NATURE AND ENVIRONMENT N E

possible to have every season inone day! The combination ofconstantly changing weatherand changes in day length makefor a huge variety of lightingconditions which makes Orkneya paradise for artists, photogra-phers and lovers of the land-scape in all seasons. Thus thereis no “best” time to visit.

There are many good locationsfor observing wildlife, includingseveral RSPB Reserves. Duringthe summer many thousands ofbirds breed in Orkney, and thecliff colonies of seabirds areespecially impressive atMarwick Head in Birsay, andNoup Head on Westray. BothGrey and Common Seals alsobreed in Orkney.

Maritime Heath, for example,on Papay and on Rousay is afavourite nesting site for Ternsand Arctic Skuas. The HeatherMoorland on the hills is home toHen Harrier, Merlin and Short-eared Owl as well as manyspecies of waders, with particu-larly large numbers of Curlewand Oystercatcher.

Orkney is also well situated tosee migrants and winter visitorssuch as the Great NorthernDiver, Long-tailed Duck,Goldeneye, Iceland Gull andother species. The harbours atKirkwall and Stromness areboth good places to look forgulls and sea ducks, while thelochs of Stenness and Harray inthe vicinity of the StandingStonesare excellent places to seewildfowl in all seasons.

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In addition to the huge array ofancient and more recent monu-ments, Orkney has a rich andinteresting natural environment.The combination of fertile farm-land with the various other habi-tats makes it a very good placefor wildlife, and especially birds.There are cliffs, marshes, moorsand maritime heath as well assheltered bays, small islands andlochs, all of which attract a vari-ety of different species, depend-ing on the season and weather.

The many superb beaches anddramatic cliffs also providewonderful opportunities forwalking. Whether just a strollalong the Bay of Skaill orAikerness after visiting SkaraBrae or the Broch of Gurness, orone of the many more adventur-ous walks, Orkney will neverfail to please. The islands aregreat for cycling too, as the hillsare not steep, and the roads quiet.

The predominant daytimecolours in Orkney are thegreens, blues and browns ofgrass, water and moor. Thesecolours vary with the season andare particularly vibrant in sum-mer, but more muted in otherseasons. Orkney is also famousfor its sunsets and for its longhours of daylight in summer.The Northern Lights are occa-sionally seen, usually on a dark,moonless winter night.

The Orkney climate is muchinfluenced by the sea, whichvaries in temperature by only afew degrees over the year. Thisensures that winters are mild, butthat summers are never hot. Theweather is very variable, and it is

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Baby Grey Seal (Selkie)

Hen Harrier (Katabelly)

Atlantic Puffin (Tammy Norie)

Primula scotica - unique to Orkney, Caithness and Sutherland

NATURE AND ENVIRONMENT

Marwick Head has dramatic high cliffs

Skipi Geo and the Brough of Birsay

Whitemill Bay, Sanday

Stoneyhill, Harray


ogb 3 collated.qxp 26/10/2005 19:45 Page 14

Having been heavily glaciat-ed during the last Ice Age,the landscape is of smoothrolling hills, and shallowsounds and bays. Since theice receded about 13,000years ago, rising sea levelhas flooded the area to formthe present landscape ofislands and water.

As the ice sheet melted, sealevel rose too fast to allowmuch cliff erosion, and thusin many sheltered parts ofOrkney shores slope gentlydown to a depth of about70m. On the more exposedwestern side the spectacularcliffs as well as many othercurrent coastal features werecreated prior to glaciation.

The rock lends itself to theformation of spectacularrock stacks such as the OldMan of Hoy, large caveswhich may collapse to form“gloups” (ON Gluppa, pre-cipitous chasm) as at theGloup in Deerness, and nat-ural arches such as at the Vatof Kirbuster, on Stronsay.Features like these are theresult of erosion and arecontinuously evolving.The sandstone weathers to

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The natural environment ofOrkney has been formed bythe interaction of land, seaand ice. Each island is dif-ferent, resulting in a widevariety of scenery and habi-tat in a small area. It is geo-logically an extension ofnortheast Caithness, and aremostly composed ofDevonian Middle Old RedSandstone flagstones andsandstones, except for Hoywhich is largely Upper OldRed Sandstone.

About 350 million years agoLake Orcadie covered anarea from the Norwegiancoast to the Moray Firth. Up

to 4,000m of mud and sandsediment accumulated onthe lake floor as rivers erod-ed the surrounding moun-tains. The tropical climateencouraged the evolution ofmany species, and many fishfossil beds were laid downin the sediments. Examplesof these fossil fish can nowbe seen at the Fossil andHeritage Centre in Burray.Some species had scaleswhich formed strongarmour, while others resem-ble modern fish.

