It is approximately 32 hectares (79 acres) in area, and rises to 20 metres (66 feet) above sea level.

It is situated in the Scapa Flow just offshore from the much larger island of Hoy and nearby is the islet of Cava.

Between Rysa Little and Fara lies Gutter Sound, the scene of the mass-scuttling of the interned German Imperial High Seas Fleet in 1919.

Many of the smaller South Isles of Orkney lost their resident populations during the course of the twentieth century, but Rysa Little has not been inhabited since earlier times.

This Orkney location article is a stub.