Fair Isle ( ; ) is the southernmost of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is situated at the approximate midpoint between the southern tip of Mainland, Shetland; and North Ronaldsay, the northernmost of the Orkney Islands; in an area bordering the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean known as the Fair Isle Gap.
As the most remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom, Fair Isle is known for its wild bird observatory, historic shipwrecks, Scottish and Shetland-style traditional music, and its traditional style of knitting, also called "Fair Isle". The island has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1954.
History
thumb|left|179px|Fair Isle (Feedero) depicted close to Shetland (Hetlandia) on the 1539 [[Carta Marina]]
Fair Isle has been occupied since Neolithic times, which is remarkable given the lack of raw materials on the island, although it is surrounded by rich fishing waters. There are two known Iron Age sites: a promontory fort at Landberg and the foundations of a house underlying an early Christian settlement at Kirkigeo.
Most of the place names date from after the 9th-century Norse settlement of the Northern Isles. By that time the croft lands had clearly been in use for centuries.
Between the 9th and 15th centuries, Fair Isle was a Norwegian possession. In 1469, Shetland, along with Orkney, was part of the dowry of the King of Denmark's daughter, Margaret, on her marriage to James III of Scotland.
On 27 September 1588 the flagship of the Spanish Armada, El Gran Grifón, was shipwrecked in the cove of Stroms Hellier, forcing its 300 sailors to spend six weeks living with the islanders. The wreck was discovered in 1970. A first hand account of the Spanish on Fair Isle comes from a diary of an unknown Spaniard from the El Gran Grifón (translation by Mike Shepherd). <blockquote>We settled in a shelter we found on the day we ran into this great danger, which was 27 September 1588. We found it populated by up to seventeen neighbours in small houses that were more like huts than anything else; a savage people. They eat mostly fish and they do not have bread, or very little, and cakes baked from barley. They cook these over fires fed with fuel taken from the earth, which they call turba [peat]. They have cattle, quite a lot for them because they seldom eat meat. They herd cows, sheep, and pigs; the cows sustain them and they make more money from the milk and butter. They get wool from the sheep for their clothes. They are very dirty people. They are not Christian but not quite heretics either. Their minister comes from an island to preach to them once a year. They do not like this but cannot do anything about it. It is a shame. Three hundred men landed on this island without any food. From September 28th to November 14th fifty men have died. Most of them from hunger. It is the biggest sorrow in the world. We decided to send messengers to the neighbouring island to get boats to Scotland. However, because the weather was so bad, this was not possible until October 27th, which was a pleasant day. They have not returned yet because the seas have been so rough. [The diary ends here.] </blockquote>
The large Canadian sailing ship Black Watch was wrecked on Fair Isle in 1877.
In 1862 around 40% of the population migrated to New Brunswick.
thumb|left|[[Croft houses]]
Military role
During the Second World War, the Royal Navy built two radar stations on top of Ward Hill (), which operated from February and March 1940 and played an important role in detecting German bombers approaching Scapa Flow on 8 and 10 April 1940. The ruined buildings and Nissen huts are still present. A cable-operated narrow-gauge railway lies disused; it was once used to send supplies up to the summit of Ward Hill.
On 17 January 1941, a German Heinkel He 111 bomber, modified as a meteorological aircraft, crashed on the island; wreckage remains on the crash-site. Before the Lerwick boat reached the island, two separate boats from Orkney ran aground while making their way to collect the prisoners of war.
The South Light was a target. During raids, the wife of an assistant keeper was killed in 1941 and their daughter was injured; in 1942, the wife of another keeper and their daughter also died in a raid.
On 22 July 1941, Spitfire X5401 piloted by Flying Officer M. D. S. Hood crash-landed on Fair Isle returning from a reconnaissance mission over Ålesund, Norway. The pilot recalled the crash site to be adjacent to the track which crossed the airstrip. The cause of the crash proved to be a leak of coolant, which resulted in the engine overheating. The aircraft was recovered and flew again, and the pilot survived the war.
Modern times
The population was 223 individuals living in 34 houses at the end of the 19th century. Fair Isle was bought by the National Trust for Scotland in 1954 from George Waterston, the founder of the bird observatory. In that decade, electricity was not yet available to residents and only some homes had running water; the population was declining at a rate that created concern. The population was 69 in 2001
Fair Isle has 14 scheduled monuments, ranging from the earliest signs of human activity to the remains of a Second World War radar station. The two automated lighthouses are protected as listed buildings. The island houses a series of high-technology relay stations carrying vital TV, radio, telephone and military communication links between Shetland, Orkney and the Scottish mainland. In this respect it continues its historic role as a signal station, linking the mainland and the more remote island groups. In 1976, when television relay equipment was updated to permit colour broadcasts to Shetland, the new equipment was housed in former Second World War radar station buildings on Fair Isle. Many television signals are relayed from Orkney to Shetland (rather than from the Scottish mainland) via Orkney's Keelylang Hill transmitter station.
Geography
thumb|right|150px|West cliffs, looking southwest towards Malcolm's Head
Fair Isle is administratively part of the parish of Dunrossness, Shetland, and is roughly equidistant from Sumburgh Head, some to the northeast on the Mainland of Shetland and North Ronaldsay, Orkney, some to the southwest.
Most of the islanders live in the crofts on the southern half of the island, the northern half consisting of rocky moorland. The western coast consists of cliffs of up to in height, Ward Hill at being the highest point of the island and its only Marilyn. On the eastern coast the almost detached headland of Sheep Rock rises to . <!-- 22.5 on 28th and -6.3 on 26th. -->
On 19 July 2022, a maximum temperature of was registered in Fair Isle.
The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was in February 2010. Rainfall, at under , is lower than one might expect for a location that is often in the main path of Atlantic depressions. This is explained by a lack of heavy convective rainfall during spring and summer months due to the absence of warm surface conditions.
Fair Isle's ocean moderation is so strong that areas on the same latitudes in the Scandinavian inland less than to the east have average summer highs higher than Fair Isle's all-time record temperature, for example the Norwegian capital of Oslo and the Swedish capital of Stockholm. The all-time low is uniquely mild for European locations on the 59th parallel north. The winter daily means are comparable to many areas as far south in the British Isles as south-central England, because of the extreme maritime moderation. It is in hardiness zone 9b or 10a (compared to 8b for the Faroes, 7b or 8a for Stockholm, and 1b for parts of Canada, all on or near the 60th parallel north. Central Florida (at 27–28 degrees north) has this hardiness zone.