessible colony of Puffins (tammie nories in Shetland Dialect), although the comical little birds only come to land between April and late July. Just walk up to the lighthouse, look over the wall and there they are, along with Guillemots (looms or lomvies), Kittiwakes (rippack maas or waegs) and Shags (skarfs). Seals often haul out on the rocks below.

The walls and fences make this a safe place for family birdwatching - and, if you are lucky, for whale-watching. Particularly in June and July, you may see Minke and Killer Whales, as well as the more common Harbour Porpoises, all feeding in the swirling tides around the tip of the South Mainland.

Another good birding spot is the roadside by the Pool of Virkie, on the airport's north side, where your car makes a convenient hide to watch migrating waders, and sometimes Shelduck.

Spiggie Loch and Sands

On the side road from Quendale to Scousburgh you pass the Loch of Spiggie, an RSPB wildfowl reserve. In late autumn hundreds of migrating Whooper Swans and Greylag Geese from Iceland pass through here, while in summer Arctic Terns and Great Skuas bathe in the shallows. This is one of the richest lochs in Shetland, with good trout fishing. The burn leading down to Spiggie Beach is celebrated for Sea Trout. Nearby, Scousburgh Sands make a popular and sheltered bathing beach. Midsummer wild flowers bloom on the roadsides and meadows between Scousburgh, Bigton and the sheltered hamlet of Maywick. Bigton overlooks St Ninian's Ayre, the fine tombolo beach linking St Ninian's Isle to the Mainland.

St Ninian's Isle

St Ninian's Isle became famous in 1958, when a schoolboy helping at an archaeological dig on the island's tiny Celtic chapel discovered a hoard of silver bowls and ornaments. The treasure, believed to date from around 800AD, is at present in the Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh but replicas are displayed at the Shetland Museum in Lerwick.

The island, now inhabited only by sheep, is a favourite spot for picnics, swimming and coast walking. Another fine bathing beach is Levenwick, on the North Sea coast just three miles east of Bigton. Nearby is the scenic inlet of Channerwick and the villages of Sandwick and Hoswick, which lie on latitude 60 degrees North, the same parallel as Cape Farewell, Greenland. The Warp & Weft Visitor Centre in Hoswick has a good range of local hosiery and provides facilities for wheelchair users.

Catpund Burn

At Catpund Burn you will find this remarkable Viking quarry is hidden away on the hillside above the main A970 road from Sandwick to Cunningsburgh - where you can still see the shapes hacked in the soft steatite rock, or soapstone, by Shetland's ancient inhabitants as they carved out bowls, urns and other utensils.

A detour through the populous village of Cunningsburgh, site of the annual agricultural show, brings you to the quiet inlet of Aiths Voe, surrounded by flower meadows. To the east is a lovely shoreline walk out to Helli Ness, with views of Bressay and Noss.

The next side road goes through the old crofting township of Fladdabister, where there are the ruins of a lime kiln used until the early 20th century. Wild roses grow in the ravine leading down to the beach at Ocraquoy.

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