Mousa is an island and nature reserve in The Shetland Islands in Scotland. (Click to enlarge photos).
It is home to a variety of nesting birds, and the waters around the island are home to seals, porpoise and whales, including minke and orca.
The island is uninhabited,
and has the best preserved Iron Age Broch Guard tower in Scotland.
Mousa’s Broch is the tallest in Britain and is 2000 years old.
You can climb the tower’s eerie interior and take in the panoramic ocean views from the top.
The island is stark, unspoiled,
and beautiful.
Cheers to you from the stunning Shetland Islands~
Share this:
Discover more from Cindy Knoke
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Pingback: Mousa Nature Reserve~ — – SEO
Wow! Reblogging to my sister site “Timeless Wisdoms”
Thank you so much & I hope she enjoys…..
Not “my sister’s site,” but “my sister site” — both are edited by myself, but I’m sure all my readers will love it! Have a beautiful day 😎
You too, and thank you for the share and the clarification~
😊
I wonder who lived there and their story.
Fascinating isn’t it. There are more of these Broch’s scattered about, but this in the most intact.
Fabulous enjoying these photos from The Shetland Islands!
So happy you enjoyed them & cheers to you~
Reblogged this on Musings on Life & Experience and commented:
Pictures of the beautiful Mousa Nature Reserve from Cindy Knoke.
Hugs to you from the gorgeous Shetlands!
no human beings live there and the place thrives in nature, how ironic!, thanks
Exactly!
Pingback: Mousa Nature Reserve – Timeless Wisdoms
A perfect place for contemplation!
Yes it is quite otherworldly!
and no trees; that’s what got me about these Scottish Islands. BTW, Cindy, if you want a good novel about the weirdness that’s Shetland, try The Adderstane by Avalina Kreska
Oh I do love to read novels set where I am traveling, so thank you very much for the tip!
Must be so peaceful. Great photos.
My heart and soul are there with you. 🙂 What tasty treats did Scotland offer in the food department?
Scones, homemade jam, tea, and clotted cream, which I am enjoying as I type this sentence! And shepards pie for dinner!
Delicious. Don’t forget some porridge and whisky and a few oatcakes. Not all together, necessarily. 😉
Just a drop of whiskey might be tasty in both, no…….
🙂 🙂
wunderschön, das Leben geht weiter, auch bei Problemen.
Vielen dank mein leiber Freund <3
HI CINDY I LOVED YOUR PHOTOS OF THE ISLAND, I WRITE A SERIES MIRANDA ABOUT A GIRL WHO VISITS ITALY AND THE SCOTISH HIGHLANDS AND WOULD LOVE TO FIT MOUSA INTO A BOOK, THANKS FOR SHARING CINDY, CHINA
Please let me know if you do as I would love to read it!
HI CINDY I AM NOW WRITING BOOK NINE IN MY MIRANDA SERIES ‘MIRANDA, LIBERATION AND FREEDOM’ AND WILL CONCLUDE IN THIS FANTASTIC LOCATION, I WILL INFORM YOU OF IT’S COMPLETION, CHINA
I look forward to reading it!
I love imagining the world when this place was inhabited. Beautiful.
Yes, I do this too. No freeways. No presidents. I can stop right there!
THAT makes it even more enjoyable. I also like thinking of their clothes and food!
Gorgeous images..♡♡♡♡
Thank you very much.
I love the starkness! It’s absolutely beautiful. I’m surprised they let anyone go inside and climb up as someone could cause damage. Maybe it’s from my visual perspective. There was a series on Netflix I watched called Shetland that first introduced me to that rather austere way of living. So glad to see you get to visit first hand. Great photos. Scones, jam and clotted cream are right up my ally. 😉 Enjoy.
The jam, the clotted cream, the scones and tea, take the sting out of the bitter winds! Tomorrow we are headed for quite a hike and it is a “bit blowy” outside! 😉
Awesome photut of Cindy.
Thank you very much~
Stunning photos. Our daughter and her husband are moving to Scotland (Glasgow area) next week for three years (maybe longer). My wife and I plan to visit periodically. We’ll definitely hit the Shetland Islands!
The Shetlands, The Hebrides, all of Scotland is so incredibly beautitul, and I do not say this just because my grandmother was a Scot. You will enjoy every visit <3
Stunning indeed! The people that lived there in the past must have been incredibly stalwart!
It is hard to even imagine the hardship of their lives. The hardiest people I have yet encountered were The Tierra del Fuegans, who went around basically naked, greased in seal fat, all year long! There was one last surviving Tierra del Fuegan woman. I am not sure of her status.
Beautiful photos! 🙂 Very stark and moody.
Yes. Those words are most descriptive.
A stunning island, yes, but stunning pictures, too, Cindy! 🙂 You really capture nature’s beauty here.
Honored. Thank you.
You’re welcome. 🙂
Cindy, I love green, so you know I like these photos. Green or not they’re amazing. I think I could count every blade of grass. I love the upward looking shot of the inside of the tower too. Way cool! Hugs on the wing!
