Geograph - photograph every grid square

The skerries peek out of the waves of Sand Wick, the bay on the west of the isthmus which separates the Ness of Hillswick from the mainland. The bay is deep enough to provide a little shelter from the Atlantic swell, but there are plenty of locally-generated wind waves on this gusty summer day. The skerries and grey cliffs beyond are ancient metamorphic rocks - psammites and semi-pelites of the Hillswick Group (Neoproterozoic, possibly correlated with the Moine) while the foreground rocks are much more recent intruded dykes of late Devonian to early Carboniferous age. In the distance can be seen red cliffs made of granophyric granite of a similar age, part of the Northmaven pluton. The geology of Shetland is complex, to say the least, and it is well worth while carrying a geological map with you whilst on the walk - in this case the BGS 1:50000 Scottish sheet 129, Northmaven, Bedrock.