Church of Kirkja – Fugloy – (Video) – (Spring)

Fugloy (pronounced [ˈfʊglɪ], Danish: Fuglø, Old Norse: Fuglaey) is the easternmost island in the Faroe Islands.

The name means bird island, and refers to the large number of birds that nest on the island’s cliffs.

There are two settlements:

• Kirkja on the south-coast and
• Hattarvík on the east-coast.

Fugloy is special because of the stone-material consisting of basalt stratum, making the island very steep and inaccessible. The Eystfelli cliffs, which are 448m are located on the east coast. Nearby on the 47-metre-high sea stack Stapin there is also a lighthouse, a natural arch feature and what looks like the outline of an Egyptian Pharaoh (the Pharaoh’s Face).

The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because of its significance as a breeding site for seabirds, especially Atlantic puffins (15,000 pairs), European storm petrels (25,000 pairs) and black guillemots (100 pairs), as well as for about 50 breeding pairs of Eurasian whimbrels.^[1]

Fugloy was also a nesting site for the now extinct great auk (garefowl). On the east side of the island there is a rock ledge called Gorfuglarókin “Garefowl Ledge”, and written sources confirm that great auks were still breeding on Fugloy in the 18th century.^[2]

Grey seals are regular visitors to the coastlines of Fugloy. Mountain hares were introduced by humans, and inhabit the higher altitudes on the island. Fugloy has its own subspecies of house mouse Mus musculus domesticus, as do some of the other Faroese islands.

In contrast to the other Norðoyar islands, Fugloy is green and fertile all the way up to the mountain tops. Some rare plants are found on the island, e.g. the Fugloy Eyebright Euphrasia foulaensis.

The island has been populated since the Viking Age. One of the most important stories of the island is that of the Floksmenn. They were a flock (group) of rebels, in the Middle Ages, from Fugloy. The most notorious of the separatists, (referred by the Danish governmental officials in Tórshavn) were Høgni Nev, Rógvi Skel, Hálvdan Úlvsson and Sjúrður við Kellingará from Hattarvík. These men controlled and ravaged the northern parts of the Faroe Islands for a long time. This is one of the most important separatist myths of the Faroe islands.

The smarter Sjúrður við Kellingará was forced to go the more militant way of rebellion by Høgni Nev and Hálvdan Ulvsson who were more criminally minded. All the four men were later caught and sentenced to death. Sjúrður við kellingar was shown mercy and amnesty, but the story goes that he could not live with the crimes that he and the others had committed under their “little” rebellion and asked to be executed with the other Floksmenn.

Because the harbour of Fugloy is not protected by breakwaters, it has stopped any form of economic growth since the early 20th century. The island’s only income has been agriculture and some fishing, but also the famous catching of birds such as the puffin has been used on Fugloy to this day.

The Faroese parliament has tried to work out plans for the future of the island, such as the island getting electricity in the 1960s. In the 1980s a road from Kirkja to Hattarvík was built and a helicopter route to the island was established as well.

When the population was at its peak at the beginning of the 20th century, there were around 250–300 people living there. Due to a change in lifestyles and norms, island life has become less popular and people have moved away as a result. Today, there are only five people living all year around in Hattarvík and some 20 in Kirkja. There are few jobs on the islands; one shop and few jobs on the harbour are all that there are.