Muckle Green Holm is an uninhabited island in the North Isles of the Orkney archipelago in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It is roughly 32 hectare (0.123552690749611 sq mi) in extent and rises to 28 metres above sea level, the summit having a trig point

Trig point

A triangulation station, also known as a triangulation pillar, trigonometrical station, trigonometrical point, trig station, trig beacon or trig point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity...

. The literal meaning of the name is somewhat contradictory. 'Holm' is from the Old 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....

 holmr, meaning a small and rounded islet. 'Muckle' is Scots

Scots language

Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...

 for 'big' or 'large' so it's a big small island. To the south lies Little Green Holm, and between the two is the Sound of Green Holms. Eastward is a strait called Fall of Warness between Muckle Green Holm and the much larger island of Eday

Eday

Eday is one of the Orkney Islands, which are located to the north of the Scottish mainland in the United Kingdom. Eday is located in the North Isles of Orkney, and is about north of the main island of Orkney Mainland...

. In these waters the European Marine Energy Centre

European Marine Energy Centre

The European Marine Energy Centre is a research centre focusing on wave and tidal power development based in the Orkney Islands, UK. It claims to provide developers with the opportunity to test full-scale grid-connected prototype devices in unrivalled wave and tidal conditions...

 have installed tidal power

Tidal power

Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into useful forms of power - mainly electricity....

 testing equipment.

Muckle Green Holm has a Great Cormorant

Great Cormorant

The Great Cormorant , known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds...

 colony and a population of European Otter

Otter

The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....

s.

Footnotes