Hestur

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Hestur
Island
West coast of Hestur
West coast of Hestur
Location within the Faroe Islands
Location within the Faroe Islands
State  Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country  Faroe Islands
Area
 • Total 6.1 km2 (2.4 sq mi)
Area rank 15
Highest elevation 421 m (1,381 ft)
Population (2012)
 • Total 25
 • Rank 13
 • Density 4.1/km2 (11/sq mi)
Time zone GMT (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) EST (UTC+1)
Calling code 298
Hestur
Village
Hestur village
Hestur village
Hestur is located in Denmark Faroe Islands
Hestur
Hestur
Location in the Faroe Islands
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State  Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country  Faroe Islands
Island Hestur
Municipality Tórshavnar
Time zone GMT
 • Summer (DST) EST (UTC+1)
Postal code FO 280

Hestur (Danish: Hestø) is an island in the central Faroe Islands, to the west of Streymoy and the south of Koltur. Hestur means horse in Faroese.

On the west coast is a guillemot colony. In the north there is moorland with four small lakes, of which Fagradalsvatn is the largest. At Hælur, Hestur's southernmost tip, there is a lighthouse. The island has one settlement, a village also named Hestur on the east coast. The village enjoys the view over Gamlarætt and Velbastaður on Streymoy.

History

The island has been settled since Viking times, the old settlement was at Hælur, the southern tip of the island. Due to it being the sun-ward side of the island cereal ripened better there than anywhere else on the island. But due to extreme difficulties in landing boats there, the village was abandoned and the current village of Hestur was established.

In 1919 a fishing accident resulted in the deaths of one-thirds of Hestur's men. In an attempt to fight the depopulation of the village, a swimming pool was built on the island in 1974. On the southern part of the island by the lake Fagradalsvatn, one can camp. Hestur's postal code is FO 280. Since 1 January 2005 the island has been part of the municipality of Tórshavn.

Important Bird Area

The coastline of the island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because of its significance as a breeding site for seabirds, especially Atlantic puffins (25,000 pairs), European storm petrels (5000 pairs) and black guillemots (50 pairs).[1]

Mountains

The island has the following four mountains

Name Height
Múlin 421 m
Eggjarrók 421 m
Nakkur 296 m
Álvastakkur 125 m

Gallery

See also

References

  1. BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Hestur. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2012-02-23.

External links