If you like fiddle music, then Shetland has plenty to offer. We have a few big festivals each year which are well hosted by various musicians from here and world-wide. They perform all over Shetland, and the local public bars are usually brimming with foot-tapping folk enjoying these performances.

Performers like Aly Bain, Catriona MacDonald and the group Fiddlers Bid have established Shetland in the fiddle music world, and we also have a small but growing army of talented accordion players to complement them. We also have a big following of Country music, with their own club in Lerwick.

Shetland also has its fair share of talented resident artists, whose work can be seen here and in some of the galleries around the UK.These artists capture the beauty of the Shetland landscape and seascape onto canvas for the public to admire and purchase. There are a few small art galleries here that exhibit these works, as well as other places like the Lerwick Library and Museum.

At the opposite end of the year – the last Tuesday in January – Shetland’s Viking past comes alive with the annual Lerwick Up-Helly-A fire festival, where the chosen Guizer Jarl will lead his Viking clad men around Lerwick, culminating in the burning of a specially-made Viking Galley boat, the singing of many Viking songs and the visiting of many halls. This is so important to the Shetland folk; the following day is a holiday, usually followed by two more holiday days! There are other Up-Helly-A events during the first months of each year, in other parts of Shetland. In the summer you can visit the galley shed, view the galley being made and the costumes worn. Guizers are chosen well in advance for each annual festival – even as far back as when they’re born, a boy will know which festival he will be heading.

Wildlife

Travelling south from Lerwick you will site our famous Shetland ponies grazing in the fields, and around May you can often see their young, which are really tiny and quite cute. We also have some horses and there are a few riding schools here also.

You may be lucky to site an otter or two; they can turn up in the most unlikeliest of places, like the car park where you get the ferry to visit the island of Mousa on the east side. Another good place to see them is on the island of Yell. Bobby Tulloch, a famous naturalist who lived on Yell but passed away recently, has quite a few books to his name on otters and other wildlife. We also have some stoats, polecats and hedgehogs.

Staying on land, the visitor will notice a distinct lack of tree life. The reasons are several: maybe the rabbits and sheep won’t give them a chance to grow, but it’s usually the winters that kill them off, accompanied by the salt air during the storms we occasionally have. But you will find some trees in sheltered areas like valleys and peoples gardens. Tingwall and Kergord are good sheltered places.

Many wild flowers, some of the rare species grow here. I would say the best time to see them is June and July when they are usually in full bloom. The northerly island of Unst is particularly colourful, as are the cliffs and coasts.

The marine life is also quite varied. You may be fortunate to see a family of Whales riding the waves as they pass close by our shores. Sumburgh Head is a common siting point. 

For the sports diver, the waters around our shores are crystal clear, giving them an ideal window to explore our local sea life, and maybe the occasional wreck.

Being near the sea, you are never far from the sounds of sea birds wherever you live. We have plenty of common gulls, arctic skuas, oyster catchers and others I cannot recall the names of. The twitcher, or keen bird watcher, is bound to be satisfied by what they see here. We often get rare species visiting our isles as they migrate, some having been blown off course. The island of Fair Isle has it’s own observatory where you can stay and discuss your sitings with fellow twitchers. 

Shetland has its fare share of nature reserves, one of the largest being on the back on my house, located at the Loch of Spiggie. Whooper swans and canada geese winter there on a regular basis.

Fishing is popular here, and many lochs and voes have some easy catches of trout for your supper.

Shetland Wildlife Tours was specifically set up in 19xx to cater for the growing numbers of visitors who wanted to see our wildlife. Hugh Harrop and his partner Michelle will be able to help you plan your wildlife itinerary.

Government

Local government is maintained and headed by the Convenor of the Shetland Islands Council, under the auspices of the newly formed Scottish Parliament based in Edinburgh. However we abide by UK laws which are managed by the Prime Minister of the UK.

