One kilometre (1⁄2 nautical mile) southwest lie the skerries of Haskeir Eagach, made up of a colonnade of five rock stacks, and 40 km (22 nmi) northwest is St Kilda.

There is no anchorage or shelter and access via the steep rocky cliffs may be difficult, even in calm conditions.

There is very little vegetation save for a few sea-pinks, campion, plantain and orache that can survive the salt spray.

[3] Much of the bedrock is Lewisian gneiss[7] Skilðar or Skilðir (meaning shields) may have been the Old Norse name for Haskeir.

There are various theories that somehow the transposition of this name to nearby St Kilda may have created the name for this latter archipelago, whose origins are otherwise obscure.