Fossilised plants and inver-tebrates also occur. AtYesnaby stromatolites can

be seen. These are the fos-silised remains of blue-greenalgae (cyanobacteria), prim-itive plants which arethought to have created theoxygen-rich atmosphere ofEarth by fixing largeamounts of Carbon dioxide

Only at Stromness, Yesnabyand on Graemsay are thebasement rocks visible.Similar to those of nearbySutherland, they date fromabout 1,000 million yearsago. There are also smallexposures of volcanic rocks,lavas and tuffs. These aremostly evident as intrusions,or “dykes”.

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GEOLOGY

Ripple marks on rocks, Yesnaby

The Old Red Sandstone rock strata are very obvious

Ancient basement rocks are only exposed in a few places, as here at Yesnaby

Volcanic trap dyke

Rough seas at Yesnaby, West Mainland

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Aerial view of Lochs of Harray and Stenness with Stromness and the Hoy Hills in the background

Fossil fish may be seen at the Fossil & Vintage Centre “Horse teeth” stromatolite, Yesnaby


growth of trees. At presentabout half the area is agricul-tural pasture and half semi-natural heath with manymontane characteristics.

The coastline with its manybays, sounds and roundedislands is about 800km (500miles) long, and is made upof cliffs (20%), rocky banksor low cliffs (70%) andsandy beaches (10%).There are wind-blown sandlinks covered with machairvegetation in some areas,particularly in the NorthIsles, and the shallow seasaround the coast aboundwith islets and skerries.

The dramatic cliffs of Hoyrun from the Kame in thenorth to Torness in the southand rise to 351m at St John'sHead, presenting a spectacu-lar view from the ferry.

Apart from Hoy, where theWard Hill reaches 479m,Orkney is not very high.The low-lying, roundedlandscape with rolling hillsand gentle valleys has result-ed in several large lochs,some connected to the sea,as well as numerous bogsand marshy areas. Many ofthe latter have now beendrained, but large areas havealso been preserved as theyare important wildlife habi-tats.

Thus a combination of geol-ogy, glaciation, erosion bysea and weather combinedwith the effects of the vari-ous species which have

established themselves sincethe Ice Age (including man)has created the current greenand blue welcoming land-scape which greets both

first-time visitors and return-ing natives so pleasantlywhen they get off the boat oraircraft.

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form good soils, which givethe characteristic grasslandand heath vegetation.Overlain with a coat ofglacially-deposited clay,much of the land makes for

good agricultural soil, withonly the higher areas beingcovered in blanket peat. Thepresent environment is verymuch a combination of geol-ogy, climate and the effects

of man and his animals. Dueto exposure there is consid-erable stress on vegetation,which in turn limits thecrops which may be grown,and severely stunts the

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St John’s Head and the Old Man of Hoy

GEOLOGY

Remains of ancient trees are exposed at low tide in several places


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The growing season inOrkney extends for onlyabout half of the year, or amonth less than in southernScotland. However, this isgreatly compensated by thelong hours of daylight insummer, when it never real-ly gets dark, and the sun isabove the horizon for over18 hours. The corollary ofcourse is midwinter, whenthe sun is very low in thesky, and is only above thehorizon for about 6 hours aday.

As for the best time to cometo Orkney, it is hard toadvise! At any season sever-al types of weather may behad in a day. The followinggives an idea of most andleast. Bear in mind thatthere are often spells of verypleasant weather in winter,in between the windy days.These can themselves bevery exhilarating. Althoughit rains on an average of 240days a year, the rain is usual-ly of short duration.

The combination of vari-able, maritime weather and

the wide changes in daylength provide a huge vari-ety of lighting conditions,making Orkney a Mecca for

artists and photographers inall months and at most timesof day, indeed all fours sea-sons may occur in one day!

2120

Snow is usually short-lived in Orkney, but when it comes it can be beautiful

SOLAR DIAGRAM FOR ORKNEYThis diagram illustrates the large seasonal variation in thealtitude and azimuth of the sun at Orkney’s latitude. Whilstin summer the sun is above the horizon for nearly 18hours, in winter it is visible for barely 6 hours. The posi-tion of the sun can be estimated for any day and time,which is useful for photographers, artists, or just thosewishing to see any particular place in the best light.

