Now is the time to see Great Yellow Bumblebee (Bombus distinguendus) at our Brodgar reserve... Have a walk around our reserve footpath which takes you along the shores of Loch of Stenness, the bird crops planted at HY295130 have a North American flowering plant called Phacelia which GYBB love! Last week double figures were seen on two different days by viewing over the fence. These images show one of the individuals seen…

The results of an Orkney wide survey to establish the current population of summering / breeding Greylag Geese has been co-ordinated by staff from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust last weekend (25th/26th August), with help from local volunteers.  A staggering 21,367 birds were recorded during the survey.

In 2008, an attempt was made to estimate the increasing Greylag Goose population on Orkney for the first time since…

I have to say I was saddened but not surprised by the early reports of how the 2012 breeding season has been for our kitttiwakes. The counts reveal a massive 82% decline in the number of breeding kittiwake pairs in just over a decade - from nearly 11,000 pairs in 2000 to under 2,000 this year. I've lost count of the number of regular visitors to Orkney who tell me they have noticed a steady decline in numbers of seabirds…

Earlier this year we were approached by the BBC's Springwatch team for help in making a Springwatch "special" celebrating the wonderful natural history of our seabirds. The result is a programme to be shown tomorrow on BBC 2 at 9.00pm (and on BBC HD at the same time) which shows our amazing seabird colonies and includes footage from Copinsay, Marwick and Noup Cliffs on Westray. The programme also features Skomer…

Last month I finally decided it was about time I had a go with the trail camera. I came up with a cunning plan and set it up on the Birsay Moors.

Below is a link to a film I made with the time-lapse photos – every 15 minutes in a period of 24 hours and also I thought I’d set it up for triggering with movement but user error strikes again! So, unfortunately no bird photos.

https://vimeo.com/47851685

The changeable…

WE FINALLY FOUND ONE!

Naturally I didn’t have my camera with me to prove it to you so you’ll just have to take my word for it. To make up for it here is a picture from RSPB images.

 Since June staff and volunteers have been searching for the rare bumble bee across the Onziebust reserve, this happens on the reserve every year. We have seen lots of other bumble bees feeding on all the wildflowers around Onziebust…

1)  Graham Brown, Local Group Volunteer - testing out the 'Singing' Birds!

2)  Wildlife Explorers Group Volunteers - making Puffins masks, seabird wrist-flappers and unscrambling the 'Corncrake Conundrum'!

The RSPB tent at the County Show was like an 'oasis', as described by one local resident, amongst the hubub of noise & the crowds outside.  The feelie box game was giving folk another chance…

Hi Everybody

I thought I would squeeze a Latest Happenings in before the County Show which is on Saturday so not much time left.

If any of our members are going to the show can I encourage them to call in at the RSPB Tent as there will be plenty going on in there including lots of information about the work of RSPB Orkney, photographs a-plenty, games for the young and not-so young. If you own a camera - and I suspect…

Last week I had to do a double take when I popped into The Loons hide - for a second I thought we'd got water buffalo and nobody had told me...

..but it turns out it was just some of the young cows of one of our graziers, having newly found out how tasty reeds and bog bean really are!

They are doing a great job of grazing the vegetation back and having discovered a liking for the reed bed, they have been hanging…

Papa Westray warden Sarah West and I went along to the annual sailing regatta on the island on Westray, setting up an RSPB table (hastily constructed from fish boxes) on the pier and talking to local people and tourists about bird and wildlife on the island. This year, Westray is the area where where the largest number of corncrakes (12) have been found in Orkney, so it was a good chance to talk about how special the island…

If you’ve never visited the small island of Papa Westray, you may not know that the RSPB’s North Hill nature reserve is one of the best places to see the Scottish Primrose (Primula scotica). The Scottish Primrose is one of very few plants that is endemic to Britain, meaning it is not found anywhere else in the world and, as the name suggests, it only grows in Scotland. Not only that but it only grows in coastal…

I have completed my night time surveys and had a good look at the findings, together with information from public reports, and have found that there were 32 calling male corncrakes heard (and verified) in Orkney during the survey period 20 May - 10 July.

Island-by-island:

Westray - 11
West Mainland - 10
Sanday - 3
Shapinsay - 3
Burray - 2
East Mainland - 1
Papa Westray - 1
South Ronaldsay - 1

(This map includes some locations…

Hi Everybody

Firstly, I'm attaching photos from Ian Cunningham who sent me them a month ago! He explains as follows:

Had a terrific few days in Westray last week. Walked from Kirbest to Noup Head and back and climbed Fitty Hill. Amazing Views!

