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Bressay

Just hop on the Ferry...

Bressay lies opposite Lerwick, and is just ten minutes by car ferry with regular crossings throughout the day. The small island of Noss lies off the east coast of Bressay.

Both islands have spectacular features including geology, landscape, coastal mammals, wild flowers and birdlife.

Bressay - Sandstone and Prehistoric Telecoms

Bressay has almost everything that Shetland can offer the visitor: a seven minute ferry ride whisks you from the bustling centre of Lerwick to another world - a quiet, rural island with beautiful scenery, friendly people and fascinating wildlife.

Here are seabird cliffs, quiet bays, hill and coastal walks, a dozen freshwater lochs (many with good trout) and a profusion of archaeological and historical sites. The east side of the island is sparsely inhabited, a place of peace and quiet where birds and sheep wander undisturbed.

Getting There and Getting Around

The Bressay ferry sails from Albert Buildings in the centre of Lerwick every hour from with later sailings on Friday and Saturday nights.

The ferry berths in Bressay right next to the Bressay Heritage Centre which features seasonal exhibitions on the culture, history and natural heritage of the island. The centre is open part time from May to September.

Nearby is the Maryfield Hotel, a 19th century house built by the notorious estate factor John Walker who was responsible for many Clearances in Shetland. Nowadays the hotel is noted for its good food and good company.

There's a lively primary school, a thriving local history group, a boating club, shop, pub and a community hall where visitors are always welcome at concerts, dances, social evenings and the annual Up Helly A' fire festival in February.  Bressay is also home to the Northern Lights Holistic Spa  where a variety of facilities and treatments are available.

Much of Bressay is accessible by car on the single-track roads which radiate from the shop and post office at Mail (the place-name means "the sands" and long pre-dates the Royal Mail). The side roads are rough tracks unsuitable for cars and the best way to enjoy the wild east side of the island is on foot. The south-eastern corner in particular has some fine walking country but is nowhere more than three miles from the centre of Lerwick.

Bressay shelters Lerwick harbour from the North Sea and for many centuries Bressay Sound has been a port of refuge for shipping, since long before Lerwick was founded in the 17th century. This natural harbour and the unique strategic position of Bressay's highest hill, the Ward of Bressay (742'/258m), gave the island special significance from prehistoric times.

From the summit, all of Shetland is visible: on a clear day, with binoculars, you can see through the natural arch in the Gaada Stack on Foula, away to the west, in the Atlantic; to the north-east lie Out Skerries; to the north Ronas Hill and Saxa Vord (Unst); and to the south Sumburgh Head.  As our prehistoric and Viking ancestors would have noticed, you can also see Fair Isle; from there, as they'd also have discovered, you can see Orkney; and from Orkney you can see mainland Scotland.

Bressay Wildlife

There is plenty of birdlife to see in Bressay, including most of the species found in Noss. The south eastern corner of the island includes the Puffin cliffs of the Ord and has a breeding colony of several hundred Great Skua around the loch at Sand Vatn as well as breeding Dunlin, Common Sandpiper, Snipe, Curlew, Whimbrel, Golden Plover and other moorland birds. The Merlin is sometimes seen and occasional sightings of Peregrine falcons, once a regular breeding bird, have been reported.

Bressay's breeding list also includes Oystercatcher, Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Eider, Black Guillemot, Shag, Redshank, Raven, Red throated Diver, Ringed Plover and Lapwing.

Spring and autumn bring Bressay its share of migrating birds. Great flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare can be seen and the island has some rarities on its checklist including a Surf Scoter from North America. In winter the lochs are used by parties of up to a dozen Whooper Swans. Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper, Great Northern Diver, Grey Heron, Long tailed Duck, Widgeon, Teal, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye are common winter visitors.

The native mammals are Otter, Grey Seal and Common Seal. Rabbits, hedgehogs, rats, mice (and sheep!) have all been introduced by humans over the centuries. There are no snakes or other reptiles but introduced frogs thrive.

Floral Roadsides

There is little spraying or mowing of the roadside verges in Bressay, with the result that they are a riot of wild flowers in June and July. Off the beaten track, the meadow flowers are at their best among the croft land in those months, while in the wetter pastures there are fine displays of Purple Orchids.

Exploring Bressay

The road north from Maryfield passes Bressay's most imposing building, Gardie House, a laird's mansion built in 1724 and noted for its walled gardens.

Another little road north passes through the crofting hamlet of Crueton (with its very 'birdy' copse of willows) and over the hill to the townships of Beosetter and Gunnista, overlooking Aith Voe which is one of the best birdwatching spots in the island, noted for waders, divers and sea ducks. Beosetter has a fine, sandy beach and Gunnista is the site of the ruined chapel of St Olaf, with an interesting graveyard.