CLIMATE

WHEN TO COME TOORKNEY

Sunniest April, May, JuneDullest November,

December, JanuaryDriest May, JuneWettest October-JanuaryCalmest May, June, JulyWindiest November-MarchWarmest June-SeptemberCoolest December-March

Orkney's climate is remark-ably equable for its latitude.The weather is greatly influ-enced by the sea, and in par-ticular the North AtlanticDrift, which ensures that seatemperatures only vary byabout 5 degrees betweensummer and winter. Themost noticeable feature tothe visitor is the wind, whichis unimpeded by the smoothterrain. While Orcadiansmight like "having the bene-fit of the wind", it also con-trols or affects all kinds ofthings including buildings,farming, fishing, gardeningand, of course, the naturalenvironment and wildlife.

Orkney is also surprisinglymild, with relatively littlevariation in mean tempera-ture between winter andsummer - under 10 degrees -and very little snow or frost.May and June are the sunni-est, calmest and driest

months while December andJanuary are the least sunny,windiest and wettestmonths. Weather is howev-er very variable, dependingas it does on the interactionof the warm Atlantic, coolNorth Sea and associatedweather systems. Electricalstorms are rare, as is fog,except in spring and summerwhen the wind is in thesouth east.

The weather is greatly influ-enced by the ScottishMainland, the Sutherlandmountains offering consid-erable protection from west-erly weather and ensuring arelatively low rainfall ofabout 900mm (36in). At alltimes of year conditions arevery variable, but when highpressure is established overthe North Sea andScandinavia, a good spellcan be expected.

Midsummer light over the North Isles from Wideford Hill at 01:00 - “The Grimlins” or “Simmer Dimm”


The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis are often seen in winter


2322


MAIN HABITAT TYPES

Sea, Skerries and IsletsExposed CliffsLow Cliffs and BanksBeaches & DunesSaltmarshMaritime HeathMoorlandMarshes and BogsLochs, Ditches and BurnsFarmlandRoadside vergesWoodland and Gardens

RSPB RESERVESMainland Hobbister Moorland

Birsay Moors MoorlandMarwick Head Sea CliffsLoons & Loch of Banks WetlandBrodgar Farmland, WetlandCottascarth & Rendall Moss Moorland

Islands Copinsay Island, Sea cliffsRousay, Trumland MoorlandEgilsay, Onziebust FarmlandShapinsay, Mill Dam WetlandWestray, Noup Head Sea CliffPapay, North Hill Maritime HeathHoy Moorland, Sea cliffs

SCOTTISH WILDLIFE TRUST RESERVESMainland Harray Road End MoorlandIslands Shapinsay, Holm of Burglee Maritime Heath

Linga Holm, Stronsay Island, SealsHill of White Hammars, Hoy Coastal heath, cliffs

SPECIAL AREAS OF CONSERVATION (SAC)Faray & Holm of Faray, Loch of Stenness, Sanday, StromnessHeaths & Coast, Hoy

LOCAL NATURE RESERVES (OIC)Mull Head, Deerness, (Eynhallow also belongs to the Council)

NATIONAL SCENIC AREA (NSA)Hoy and West Mainland

SITES OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC INTEREST (SSSI)Total of 36 (details from Scottish Natural Heritage local office)

Orkney IslandWildlife

Furrowend, Shapinsay,Orkney KW17 2DY

Tel/Fax (01856) 711373ARCHAEOLOGY

HISTORYWILDLIFE

BIRDWATCHING

For the perfectORKNEYHOLIDAY

54/56 Junction RoadKirkwall, Orkney

KW15 1AWWorking with

Scotland’s people tocare for our

natural heritage

For its size, Orkney has avery wide range of habitats,which range from exposedsea coasts to sheltered gar-dens. Although much of thenon-cultivated land is nowprotected under a variety ofnames with somewhatarcane acronyms such asSSSI, NSA SPA or SAC, infact all of Orkney is specialfor its natural history.

Many of these areas areincluded in the thirteen

Royal Society for theProtection of Birds (RSPB)Reserves, four ScottishWildlife Trust (SWT) andtwo Council NatureReserves, all of which maybe visited or observed frompublic roads, paths or hides.They are all described inmore detail in the relevantgazetteer sections. Someplaces are off-limits in thebreeding season, while thoseon small uninhabited islandscan be hard to access.

Extreme care must be takenat all times to avoid disturb-ing breeding birds and ani-mals, or damaging plants.Permission should also besought before enteringground to which publicaccess is not obvious. Inpractice the car can oftenprovide an excellent hide,while most plants can beobserved in public areas,especially on verges, wasteground, ditches, burns andbanks.

HABITATS

Aerial view of Loch of Harray and Loch of Stenness with Hoy in the background

Heather Moorland at Loomachun, Evie Backaskaill Bay, Sanday



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