The Mykines Island

Mykines is the westernmost of the 18 main islands of the Faroe Islands.
It lies west of 7.5 degrees W, effectively putting it in the UTC-1 region.However, Mykines uses Greenwich Mean Time like the rest of the Faroes. The only settlement on the island is also called Mykines.

On the northern side of the island is the valley Korkadalur, where there are great columns of basalt, called the Stone-wood. To the west of Mykines is the 1 km long islet Mykineshólmur, with several sea stacks clustered at its western end, where a lighthouse was built in 1909. A 40 m long footbridge connects its eastern end with Mykines.

Large numbers of puffins and gannets inhabit Mykines and Mykineshólmur. On the rocks at the waters edge there are colonies of cormorants while the eroded tuff layers in the cliffs make perfect nesting ledges for guillemots and razorbills. On the grassy slopes above the bird cliffs, thousands of puffins have their burrows, and their guano fertilizes the slopes.
Mykines, including Mykineshólmur, has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because of its significance as a breeding site for seabirds, especially northern fulmars (50,000 pairs), Manx shearwaters (2500 pairs), European storm petrels (50,000 pairs), northern gannets (200 pairs), European shags (250 pairs), black-legged kittiwakes (23,000 Pairs), Atlantic puffins (125,000 pairs), common guillemots (9500 individuals) and black guillemots (200 pairs).

The population of the island declined over the 20th century, with 11 permanent residents of Mykines village in 2004; the oldest inhabitant was 75 and the youngest six years old. Although there are 40 houses in the village, only six are inhabited year-round. Earlier Mykines was one of the largest villages in the Faroes, with a population of 170 people in 1940. From 1911 to 2004 Mykines was a separate community but in 2005 it merged administratively with Sørvagur kommune. Famous people from Mykines include painter Sámal Joensen-Mikines (1906–1979).