In Nesting, a parish in the north of the Shetland Mainland, stories are woven into the community’s fibre. These lands were shaped by the retreat of the ice during the last glacial period, which left behind sheltered inlets, jutting headlands and curious-shaped rocks, where early inhabitants created settlements and field systems – forerunners to the crofts we see today.
Now home to a superb array of bird species, Nesting’s natural surroundings and the wildlife, flora and fauna they spawned have proven to be quite the muse down through the centuries. Thanks to a surprising number of prolific Nesting-born storytellers and writers combined with the impressive work of the Nesting Local History Group, there’s a treasure trove of local history to delve into here.
Eagles, birdies and shape-shifting ponies
Visitors to Nesting won’t take long to soak in the charm and warmth of the region extolled by local writer D.H. Sandison. Happily, his fears that the area’s history “should pass with the years, unrecorded, into the limbo of forgotten things” have proven unfounded. Today, thanks to him and his fellow Nesting writers, we know about the ‘peerie folk’ (trolls) of Shetland folklore who are said to have made their home locally, and the ‘njuggel’, a shape-shifting pony that would drag its unfortunate riders underwater!
However, if you prefer your history to be more tangible, try walking in Catfirth, where you can visit what remains of the seaplane base built during the First World War. And for hardy golfers, there’s the chance to catch a ferry across to ‘The Bonnie Isle’ of Whalsay where you can play Britain’s most northerly 18-hole golf course.
