Froan (or ''Froøyene'') is a populated

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

of small, rocky islands in

Frøya Municipality Frøya is the westernmost List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen Districts of Norway, region and consists of the Frøya (island), island of Frøya, which lies nor ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Geography

Froan consists of several hundred islands and islets that lie in the sea about west of the

Fosen Fosen is a traditional district in coastal Trøndelag county, Norway. The district consists of the municipalities Osen, Åfjord, Ørland, Indre Fosen, Orkland, Heim, Hitra, and Frøya. In colloquial speech, Fosen also refers to the Fosen ...

peninsula. The islands run for about in a northeasterly direction, parallel to the coastline. The island village of

Halten Halten is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Wasseramt (district), Wasseramt in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland. History Halten is first mentioned in 1201 as ''Hal ...

lies at the northern end of the island chain. Only a few of the islands are inhabited, and in 2017, the population was only 38. The

Froan Chapel Froan Chapel () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Frøya Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located on the island of Sauøy in the Froan islands. It is one of several churches for the Frøya parish which is part of the ...

, built in 1904, is located on the island of Sauøya. The

Halten Lighthouse Halten Lighthouse () is a coastal lighthouse in Frøya Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The lighthouse is situated in the now uninhabited fishing village of Halten. It was first lit in 1875, and it is the northernmost of the chain of li ...

and others are located throughout the islands.

Important Bird Area

The archipelago has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because it supports significant populations of breeding

common eider The common eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria mollissima''), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large ( in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breed ...

European shag The European shag or common shag (''Gulosus aristotelis'') is a species of cormorant. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Gulosus''. It breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern Europe, southwest Asia and north Africa, ma ...

s and

great cormorant The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), also known as just cormorant in Britain, as black shag or kawau in New Zealand, formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and ...

s, as well as wintering

long-tailed duck The long-tailed duck (''Clangula hyemalis'') or coween, is a medium-sized sea duck that breeds in the tundra and taiga regions of the arctic and winters along the northern coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is the only member of ...

common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

and

yellow-billed loon The yellow-billed loon (''Gavia adamsii''), also known as the white-billed diver, is the largest member of the loon or diver family. Breeding adults have a black head, white underparts and chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is ...

purple sandpiper The purple sandpiper (''Calidris maritima'') is a small shorebird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. This is a hardy sandpiper that breeds in the arctic and subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America and winters further south on the Atlan ...

s and

black guillemot The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the ...

References

{{authority control Frøya, Trøndelag Islands of Trøndelag Important Bird Areas of Norway Important Bird Areas of Atlantic islands Archipelagoes of Norway Archipelagoes of the Norwegian Sea

Geography

Important Bird Area

See also

References