On Sandoy and Skúvoy you can experience a rich birdlife on land and at sea. 

Sandoy

When driving around Sandoy, you should keep an eye out for birds. Especially on the drive to Skopun there is a great chance of seeing puffins, fulmars, gannets, and other seabirds.

On land you can see a lot of different birds around the lakes and in the heathland. In the spring and autumn, a great number of migrating birds also stop here for a little break. During summer you can see different geese with their goslings, ducks and swans on the lakes. 

If you go on a hike in the heathland and mountains  in the early summer, you should be careful to not step on nests, as many birds are nesting in these areas.

If you would like to get closer to the many beautiful seabirds it is possible to go on a boattrip to the birdcliffs around Sandoy or Skúvoy on a traditional faroese wooden boat called Hvíthamar.

Skúvoy

When you arrive to Skúvoy during the summer, you will most likely be welcomed by a great number of puffins, sitting on the water and flying over your head, flapping their small wings really fast. The puffins breed in the grassy “lundaland”. When traveling in the nature you have to respect the wildlife and always keep to the marked paths. It might be tempting to get closer to the birds, but in order not to disturb them in e.g. nesting and feeding their young the paths and guidelines have to be respected.

The puffins are just one of the birds that can be found on Skúvoy. Skúvoy has been a special place for bird-enthusiast for decades. The island has given name to the large seabird, Great Skua, and the hundreds of meters of cliffs on the west coast is home to many seabirds. Skúvoy has some of the biggest populations of Great Skua, Common Guillemot and Manx Shearwater on the Faroe Islands. Another special thing about Skúvoy is that there are no rats, mice or cats and therefore a great number of birds are nesting closer to the village, than they do in other places. 

Skúvoy, a Ramsar island

Due to its rich birdlife, with many breeding species, Skúvoy is categorized as a Ramsar Island. Being a Ramsar Island means that special measures are taken to protect the wildlife and nature. One of the things that makes Skúoy special is that neither rats nor mice have come to the islands. The local people of Skúvoy and the national Faroese Environment Agency work together on planning the actions to uphold this status. A great work has been done to mark up hiking paths in Skúvoy in order to disturb the wildlife as little as possible. You should always keep to these paths to respect the wildlife and for your own safety.

All birdwatching is of course dependent on the season, as the birdlife varies throughout the year.