A lifetime of Islands: Island 480 - Long Ayre, Sullom, Shetland

Sunday, 20 October 2019

Island 480 - Long Ayre, Sullom, Shetland

Long Ayre is a relatively new island, but it is shown on the 1881 Ordnance Survey map. It is located on the north side of Sullom Voe and is a mile north of the village of Sullom on Shetland Mainland. It is really a sand and shingle spit (or ayre as they are known in Shetland). The ayre has grown in easterly direction across an inlet known as The Houb. It has grown high enough to be above the high tide level and now has more than enough grass on top of it to graze several sheep. Long Ayre is approximately 100m in diameter. The island has grown so far east that there is now only a narrow channel separating the eastern end of it from Fugla Ness. There are strong currents in the channel, as the tide rushes in and out filling and emptying The Houb.

Long Ayre is closely grazed by sheep but there were none present when I visited in early September 2019. There were also a few clumps of nettles on the island. There are a couple of telegraph poles on the island and the ayre.

I accessed Long Ayre by parking at the end of the road at Punds and walking north along the track that leads to a house called Houbans before branching off over some rough grass/bog to reach the landward end of the ayre. As I was putting my walking boots on a local farmer, who had come to move his sheep from one field to another using a quad bike, stopped for a chat. I checked with him that it would be permissible to visit Long Ayre and he said it would.