View source for Calf of Eday

{{Short description|Island in Orkney, Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox Scottish island
|Image=Calfofeday.jpg
|ImageCaption=Grey Head, the northern tip of the Calf. Sea caves, and the beginning of an arch can be seen in the cliff.
|coordinates = {{coord|59.23|-02.73|display=inline}}
|location_map=Scotland Orkney
|caption=Calf of Eday shown within the Orkney Islands
|GridReference=HY580393
|celtic name=
|scots name=Cauf o Aidee<ref>{{cite web | url=https://d3lmsxlb5aor5x.cloudfront.net/library/document/Map_of_Scotland_in_Scots-Guide_and_gazetteer.pdf | title=Map of Scotland in Scots - Guide and gazetteer}}</ref>
|norse name=Kalfr
|meaning of name=
|area=  {{convert|243|ha|sqmi|2}}
|area rank= 98
|highest elevation=The Graand  {{convert|54|m|ft|0}}
|Population=0<ref>{{NRS1C}}</ref>
|population rank= 
|main settlement=
|island group=[[Mainland, Orkney|Orkney]] 
|local authority=[[Orkney|Orkney Islands]]
|references=<ref>Haswell-Smith (2004) pp. 390-91</ref><ref>[http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-isle.htm Orkney Placenames] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000830075309/http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-isle.htm |date=30 August 2000 }} Orkneyjar.</ref><ref name=OS5>{{cite map|title=Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 5 ''Orkney (Northern Isles)''|ISBN=9780319228111|publisher=Ordnance Survey|date=2008}}</ref>
<ref name=saga>Anderson (1873) p. 176</ref><ref name=Pedersen>Pedersen, Roy (January 1992) ''Orkneyjar ok Katanes'' (map, Inverness, Nevis Print)</ref>
}}

The '''Calf of Eday''' ({{langx|sco|Cauf o Aidee}}; {{langx|non|Kalfr}}<ref name=saga/>) is an uninhabited island in [[Orkney]], Scotland, lying north east of [[Eday]].  It is known for its wildlife and its prehistoric ruins.

==History==
There is a [[Neolithic]] [[chambered cairn]] in the southwest overlooking Calf Sound, which separates the island from Eday. Rectangular in shape, the cairn was excavated in 1936–37 and contains a small chamber with two compartments and a larger one with four stalls that has a separate entrance and was probably added at a later date.<ref>Noble (2006) pp. 116–17</ref> Two similar structures have been identified nearby along with various other ancient ruins.<ref name=OS5/>

From the 17th to the 19th centuries, the Calf of Eday was home to a [[salt]] works,<ref>Stewart, Walter (mid-1640s) "New Choreographic Description of the Orkneys" in Irvine (2006) p. 24</ref> the remains of which can still be seen to the north of cairns.<ref name=OS5/>

The pirate [[John Gow]] and his men successfully raided the [[Hall of Clestrain]] on 10 February 1725, but when they attempted to attack Carrick House on Eday, they ran aground on the Calf of Eday, where they were captured.<ref name="Gazetteer">{{cite web |url= http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst2783.html |title= Overview of John Gow|accessdate=2007-04-15 |publisher= [[Gazetteer for Scotland]]}}</ref><ref name="orkneyjar">{{cite web |url=http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/historicalfigures/pirategow/index.html |title=John Gow - The Orkney Pirate |accessdate=2007-04-15 |work=Orkneyjar, the heritage of the Orkney Islands |archive-date=4 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204021628/http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/historicalfigures/pirategow/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Etymology==
[[File:Blaeu - Atlas of Scotland 1654 - ORCADVM ET SCHETLANDIÆ - Orkney and Shetland.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Joan Blaeu|Johan Blaeu]]'s 1654 map of [[Orkney]] and [[Shetland]]. Note that the "Calf of Heth Øy" has been transposed from its true position north east of Eday to the west.]]
The Norse gave animal names to some islands, especially to small islands alongside a larger one, other examples being the [[Calf of Man]] and the [[Horse of Copinsay]]. The islands name in [[Scandinavian Scotland|Norse times]] was thus ''Kalfr''.<ref name=saga/> "Eday" is a name derived from the [[Old Norse]] ''eið'' and means "[[isthmus]] island".<ref>Haswell-Smith p. 386</ref><ref name=Waugh550>Waugh (2010) p. 550</ref>

In the 17th century Eday was also known as "Heth Øy" and the Calf's name is recorded by [[Joan Blaeu|Blaeu]] as "Calf of Heth Øy".<ref>Blaeu, Johan (mid-1654) "Orcadum and Shetlandiæ" in Irvine (2006) p. 33</ref>

==Wildlife==
The dominant vegetation on the island is dry dwarf-shrub heath dominated by heather (''Calluna vulgaris''), with smaller areas of wet heath, semi-improved grassland and coastal grassland. The Calf of Eday supports 32 species of breeding birds and is designated as a [[Special Protection Area]] (SPA) for its importance as a nesting area. Gulls and [[Great cormorant|cormorants]] (''Phalacrocorax carbo'') nest in the dry heath and grassland areas, whilst [[Northern fulmar|fulmars]] (''Fulmarus glacialis''), [[Black-legged kittiwake|kittiwakes]] (''Rissa tridactyla'') and [[auk]]s nest on the cliffs.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.jncc.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1920| title=Calf of Eday SPA Description| publisher=Joint Nature Conservation Committee| accessdate=2007-11-11| archive-date=2006-02-23| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060223131005/http://www.jncc.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1920| url-status=dead}}</ref> The island has been designated an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]] because it supports breeding seabirds.<ref name=bli>{{cite web |url= https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/2463 |title=Calf of Eday|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2024|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 2024-08-30}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Calf of Flotta]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{Orkneyinga}}
* {{Haswell-Smith}}
* Irvine, James M. (ed.) (2006) ''The Orkneys and Schetland in Blaeu's Atlas Novus of 1654''. Ashtead. James M. Irvine. {{ISBN|0-9544571-2-9}}
* Noble, Gordon (2006) ''Neolithic Scotland: Timber, Stone, Earth and Fire.'' Edinburgh University Press. {{ISBN|0-7486-2338-8}}
* Waugh, Doreen, "On ''eið''-names in Orkney and other North Atlantic islands" in Sheehan, John and Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (2010) ''The Viking Age: Ireland and the West''. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Viking Congress. Dublin. Four Courts Press. {{ISBN|978-1-84682-101-1}}

{{North East Orkney}}
{{Orkney Islands}}
{{Islands of Scotland}}
{{coord|59|14|N|2|44|W|region:GB_type:isle|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calf Of Eday}}
[[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Orkney]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of Orkney]]
[[Category:Calves (islands)]]
[[Category:Uninhabited islands of Orkney]]