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Orkney College - ORK

Wildlife

Map of Orkney

Nature lovers are drawn to Orkney because of the abundance of birds and marine wildlife that inhabit the islands throughout the year. Wildlife is everywhere in Orkney, oystercatcher wading in the wetland meadows, short-eared owls staring at passers-by from the roadside fence-posts, grey and common seals basking on the rocky skerries, while whales, dolphins and porpoises can be spotted in coastal waters in summer, and hundreds of thousands of breeding seabirds can be seen congregating on vertical cliffs.
Mammals or birds, ocean or land creatures, there is sure to be something to interest you. Why not try out the professional guiding services that are available, as there is something to suit everyone whether it is a personalised photography or wildlife tour or an BIRDWATCHING.

Type of wildlife experience

Birding
Orkney's 70 islands are internationally renowned for their excellent bird-watching, but the sheer number of birds which the islands support makes it one of the best all-season British destinations.

The variety of habitat and the richness of the farmland, heather moorland, and coastal waters provide ideal breeding territory for a host of species, including species such as corncrake, red-throated divers, hen harrier, merlin, peregrine, whimbrel and pintail.

Red-throated divers nest on the hill lochans, The short-eared owl also breeds in Orkney, a delightful daytime sight on meadows and moorland such as that at also up to one hundred pairs of curlew. Golden plover and dunlin nest on the Birsay moors and Hoy May - July is the best time to see breeding birds in Orkney, .. The sandstone ledges of the sea-cliff reserves on the islands of Westray, Copinsay and at Marwick Head on the Orkney Mainland are colonised in early summer by thousands of fulmar, guillemots, kittiwakes, and razorbills. Great skuas and Arctic skuas haunt the cliff tops and the moors. Gannets and shags populate the lower ledges and shelves of the islands' ocean margins.
In autumn and winter, great northern divers from Arctic Canada, Iceland and Greenland, and Slovenian grebes, velvet scoters, and hundreds of long-tailed ducks from northern Europe gather alongside resident eider, red-breasted merganser and black guillemot. Over 50,000 waders feed on the Orkney shoreline in winter. Whooper swans, and greylag geese graze the island of Shapinsay's fields, whilst on the mainland pintail, wigeon, shoveler, redshank and water rail can be added to our fantastic and varied bird watching calendar.