Economy

Initially, the economy here was solely based on fishing and crofting. The latter is usually by the keeping of sheep and some subsistence crops like beetroot and silage. Cattle are also kept. The recent scares regarding Mad Cow Disease and BSE have affected the selling price of cattle, and Shetland has also seen their values fall. Prices for Shetland sheep fell to an all-time low two years ago, when you couldn’t even give them away! Crofters were angry at the two large supermarkets here who were selling lamb chops at about half the cost of a locally killed and butchered whole lamb. They forced them to sell local meat at much fairer prices to all, as this meant the shops didn’t have to import this product. The same is now true for locally produced vegetables. Note that most of this is organically grown, as the sheep and cattle are fed off the land, and vegetables are usually locally grown and pesticide-free.

Since 1974 when the Sullom Voe oil terminal was opened and managed by a conglomerate of 13 oil companies, the Shetland economy has been boosted enormously by the oil industry. Our transport links had to be improved to cope with the influx of oil workers transferring to the offshore oil rigs to the east and west of Shetland. However, the downturn in the oil industry is starting to show here. The slow decrease in oil workers going offshore via Shetland could be due to oilrig automation and downsizing, and from oil companies flying direct to their oilrigs from Aberdeen. This is having a noticeable effect on the air traffic to and from Shetland.

The local fishing fleet has been hit very badly by fishing quotas and the price of fuel for their vessels. There are far too many marine regulations being imposed by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) for the standard local fisherman to observe and abide with, costing them more money to implement without them seeing any real return for their catches. The Shetland fleet consists of some larger vessels that can literally fish anywhere. However the smaller vessel fleet will unfortunately be priced out or forced out of business by the UK government, ably assisted by the MCA. Fish landed locally is sold locally, passed on for fish processing locally, or sold on to the UK markets or to the Russian/East European Klondyker fleet that regularly anchor outside Lerwick Harbour.

Salmon farming is another provider of local currency and jobs, with many fish exported worldwide. Mussel farming is a recent industry with a good future.

Tourism has been here for many years, but I believe is just starting to make headway. Whilst the price of travelling here must put most folk off coming here, we still get decent numbers making their way north. The shops benefit, the local Bus Company and tour operator benefits and the hotels and guesthouses benefit. I believe this will become an important industry here in the near future. Eco-tourism is also growing at a fast pace here. There are quite a few cottage industries that rely on tourism: locally produced knitwear, rugs, paintings, trinkets and stones are but a few.

History and heritage

Now this is something we have plenty of!

Shetland was first settled in the Neolithic times, about 3000 BC. Since then, the Picts, Vikings and Norse have come and gone, leaving their marks across our landscape. Scattered about the isles you will see the remains of various structures, including brochs, superbly built roundhouses and Cairns. The best sites are at Scatness, which is fast becoming a site of major archaeological interest around the world.

Jarslof is another important site close by. St Ninians isle is famous for its treasure find by a young schoolboy at an old chapel there in 1958. The isle of Mousa boasts a superbly preserved broch, along with the one at Clickimin in the centre of Lerwick.

The museum in Lerwick, along with various smaller ones about the isles, depicts a long harsh life for those who lived here in the olden times. Fishermen, whalers, crofters and farmers, and their tenants, and the clearances are facts that any visitor can find about.

Many Shetlanders have gone to where the grass is greener, and have made their mark across the world. New Zealand has many Shetland descendants, as has the USA, Canada and Australia. There is a Family History Society here where you can research your ancestors.

Education

There is no private education here. All school education is provided from government controlled, but council run schools, based on the UK curriculum. The main school is in Lerwick, catering for teenage boys and girls. There are also schools that take in juniors as well as teenagers, known as junior high schools. We also have primary schools for the beginners. Generally they are very well run, with plenty of teachers and the standards of equipment and teaching are high, if not excellent.

We also have a college, in Lerwick. Shetland College, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands Project, can provide full and part time education in a variety of subjects, including Computing and IT, Business studies, Media studies, plus much more.

There is also the North Atlantic Fisheries College, based in Scalloway, which provides courses related to fishing, fish and aquaculture.

You can also study from home, known as Open Learning, and join the Open University, which is open to anyone who wishes to learn!