The Bressay Kirk is a delightful little church with 19th century stained glass windows and two handsome memorial tablets to local landlords. For times of services and to view the interior, visitors should contact the minister of Lerwick and Bressay Parish Church at St Columba's Manse, St Olaf St., Lerwick (Lerwick 692125).

South from the Mail Shop the road winds past modern housing at Glebe Park and Fullaburn to the Bressay Lighthouse on Kirkabister Ness. Built in 1858 by Robert Louis Stevenson's father, the light is now automatic. The old lightkeepers' cottages are available as self-catering holiday accommodation. Details from Shetland Amenity Trust.

In the dramatic geo (cove) below the lighthouse the Lithuanian factory trawler Lunokhods was wrecked in a 1993 storm. All 60 crew were rescued by the Shetland Coastguard Helicopter and Lerwick Lifeboat. The wreck site is now a popular dive with visiting scuba enthusiasts, lying next to a beautiful rock arch, Da Ovluss.

The old kirkyard lies partly over a ruined broch. Here was found the Bressay Stone, apparently the memorial to the daughter of a Pictish chieftain, Naddod, and inscribed with Ogham script which has never been fully deciphered. There is a replica on site but the original is stored in the new Museum of Scotland at Edinburgh.

A short walk up the Burn of Setter is a good place for a close look at the distinctive, vertical-shaft Shetland watermills. There are several on this burn and many more throughout Bressay. Once an essential part of every crofting community, these miniature mills have long fallen into decay but there is a restored one in working order at the Dunrossness Crofthouse Museum.

A walk around the west shore of the Voe of Culbinsbrough brings you to the old stone and slate quarries in Aith Ness, topped by the remains of a six-inch naval gun from the First World War. Like the gun on Bard Head at the southern tip of Bressay, this one was installed in the last year of the war and was never fired in anger.

If you have only a little time in Shetland, one of the best ways to sample most of what the islands have to offer is to spend a day on this glorious walk round the uninhabited coast and hills between Noss Sound and the Bressay Lighthouse, taking in some of the wildest scenery in the islands.

Follow the tarmac road to Noss Sound and then head south along the coast, past the volcanic vent of the Muckle Hell and its colony of Herring Gulls, until you come to the waterfall below the ruined watermill on the burn from the Loch of Grimsetter. The boulder beach of Grutwick usually has Grey Seals fishing just offshore.

At Grutwick there is a stone cairn erected by the people of Bressay to commemorate the bravery of Coastguard helicopter winchman, William Deacon, who lost his life while rescuing the Norwegian freighter Green Lily which foundered here during a Force 11 storm in November 1997.

Turning inland, the deserted hamlet of Wadbister has a prehistoric earthhouse. Across the Loch of Grimsetter is the croft of Gorie, an oasis of trees and bushes in the hill.

South of Wadbister the cliff walk gives superb views of caves and natural arches, including the remarkable triple arch of the Stoura Clettstack - another favourite haul-out for Common Seals. Here too is the ruined medieval settlement of Stobister, where legend has it that the inhabitants fled when a violent storm sent fish raining down the chimneys - perhaps the same tidal wave that opened Noss Sound.

Walking on past the collapsed sea cave of the Gore's Kirn you come to the breeding territory of Great Skuas and Arctic Skuas; then the wild, lonely loch of Sand Vatn where Red-throated Divers nest (please avoid disturbance). Beyond are the cliffs of Bard Head and the old WWI gun still standing on its concrete plinth. Two hundred feet (61m) below is the tide race of the Bard a strom, a favourite fishing ground for Gannets and other seabirds.

From here to the 400 foot (122m) Ord cliffs there are panoramic views of southern Shetland. The Ord is Fulmar territory, with thousands of these graceful birds wheeling in the updraft, but here and in many corners of the Bressay cliffs you will also see Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills and Tysties.

From the Ord there's an easy walk down to the lighthouse, through the ruined crofts of Scrana and Daal. Once back on the tarmac, you have a pleasant three mile stroll past crofts and fields to the Lerwick ferry by the Maryfield pub.

Walking Notes

• Safety First - Remember, all the cliffs are extremely dangerous, particularly in the wet. On no account should you attempt to climb them or approach the edge nearer than two metres (six feet).
• Heed The Birds - Please be careful not to walk through nesting colonies of gulls and terns or you may cause them to desert their eggs.
• No Dogs, Please! - The owners and tenants of the land have given permission for these recommended walks to be included in this guide, on condition that visitors do not bring their dogs, even on a leash. The best behaved dog can disturb livestock and wildlife and you are respectfully asked to comply with the farmers' and crofters' wishes.

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