Here's a report on the recent Volunteer Thanks Day by Julian Branscombe
The early hours of Saturday morning saw 17 RSPB Orkney volunteers and staff gathering for the early boat from Stromness. Very soon a lucky few of the group were rewarded by a pod of about five orcas cruising past the mv Hamnavoe. Serco NorthLink had kindly sponsored the ferry travel – had they also laid on the orcas? A few Manx shearwaters went past the boat, whilst puffins, fulmars, kittiwakes and gannets were all on show.
On arrival in Caithness, we were picked up in the very swish mini-coach to take us over the border into Sutherland to the RSPB Forsinard visitor centre, at the heart of the Flow Country. A ringtail hen harrier en route reminded us that we don’t quite have the UK monopoly on this species in Orkney! When we arrived, an introductory talk from Paul Turner, Warden, opened our eyes to the enormous scale of the site (at around 200 square kilometres, this is the RSPB’s largest nature reserve), the wealth of wildlife it supports and the RSPB’s ambitious plans to do even more to protect and restore this landscape, which was so heavily damaged by 1980s afforestation.
Welcoming sign at the Visitor Centre, Pauline Wilson
The Information Officer, Terri Cunningham, then took us around the Dubh Lochan trail. This circular wander around a flagstone path was the perfect way to see something of what the peatlands were all about. The different colours of all the Sphagnum mosses were incredible. Tiny sundews (both great sundew and round-leaved sundew), butterwort, dwarf birch and heath spotted-orchids were amongst the other plants. The pools were covered in bogbean, with large red and common blue damselflies resting on the leaves and very busy four-spotted chaser dragonflies buzzing around.
Information Officer Terri Cunningham showing the group round the Dubh Lochan trail., Pauline Wilson
Out on the Dubh Lochan Trail, Gerry Cannon
After a packed lunch and a chance to see four of the different species of Sphagnum under the microscope, and a range of moths trapped overnight, the group split up to enjoy the afternoon. Most of us were torn as to whether to go on the walk (to see an area of cleared conifer plantation – part of the peatland restoration work of the RSPB– and intact blanket bog next to it), or to go on the 4x4 safari to see a much larger area of this huge reserve. I chose to do the walk, so I didn’t join Paul and residential volunteer Kate Basley in the pick-ups. At the end of the day, I heard nothing but good things from the members of our party who went off in the vehicles, to get a fascinating and wide perspective on this enormous landscape that is now getting such careful stewardship thanks to the organisation.
Studying the various locations with Paul, Pauline Wilson
Warden Paul Turner shows the group some of the work carried out, Pauline Wilson
We set off on foot, with Assistant Warden, Claire Foot, as our excellent guide. As soon as we started, we saw a pair of common sandpipers on the river. However, the next mile of fields was largely free of waders (we just saw a single curlew) – a striking reminder of the importance of Orkney’s farmland breeding wader populations. A merlin whizzed past and it was good to see a male reed bunting and some distant red deer.
The group heading out with Claire, Gerry Cannon
The cleared conifers had been immediately colonised by skylarks, which were singing overhead. Interesting plants there included stag’s-horn and alpine clubmosses, with a map-winged swift moth and a (non-Orkney!) vole also attracting a lot of interest. It was fantastic to see that damp heathland or bog plants, such as cotton-grass and cross-leaved heath, were dominating the area of the former plantation – it was not nearly as weedy as we feared, but we did pull out one or two spruce seedlings and rosebay willowherb plants on our way.
Forsinard, Pauline Wilson
Then it was out onto the undamaged bog. It was great to see the rolling moorland, covered in damp-loving sedges, mosses and flowers. We couldn’t walk too far in one direction, for fear of disturbing the nesting common scoters and greenshank, so focused instead on the soggy surrounds of a peaty pool. The botanists amongst us got very excited about the small cranberry and few-flowered sedge, but there was something for everyone – from a frog to flowers – as we looked through the vegetation. This was a fair reflection of the day – we were in a huge, wide open landscape, which gave an exhilarating feeling of space, but time and time again we were drawn down to drink in the beauty of the diversity of miniature wildlife around our feet.
We were nicely tired by the time we got back to Scrabster for a well-earned meal. On the ferry back, many of us stayed on deck, chastened by missing the orcas on the way over. However, we weren’t in for a repeat performance, but the stunning seascapes and the continual flypast of seabirds were good compensation. As we docked in Stromness, the general consensus that the 5am start was well worthwhile!
Volunteers and Forsinard staff outside the visitor centre, Pauline Wilson