Attached are a few birds seen along the way....puffin, razorbill, kittiwake and twite.

Cheers, Ian.

I wasted no time in placing the stunning Kittiwake photo as my desktop…

Coming back to Onziebust after a few days away on leave I really got the chance to discover the reserve anew on the drive back to the farmhouse. I’ve only been away four days but at some point I must have forgotten what the island of Egilsay looked like. 

 The fields of buttercups splashed with the deep pink of ragged robin and the white fluffy seed heads of cotton grass really are quite stunning, especially when…

I really wasn't expecting to see very much when I took folk around on yesterday's "Birds for Beginners" walk on the Brodgar reserve. Not having been round for a while, I did a recce on Monday and saw far fewer birds than in previous weeks. It didn't help that the vegetation - crops and weeds - is so high now that it is easy for the oystercatchers and lapwings to hide. A sedge warbler singing in competition…

Gannets only started nesting at Noup Cliffs in 2003, when 3 pairs built nests, one of which managed to fledge a single chick, and they have been increasing ever since! In 2004 they had increased to 14 birds nesting with 11 chicks fledged, and then they really took off, increasing rapidly with each year, so that by 2011 they had reached an astounding 600 nesting birds! However, they have now begun to slow down a bit and…

Hi Everybody

Ian's photos start us off yet again and this time we have pictures of Shoveller Ducks. 1st is a delightful study of the head of a female as she peers out from behind the foliage; 2nd a female swimming peacefully by; 3rd a really delightful shot of a female proudly showing off her 3 shoveller ducklings. (Not only do we admire Ian's super pics but how does he find the birds to begin with? More of Ian…

We are now coming up to halfway through the corncrake season in Orkney. A survey of all suitable habitat on the islands has been carried out once (it will be done twice before 10 July) and so far, a total of around 20 calling male corncrakes have been located - both through the surveys and from reports from the public.

Here are the corncrake numbers (so far) on different islands:

West Mainland: 5
East Mainland: 1
Burray…

On Orkney, our reserves are large and varied, ranging from moorland, wetlands and cliffs. The Birsay Moors is one of our largest at approx 2000ha, it is a fantastic site, home to iconic birds like hen harriers and short eared owls but also to the smaller, more humble meadow pipit!

A site this size has it challenges for monitoring the different birds, as it would be near impossible for us to know the exact numbers of…

It is often said on Papa Westray that the Arctic Terns arrive with the first fogs of the summer, which are usually in May, and year after year, this proves to be true. However, due to bad weather we didn’t really get any fog in May and a survey in late May showed that very few Arctic Terns had appeared in the colonies, so I was getting worried that they were going to have a bad season this year. However by the end of…

Although you wouldn't know it from the weather, summer is finally here. I know this because we are once again filming a hen harrier nest complete with female and 5 eggs - for me a sure sign that the summer season is underway.  The pictures are being beamed into the Kirkwall Visitor Information Centre and according to everyone who has seen them, the quality and definition of the images from the new high definition camera…

Peregrine Falcon's have bred on Copinsay for the first time since 1986 with a single chick on the wing by Saturday 26th May. Both adult birds were in attendance, alarming constantly to inform the chick of my presence. I managed a ropey shot of the juvenile, which is still showing traces of down on the head, nape and mantle. Lorna Dow observed an alarming adult bird on 29th April - this was the first indication that a…

Due to an adverse weather forecast the Local Group
outings into the Gloup in Deerness for June 9^th/10^th have
had to be postponed.

These have been rearranged for Saturday 23^rd & Sunday 24^th June.
Saturday’s outing will leave at 12.45 and
Sunday’s at 1.30 pm.

Places are available. To book please telephone Pauline Wilson on 01856 741382 or
email: p.wilson410@btinternet.com.

Cost is £12 per person.

Most years the RSPB Orkney Local Group organise a trip out to the small island of Auskerry. On Saturday 26^th May, a group of 11 folk made the journey out and I was lucky enough to be able to accompany them.

Auskerry lies on the East side of the island group, just south of Stronsay. It is only ¾ of a mile long, with a small area of heathland in the centre with grassland and a rocky coast surrounding it, there are small…