Muckle Flugga Boat Trips

Next stop is the end of Britain, the Out Stacks. Located on one of the several rocky islets which lie off Hermaness on the north coast of Unst is Muckle Flugga Lighthouse. The lighthouse, now unmanned and remotely-controlled, was built by Robert Louis Stevenson's father, Thomas, in   1857-8. The map in Treasure Island closely resembles a map of Unst, which the writer saw on his visit to the island in 1869. The lighthouse was automated in 1995 and its white tower stands 20m (66 feet) high and the light has a range of 22 miles (35 km).

Hermaness National Nature Reserve is one of the wonders of the bird world. The gannetry extends onto the Muckle Flugga stacks and is home to the third largest colony of Great Skuas (Or bonxies, as they are called in Shetland) in the world. In summer, 25,000 pairs of puffins (tammie-norries) live in burrows on the edge of the cliffs and breed from about mid April to early August. Half the world's population of great skuas live in Shetland. They breed from about May to August.