Which Shipping Forecast area contains the Shetland and Orkney archipelagos?
Northern Isles place names of the islands are dominated by their Norse heritage, although some may retain pre-Celtic elements. The phrase "Northern Isles" generally refers to the main islands of the Orkney and Shetland archipelagos. Stroma, which lies between mainland Scotland and Orkney, is part of Caithness, and so falls under Highland council area for local government purposes, not Orkney. It is, however, clearly one of the "northern isles" of Scotland. Fair Isle and Foula are outliers of Shetland, but would normally be considered as part of Shetland and thus the Northern Isles. Similarly, Sule Skerry and Sule Stack, although distant from
North of Scotland, Orkney & Shetland Steam Navigation Company as "P&O Ferries (Orkney & Shetland Services)". In 1989 it became P&O Scottish Ferries and continued to operate until 2002, when the services were taken over by NorthLink Ferries. North of Scotland, Orkney & Shetland Steam Navigation Company The North of Scotland, Orkney & Shetland Steam Navigation Company, which was more usually known as The North Company, its full name rarely being used, was a UK shipping company based in Aberdeen, originally formed in 1875 from a merger of older Scottish shipping companies. The company operated most of the ferries from mainland Scotland to Orkney and Shetland, latterly as P&O