Kunoy (meaning ''Woman island'', is an island located in the north-east of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

between

Kalsoy Kalsoy ( da, Kalsø) is an island in the north-east of the Faroe Islands of Denmark between Eysturoy and Kunoy. The name means man island; by contrast with the parallel island to the east, Kunoy, the name of which means woman island. The northern ...

to the west (with which there is no physical link) and

Borðoy Borðoy ( da, Bordø) is an island in the north-east of the Faroe Islands. Its name means 'headland island'. There are eight settlements: Klaksvík (the second largest town in the Faroes), Norðoyri, Ánir, Árnafjørður, Strond, Norðtoftir, ...

to the east (to which it is linked via a causeway).

Settlements and transport

There are two settlements on Kunoy: Kunoy (population 64), on the west coast and

Haraldssund Haraldssund ( da, Haraldsund) is a settlement in the Faroe Islands, situated on the island of Kunoy. Haraldssund is located on the east coast of Kunoy and is connected to the village of Kunoy on the west coast by a tunnel. To the east, it is li ...

on the south-east coast. These have been connected by a tunnel since 1988. Haraldssund is connected by a causeway to the neighbouring island of

to the east of Kunoy. Before the causeway was built, travel to the island was by ferry. Nowadays the 504 bus runs a regular service across the causeway, with a route from

Klaksvík Klaksvík is the second largest town of the Faroe Islands behind Tórshavn. The town is located on Borðoy, which is one of the northernmost islands (the Norðoyar). It is the administrative centre of Klaksvík municipality. History The first ...

through Ánir then across to Haraldssund and through the tunnel to Kunoy. :de:Kunoy A third settlement, Skarð, was the site of a fishing accident on Christmas Eve, 1913 which killed seven men (all the male population except a 14-year-old and a 70-year-old). The women decided to move to

, and the area is now deserted.

People

* Símun av Skarði (1872-1942), the Faroese poet, politician and teacher and founder of the Faroese Folk High School (Føroya Fólkaháskúli) was born in Skarð, which was a small settlement on Kunoy, which was abandoned in 1919. He wrote the Faroese National Anthem, '' Mítt alfagra land''.

Geography

Important Bird Area

The coastline of the northern tip of the island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because of its significance as a breeding site for

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

s, especially

European storm petrel The European storm petrel, British storm petrel, or just storm petrel (''Hydrobates pelagicus'') is a seabird in the northern storm petrel family, Hydrobatidae. The small, square-tailed bird is entirely black except for a broad, white rump and ...

s (250 pairs) and black guillemots (200 pairs). The

brown rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown o ...

, was introduced on purpose by people from

, to the island in 1914 over some slight, and it has done tremendous damage to the bird population since then, most notably the Atlantic puffin.

Mountains

The island has the following eleven mountains, shown with their overall rank in the Faroe Islands: List of mountains of the Faroe Islands The top of Klubbin is well known for its

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characte ...

, as it is one of the few areas where there never have been grazing sheep.

References

External links

personal website
with 6 aerial photos of Kunoy {{Authority control Islands of the Faroe Islands Important Bird Areas of the Faroe Islands