Trondra ( sco, Trondra) is one of the

Scalloway Islands The Scalloway Islands are in Shetland opposite Scalloway on south west of the Mainland. They form a mini-archipelago and include: * Burra (two islands linked by bridge to each other and Trondra) ** East Burra (with Houss Ness) ** West Burra * ...

, a subgroup of the

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the n ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. It shelters the harbour of

Scalloway Scalloway ( non, Skálavágr, "bay with the large house(s)") is the largest settlement on the west coast of the Mainland, the largest island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The village had a population of roughly 900, at the 2011 census. ...

and has an area of .

History

Trondra was becoming rapidly depopulated until 1970, when road bridges were built to neighbouring Burra (

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

) and to the southern

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...

of the

Shetland Mainland The Mainland is the main island of Shetland, Scotland. The island contains Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick, and is the centre of Shetland's ferry and air connections. Geography It has an area of , making it the third-largest Scottish island and ...

. Since then the population has recovered from a low of 20 in 1961. A local community hall was opened in 1986.

Composition

Settlements on the island include: * Burland - Burland houses one of Shetland's most popular tourist attractions - the

Burland Croft Trail Burland is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, about 2½ miles west of Nantwich. The civil parish also includes the small settlements of Burland Lower Green, Burla ...

. * Cauldhame * Cutts * Glendale * Scarfataing

Geology

Trondra is made up of steeply inclined

dalradian The Dalradian Supergroup (informally and traditionally the Dalradian) is a stratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the lithostratigraphy of the Grampian Highlands of Scotland and in the north and west of Ireland. The diverse assemblage ...

rocks; mainly quartz and mica rich schists but with some crystalline limestone in the north which provide fertile soils around Cauldhame and Cutts. The hills are covered in grass and heather, with trees being few and far between, much like the rest of the Shetland Islands.

Wildlife

Trondra supports a number of seabirds including many

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, ...

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 ...

s. There are many fields of sheep and a few of Shetland ponies throughout the island. There is a variety of other wildlife present on and around the isle, such as hedgehogs, sparrows, starlings, seals and porpoises.

Leisure activities

Trondra has 2 rowing teams, male and female, which compete in the summertime rowing regattas around Shetland and the annual 'Round Trondra Race'. "Da Peerie Neep" ("The Wee

Turnip The turnip or white turnip (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word ''turnip'' is a compound (linguistics), compound of ''turn'' as in turned/r ...

") is a recently founded annual event which takes place in the Trondra hall and involves various neep related events such as "Toss the Neep". Trondra usually enters a male and female squad in the Scalloway Fire Festival, which takes place in early January each year.

Footnotes

External links

Google Earth view
Islands of Shetland Scalloway Islands {{Shetland-geo-stub