Fetlar North Isles Shetland Birdwatching Holidays Scotland Travel Scottish Islands

Fetlar Tourist Information

Fetlar, along with Yell and Unst, make up the North Isles of Shetland which are often less visited by tourists despite good ferry connections. Fetlar is six miles wide and five across and is characterised by being the most fertile of the three North Isles. In fact Fetlar means "the island of the fat land" in Old Norse and the reason why the Vikings colonised the island 1,200 years ago. Being so green it's been tagged as the "Garden of Shetland" but don't go expecting cultivated gardens as it's much more that it's green and grassy with flowering meadows in the summer and grassy moorlands and bogs in the higher ground.

The main village on Fetlar is Houbie pretty much in the centre of the island which is where you'll find the post office, shop and cafe.

There is a Tourist Information Point at Fetlar Interpretive Centre in Houbie which has general local information. Fetlar B&B accommodation is available in Houbie and Gord where there is also a campsite. There is also a camping bod at Aithbank.

Getting to Fetlar - Scottish Island Hopping

Fetlar is accessible by modern car and passenger ferries from Gutcher on Yell to Hamars Ness on Fetlar. The journey across takes around twenty minutes and it's recommended to allow twenty five minutes to travel across Yell from the ferry at Ullsta to the ferry for Fetlar in Gutcher if you're purely driving straight there. There are no petrol stations on Fetlar so fill up before you go.

A triangular service runs between Yell, Unst and Fetlar which runs on a several times a day basis. These can be a little irregular but there are usually a few services each day. If you want to get to Mainland from Fetlar you have to go via Yell catching the ferries from Ullsta at the south west corner of Yell. Booking is advisable. Fetlar Ferries Booking Information: Voicebank: 01595 743972 Bookings: 01957 722259. Ferry services general information: 01595 743970. Booking office opening hours: 8.30am-4.45 pm.

There is also an "Overland bus" service that runs from Viking bus station in Lerwick on Mainland to Yell, Unst and Fetlar which picks up the above ferries to reach the islands. There is no public transport in Fetlar itself and no petrol or diesel fuel for sale. Once you get onto Fetlar there is no other public transport.

Fetlar Walking & Wildlife

The north and eastern part of Fetlar is largely owned by the RSPB who manage it as a nature reserve. Fetlar was home to the only known breeding snowy owls in Britain identified by the late Bobby Tulloch, but unfortunately they no longer occur here. However, the big draw of Fetlar continues to be the wildlife now protected by the RSPB reserve that attracts around 3,000 visitors a year. The main habitat of the reserve is upland serpentine mire which supports a nationally important population of breeding red-necked phalaropes, being 90% of Britain's breeding population. There are estimated to be about 30-40 pairs in Fetlar which is largely due to conservation efforts of the RSPB, local crofters and landowners and Scottish Natural Heritage. Numbers in other parts of Britain have declined markedly.

Other bird species you might spot in the reserve are red-throated divers, black-tailed godwits, snipe, curlews, redshanks, lapwings and teals. There is a hide at Mires of Funzie (pronounced Finnie) that overlooks the red-necked phalarope breeding site. The best time to visit if you want to see the red necked phalaropes is June and July when you may well see them from the hide feeding along the shores of Loch Funzie.

The coastline along Funzie Bay is the most picturesque where you can look down into the bay and see the variety of stacks and jagged cliffs. There are also sea lochs where otters are sometimes seen. Over to the east of Houbie is Tresta beach, a pretty, sandy beach in a bay where you can find graphite pebbles - try writing with them. The headland to the south of Trestam Lambhoga, was where the islanders once dug peat for fuel. It now makes a nice long walk where you'll see thousands of puffins nesting between late April and early August.

Over on the north west coast Gruting has a range of cliffs and sandy beaches. For more information on walking on Fetlar, including walking itineraries, check the Walk Shetland website, link right and Shetland author Peter Guy's guidebooks including "Walking the Coastline of Shetland".

Fetlar Archaeological Sites - The Time Team

There are a range of ancient archaeological sites dotted all over Fetlar and it attracted Channel 4's The Time Team who excavated two sites in 2002, Gord garden in Houbie where a Norse house was discovered along with a variety of household artefacts and the Viking boat burial at Giant's Grave at Aith. The outline of the Viking boat is still clearly visible. (Check Fetlar Museum's pages for more information, link right).

Also in Houbie is the Stone of the Ripples standing stones in Leagarth Gardens.

Other sites include Finnigert Dyke which is probably Fetlar's oldest surviving man made structure. It is a large Bronze Age stone wall that runs north-south across the island dividing it into two. Although much of it is now in ruins there are some large sections that are still clearly visible.

Near here is the ancient ring of stones, Da Haltadans. Legend tells that the two rocks in the middle are a fiddler and his wife who were entertaining a group of trolls dancing in a circle when the sun came up and turned them all to stone. Both Finnigert Dyke and Haltadans are in a bird sanctuary area that is closed from May to August but free guided walks can be arranged on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11.30am from the Interpretive Centre if you book in advance.

Fetlar Tourist Attractions Shetland Isles

More recent attractions include two lairds houses: Brough Lodge and Leagarth House. Brough Lodge was built around 1820 for the Nicolson family of lairds who were responsible for giving the crofters forty days notice to quit their land in the nineteenth century Clearances. The eccentric Sir Arthur Nicolson largely rebuilt it in a rambling mix of architectural styles together with the folly built on the site of an Iron Age broch using stone taken from abandoned crofthouses - talk about adding insult to injury.

Leagarth House is a more conservative affair built in 1900 by Sir William Watson Cheyne, Fetlar's most famous son who became Lord Lister's assistant in his pioneering work identifying the need for and developing antiseptic surgery in the late nineteenth century. The Fetlar Interpretive Cetnre in Houbie details Cheyne's life and works as well as information on the island's birdlife and archaeological excavations. The Centre was used as the base of operations for the Time Team's dig in 2002. The Centre is run by Fetlar Museum Trust and is open Monday to Friday 11am-3pm. Saturday and Sunday 1-4pm. Check their website for more information, link right.

Aithbank is the former home of the late Jamesie Laurenson, a crofter renowned for his amazing knowledge of local lore and history. Most of his voluminous unpublished papers have been lost, but many of his folk tales were recorded by his friend the late Bobby Tulloch of Mid Yell - including Jamesie's dramatic version of a famous legend of 'The Eagle and the Baby'.