Auskerry

Infobox Scottish island

---

GridReference=HY675165
celtic name=
norse name= Austrsker
meaning of name= rolling pin
area=85 ha
area rank=154=
highest elevation= 18 m
Population=5
population rank= 80=
main settlement=
island group= Orkney
local authority=Orkney Islands
references= [2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland.] [ [http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ Ordnance Survey] ] cite book |author=Haswell-Smith, Hamish| title=The Scottish Islands| isbn=1-84195-454-3| location=Edinburgh| publisher=Canongate] [Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) "Orkneyinga Saga". Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN 0-901824-25-9] Pedersen, Roy (January 1992) "Orkneyjar ok Katanes" (map, Inverness, Nevis Print)]

Auskerry (Old Norse: "Austrsker") is a small island at the east of the Orkney island group. It lies in the North Sea south of Stronsay and has a lighthouse, completed in 1866. The name Auskerry comes from the Old Norse for "east skerry".

The island was uninhabited for a time after the automation of the lighthouse in the 1960s. It was previously a popular location for hunting seals.

Auskerry is inhabited by a family who keep sheep on the island. There is a wide variety of wildlife and the wreck of a cargo ship, the 'Hastings County', which ran aground on the south coast of the island during thick fog. Mail is delivered from Stronsay, once a month, by a fishing boat.

There are 3 small wind turbines and 4 solar panels on the island, which provide most of the power. After a series of expansions and renovations, the single roomed stone bothy is now a modern house with 4 bedrooms, kitchen, shower room and living room; the chemical toilet is outdoors due to the complication of installing septic tanks.

The lighthouse is attached to two flats; the lower one is used all year as a store and the top one is used mainly in summer.

Auskerry is designated a Special Protection Area due to its importance as a nesting area for Arctic Tern and Storm Petrel; 4.2% of the breeding population of Storm Petrel in Great Britain nest on the island. [cite web| url=http://www.jncc.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1919| title=Special Protection Area description: Auskerry| accessdate=2007-08-24]

Footnotes