Grif Skerry is an islet to the east of Whalsay

Whalsay

-Geography:Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland Islands. It is situated east of the Shetland Mainland and has an area of . The main settlement is Symbister, where the fishing fleet is based. The fleet is composed of both pelagic and demersal vessels...

 in the Shetland Islands

Shetland Islands

Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...

. Its name comes from the Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 or Norn

Norn language

Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in Shetland and Orkney, off the north coast of mainland Scotland, and in Caithness. After the islands were pledged to Scotland by Norway in the 15th century, it was gradually replaced by Scots and on the mainland by Scottish...

 for "deep sea skerry

Skerry

A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack....

".

The island is uninhabited, although there are some buildings on it. These are mostly fishermen's huts, and the remains of a haaf fishing station, so that fishermen could shelter from bad weather.

Geography and geology

There are some caves on the island.

The Swarta (meaning "black") and Longa Skerries are offshore. The nearest island is East Linga

East Linga

East Linga is one of the Shetland Islands. It lies between Whalsay , and Grif Skerry to the east.-Geography and geology:The bed rock is gneiss with granite veins....

, and Whalsay

Whalsay

-Geography:Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland Islands. It is situated east of the Shetland Mainland and has an area of . The main settlement is Symbister, where the fishing fleet is based. The fleet is composed of both pelagic and demersal vessels...

is the nearest large island.