Recreation

We have an excellent health centre in Lerwick, offering swimming, gymnasium, sauna, running and other facilities. There are also some good swimming pools around the isles. Football is popular here, and so is Cricket. Golf is well catered for, with courses mainly near Lerwick. Diving, Sailing, Pool and Snooker, Darts, Squash, etc are all covered here.

Crime

Regretfully, even up here, we are not crime-free. However, serious crime is a rarity, and usually confined to weekends in Lerwick, being the result of excessive alcohol. But you won’t find a house alarm here, and you can usually leave your car and house unlocked. The Lerwick area seems to suffer the most crime, probably due to the close proximity of shops, offices and public drinking places. We get the occasional stolen car, but being a group of islands, it’s usually quickly found, as there’s not many places to hide it! It’s usually someone who’s missed their bus home, probably after a night on the town.

Drugs are a problem here also: there is a small core of suppliers who supply to those who want it. However the police are aware of this and appear to be keeping it at bay. The biggest problem is in the transportation of large quantities: Shetland is seen as being an easy door into the UK. They often travel by boat from distant ports; they won’t risk the English Channel as it’s too well watched, so they travel north up the UK coast, then either go over the top of Scotland or further north over the top of Unst (our most northerly island) onto their intended destination. But we have an excellent Customs Service that monitors all vessel movements, and they will physically act on any suspicious vessel. The locals often play their part in reporting these vessels when they are close inshore.

This is a good place to bring up your children where they are safe to play on their own without harm.

Tourism

This is gaining momentum each year, and is popular with cruise ships, of which we get over 40 per year. Tourism really hit rock bottom in 1993 when we had the infamous Braer tanker grounding on our shores and spilling some of its contents. Thankfully the visible damage was minimal, and you will not find any trace at all of the vessel (which sank below the waves) or its cargo. I can personally vouch for this, as I regularly walk those same shores, which are just three miles from my home.

The majority of visitors are generally elderly, and have travelled by one of our ferries or a cruise ship. We get many Germans and other Europeans visiting, and the occasional visitor from further afield.

I personally don’t think any visitors stay long enough here, there’s just so much to see! Most are here for one week only; maybe not realising just how big the isles are, and most vow to return. Some even come back to live here.

Religion

I’ve been told there are 13 denominations of Christianity here. We certainly do have plenty of churches, of all shapes and sizes. I’m not aware of a Synagogue here, though I know there are some Muslims here.

Telecommunications

We do have television and radio services broadcast to here. Whilst most of the UK mainland can get the standard five terrestrial channels, we can only get four, but the fifth can be received with a satellite system, which are quite common up here. Most terrestrial TV antennas are located in people’s attics to protect them from the elements, but you cannot do that with satellite dishes, which must have a clear view of the sky. There are some relay stations on the biggest hills for those in the more sheltered areas.

We can receive all of the BBC’s four VHF FM radio stations, as well as BBC Radio Scotland and our local commercial station Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company (SIBC) on VHF also. There is no medium wave or short wave service.

We have a very efficient digital terrestrial telephone system maintained by British Telecom, as well as good coverage in most areas for digital mobile telephones by the major UK suppliers (Vodafone and Cellnet). Other Cellphone companies are starting to appear here also.

The most common Internet speed is 48,000 bps using a single telephone line, though you can also get ISDN and warp-speed satellite links at a price. The local college in Lerwick has an extremely fast Intranet link to the other universities and colleges that belong to the University of the Highlands and Island Project (UHIp). ADSL is still in its infancy in the UK; I doubt it is available here yet.

The above services are provided by microwave links to the UK mainland, with some backup submarine cables.

Conclusion

If you plan to visit here, then do certainly visit during our summer months, but you must also visit in our winter months, to get a "real" feel of what living here throughout the years entails. Most who visit here usually return, and those who leave often regret it! You’ll either grow to love it here, or hate it; there’s no in between. I’m definitely of the former!

Note:Any personal opinions are those of the author, whether they be right or wrong!