The magnificent sights, sounds and smells of the seabird colony was the main draw to the Marwick Head Open day on June 29th. Visitors enjoyed a walk up the thrift covered coastal cliffs to look out on the razorbills, guillemots, fulmars and puffins that help make up this wonderful Seabird City.
Some willing folk were tagged and tracked by RSPB staff over the course of their visit. GPS loggers were used to follow the movements of various visitors – the same technology that is being used to track many of our seabird species and contributing to leading research on the movements of seabirds. Here are some of the human tracks captured on Sunday.
A few walks up the cliffs.
Some interesting movements around the viewing point.
A beach forage and a long track back to RSPB office in Stromness.
This summer, researchers will be out and about fitting satallite tags to seabirds as part of the Seabird Research Tracking (STaR) project. The aim is to learn more about where fantastic species like shags, kittiwakes and razorbills forage for food. You can follow their progress on thier blog - Orkney STaR blog.
Our next open day is on Tuesday 29th July at our Brodgar reserve. From 11am there will be wildlife wanders, bumblebee family activities and a giant flower meadow mural to be painted by visitors throughout the day.