Mousa
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Scottish island
Mousa Template:IPAc-en (Template:Langx "moss island") 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.
GeographyEdit
Mousa lies directly on the 60th parallel, 60 degrees north of the equator and 30 degrees south of the North Pole. It lies Template:Convert off the east coast of Mainland Shetland in the parish of Dunrossness about Template:Convert south of Lerwick. Almost divided in two by inlets, East and West Hams, the island is Template:Convert long and almost Template:Convert in maximum width. Geologically beds of hard sandstone alternate with muddy limestones that weather to produce fertile soil. A quarry provided flagstones for Lerwick.<ref name=Smith/>
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.
Flora and faunaEdit
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Mousa is known for grey and common seals, black guillemots, Arctic terns and storm-petrels.<ref name=rspb>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The island is designated as both a Special Protection Area (SAC) and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> by NatureScot, and is run as a reserve by the RSPB.<ref name=rspb/> The island has also been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.<ref name=bli>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> These seas are therefore also protected, forming both a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA).<ref name=sac>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=mpa>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Mousa Broch is the best preserved Iron Age fortification in the British Isles.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Canmore</ref> 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).<ref name=broch>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=broch/>
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.<ref>John H. Ballantyne & Brian Smith, Shetland Documents, 1195-1579 (Lerwick, 1999), p. 92 no. 129.</ref>
TransportEdit
The island is readily accessed using the passenger-only ferry which operates from the Shetland Mainland at Leebitton, Sandwick in summer time. Template:Clear left
See alsoEdit
FootnotesEdit
Template:East Shetland Template:Shetland Template:RSPB sites in Scotland Template:Marine Protected Areas in Scotland