Fugloy (Nature) (Photo)

Fugloy 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.
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.

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.

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 name Fugloy comes from the Faroese word fuglur for “bird” so it is not surprising that the island has a rich fauna of sea and land birds, especially puffins (Faroese: lundi) which inhabit the island in thousands. The view over to the nearest islands Svínoy and Borðoy is excellent, and sunsets that can be seen are among the things that make Fugloy feature in old pictures of the Faroe Islands.

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.