A skerry (/ˈskɛri/ SKERR-ee) is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack.
Skerries may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. They are often used as resting places by animals such as seals and birds.
The Isle of Wight (/waɪt/ WYTE) is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and skerries, is also a ceremonial county. The county is bordered by Hampshire across the Solent strait to the north, and is otherwise surrounded by the English Channel. Its largest settlement is Ryde, and the administrative centre is Newport.
The Isle of Wight has a land area of 380 km (150 sq mi) and had a population of 140,794 in 2022, making it the largest and second-most populous English island. The island is largely rural, with the largest settlements primarily on the coast. These include Ryde in the north-east, Shanklin and Sandown in the south-east, and the large villages of Totland and Freshwater in the west. Newport is located inland at the point at which the River Medina broadens into its estuary, and Cowes and East Cowes flank the estuary on the northern coast. For local government purposes the island is a unitary authority area. It was historically part of Hampshire.
Bouvet Island (/ˈbuːveɪ/ BOO-vay; Norwegian: Bouvetøya [bʉˈvèːœʏɑ]) is an uninhabited subantarctic volcanic island and dependency of Norway. A protected nature reserve situated in the South Atlantic Ocean at the southern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it is the world's most remote island. Located north of the Antarctic Circle, Bouvet Island is not part of the southern region covered by the Antarctic Treaty System.
The island lies 1,700 km (1,100 mi; 920 nmi) north of the Princess Astrid Coast of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, 1,870 km (1,160 mi; 1,010 nmi) east of the South Sandwich Islands, 1,845 km (1,146 mi; 996 nmi) south of Gough Island, and 2,520 km (1,570 mi; 1,360 nmi) south-southwest of the coast of South Africa. It has an area of 49 km (19 sq mi), 93 percent of which is covered by a glacier. The centre of the island is the ice-filled crater of an inactive volcano. Some skerries and one smaller island, Larsøya, lie along its coast. Nyrøysa, created by a rockslide in the late 1950s, is the only easy place to land and is the location of a weather station.
Åland (/ˈɔːlənd/ AW-lənd, Swedish: [ˈǒːland] ; Finnish: Ahvenanmaa) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area (1,580 km or 610 sq mi) and population (30,654), constituting 0.51% of Finland's land area and 0.54% of its population. Its official language is Swedish and the capital city is Mariehamn.
Åland is situated in an archipelago, called the Åland Islands, at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea. It comprises Fasta Åland, on which 90% of the population resides, and about 6,500 skerries and islands to its east, of which about 60–80 are inhabited. Fasta Åland is separated from the coast of Roslagen in Sweden by 38 km (20+1⁄2 nautical miles) of open water to the west. In the east, the Åland archipelago is contiguous with the Finnish archipelago. Åland's only land border is located on the uninhabited skerry of Märket, which it shares with Sweden. From Mariehamn, there is a ferry distance of about 160 km (86 nautical miles) to Turku, a coastal city of mainland Finland, and also to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.
Palominos Island (Spanish: Isla de Palominos), most commonly known as Palomino, is a small island located off the coast of the barrio of Cabezas in the municipality of Fajardo in the northeast of the main island of Puerto Rico. It forms part of a small chain of cays, reefs, and skerries protected by the La Cordillera Reef Nature Reserve. The island is home to El Conquistador Resort hotel.
Icacos Cay (Spanish: Cayo Icacos) is the largest uninhabited cay forming part of a small chain of cays, reefs, and skerries located off the coast of the barrio of Cabezas in the municipality of Fajardo in the northeast of the main island of Puerto Rico. Along with Palominos island, it is part of the La Cordillera Reef Nature Reserve and under the jurisdiction of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. Icacos is a fifteen-minute water taxi ride from Fajardo. The cay is a popular snorkeling and beach tourism destination.
For some time, there was a limestone quarry on the southern part of the island, with a short railroad system to shuttle limestone from the quarry to the pier.
The La Cordillera Reef Nature Reserve (Spanish: Reserva Natural Arrecifes de la Cordillera) is a nature reserve consisting of La Cordillera (''the mountain range''), a small chain of cays, reefs, and skerries in the northeast of the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico. Located about 1 mile (0.87 nmi) off the coast of the municipality of Fajardo, the reserve extends about 15 miles (13 nmi) and 30,000 acres between Las Cabezas de San Juan cape in Fajardo and the island-municipality of Culebra in the Virgin Islands. From west to east, it comprises Las Cucarachas and Los Farallones skerries, Icacos, Ratones, and Lobos cays, Palominos and Palominitos islands, La Blanquilla and Diablo cays, and Hermanos and Barriles reefs, all of which cover about 218 acres of land.
With the exception of Palominos island and Lobos cay, which are privately owned, all cays, reefs, and skerries in the small chain are protected by the marine reserve. The nature reserve is also important for local fishermen and eastern coastal municipalities, including Fajardo, Ceiba, and Naguabo, which depend on the reserve for their fishing industries.
Kolbeinsey (Icelandic: [ˈkʰɔlˌpeinsˌeiː] ; also known as Kolbeinn's Isle, Seagull Rock, Mevenklint, Mevenklip, or Meeuw Steen) is a small Icelandic islet in the Greenland Sea located 105 kilometres (55 nautical miles) off the northern coast of Iceland, 74 km (40 nmi) north-northwest of the island of Grímsey. It is the northernmost point of Iceland and lies north of the Arctic Circle. The islet is named after Kolbeinn Sigmundarson, from Kolbeinsdalur in Skagafjörður, who according to Svarfdæla saga is said to have broken his ship there and died with his men.
A basalt landform, devoid of vegetation, Kolbeinsey is subject to rapid wave erosion and is expected to disappear in the near future. Erosion rate data from 1994 suggested that this would happen around 2020. In August 2020, English YouTuber Tom Scott published a video confirming the continued existence of the island, with two skerries still visible at low tide. As of April 2021, two small skerries remained visible at low tide.
Anglesey (/ˈæŋɡəlsi/ ANG-gəl-see; Welsh: Ynys Môn [ˈənɨs ˈmoːn]) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island (Ynys Gybi) and some islets and skerries. The county borders Gwynedd across the Menai Strait to the southeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the Irish Sea. Holyhead is the largest town, and the administrative centre is Llangefni.
The Isle of Anglesey has an area of 275 square miles (712 km) and had a population of 69,097 in 2024. After Holyhead, located on Holy Island, the largest settlements are Llangefni in the centre of Anglesey and Amlwch on the northern coast. The economy of the county is mostly based on agriculture, energy, and tourism, the latter especially on the coast. Holyhead is also a major ferry port for Dublin, Ireland. The county has the second-highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 57.2%, and is considered a heartland of the language. The Isle of Anglesey is part of the preserved county of Gwynedd.
Märket ('The Mark', Swedish pronunciation: [ˈmæ̂rːkɛt]) is a 3.3-hectare (8.2-acre) uninhabited skerry in the Baltic Sea shared by Sweden and Finland (in the area of the autonomous region Åland), with a lighthouse as its salient humanmade feature. Märket has been divided between the two countries since the Treaty of Fredrikshamn of 1809 defined the border between Sweden and Grand Duchy of Finland as going through the middle of the island. The Finnish side of the island is part of the Municipality of Hammarland in the autonomous region of Åland and is the westernmost land point of Finland. The Swedish part of the island is itself divided between two counties of Sweden: Uppsala County (Östhammar Municipality) and Stockholm County (Norrtälje Municipality).