Hugs to you Teagan from the rather brisk Shetland Islands!
What beautiful place!
Powerful solitude.
😎
Amazing!! Some great photos. Enjoy. xo
Thank you Darlene & cheeers to you!
Lovely Cindy, there’s some history there.
Leslie
Oh, yes, silent and powerful.
Love those old dilapidated buildings.
In areas of low human population, the natural beauty has a way of shining!
And the animals thrive. Mousa has a large breeding population of arctic tern, arctic petrels and skuas.
So pretty and green. I love seeing those old structures. It’s a bit of time travel for the imagination. Thanks for the photos, Cindy.
Thank you more for the kind appreciation!
Reminds me of the island on which they filmed, “The Secret of Roan Innish.”
I loved that movie!
I loved it too and does evoke that cold, windswept, north sea feeling…..
It was powerful.
Someone else mentioned this, and yes indeed, it does evoke this stark, windswept, moody, feeling.
Ienjoyed this. Wish I had some of the rocks .
People are taking so much rock from the Scottish broch’s that many have been depleted. Mousa is the tallest remaining.
These are absolutely gorgeous! It may be desolate but it has such a natural beauty. It has to be a sight to see for real! 😀 <3
I can’t imagine the iron age people living here all winter long, with the fierce wind and gales. They lived surrounded by thick rock walls, with no windows, partially underground, but had to go out to fish and forage. Amazing.
Well, if anyone was anything like me, they never survived the winter! HA! 😆
I love lots of snow, from inside a heated cabin while on a ski-trip, when I know I am returning to SoCal soon!
Scotland and Ireland are fairytale countries to me. Nature at its best.
Yes, they are indeed, and just a tech brisk!!!
This was a wonderful virtual tour of the Moussa Nature Reserve. The photos are absolutely superb, Cindy. The stark beauty of the island and the solitude must have made a deep impression on you. Have a great day! Peter
Yes. I am glad it is left to only the ruins and the birds. It is a remarkable place.
Such a stark, yet stunning, place! My dog’s ancestors hail from the Shetland Islands — perhaps the loneliness of this area contributes to the Sheltie’s typical standoffishness. I’d love to visit there — thanks for showing me what I’m missing, Cindy!
The ponies and the doggies are short in stature to keep stuck to the ground in these fierce winds, and the coats to keep them warm and dry. We are visiting communities with such small populations, that I can see why both the ponies and the sheepdogs may well be standoffish.
Stunning photos, Cindy! The landscape and the ocean view are all beautifully captured. Thank you for the tour!
Thank you for joining me Amy!
This lonely beauty has so much history. When I see remnants of homes and other structures, I wonder about the people who once spent time there. So many stories could be told – if we only knew. Photos are amazing, as always!
And someday, maybe we will leave mysteries, for others to puzzle over~
There’s always another book waiting to be written.
Gorgeous! There should be more nature reserves in the world.
As usual, we are in perfect accord <3
🖤
Absolutely lovely!
Very pleased you enjoyed & thank you!
It is just exactly that! And it is full of beautiful gannets!
I wasn’t familiar with that bird, before. I learned something new:)
<3
Rugged beauty – their weather there is infamous!
Yes, it is a balmy summer day here in the north sea. I am not quite sure what the gale force is……..
Beautiful. What is the significance and age of the cairns by the water’s edge?
They are uniquely Scottish and their history is complicated. Since I know you have an enquiring mind, I will let Wiki, who knows and sees (almost) explain, certainly better than I can:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broch
Nice to see this 2000-year-old tower, it gives me goose bumps. 🙂
Yes, it is eerie and very beautiful.
Love it! Thank you very much for sharing. Michael
Thank you more for such thoughtful appreciation~
Over 2000 years old puts it in the Roman era. The tower likely served as a lookout against the Romans since Scotland did not fall. Did you climb to the top of the tower?
Here is some info on the brochs, and yes we did climb the inside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broch
What a serene place, and that tower is extraordinary. Beautiful photographs Cindy. I love the house remains – can imagine them with thatched roofs and smoke coming from the chimney.
Alison
How beautiful. It really takes one back in time.
We all live in civilization surrounded by people. It is impossible to imagine how the Shetland Islanders lived and survived, yet somehow, I envy them
Beautiful views from the place. I like those half house built from rocks. Very nice.
Thank you my friend & it is so great to hear from you. Be well from across the sea <3
The stone walls found throughout Scotland and Ireland are intriguing. Some date back to the 14th century. Typically, they were built without mortar and are still standing 700 years later.
It is hard to fathom isn’ t it. The broch are from the Iron Age and are only in Scotland. It boggles my mind, like many things.
So beautiful.
Awww, hugs to you sweet one <3
Wow! Such stunning photos. I’d love to visit the Shetland Islands.
I hope you do. You will fall in love <3
Gorgeous!!!
Yes. Thank you for appreciating <3
Scotland…it is a beautiful and unspoiled by civilisation.☘
Precisely!