Welcome to the Orkney blog, the first venture into blogging by the RSPB staff here in the Orkney Islands. I'm writing the first but our other staff here will all be contributing too.
Andy Knight is our Reserves Manager and has overall responsibility for the 13 reserves that we have here - that's a bigger concentration of reserves than anywhere else in the country. Alan Leitch is our Mainland Warden (Mainland is the biggest of the Orkney islands) but also looks after things on Papa Westray, Westray and Shapinsay.
Lorna Dow is our Assistant Warden having, last summer, acted as our Corncrake Officer. On Shapinsay we have a part-time warden, Paul Hollinrake, who also runs a successful wildlife holiday business based there.
Over on the wild and mountainous island of Hoy, Lee Shields is our warden. On the small island of Egilsay (population only about 20) we have Barry & Rebecca O'Dowd looking after our Onziebust reserve; Rebecca also doubles as our Volunteer & Farmer Alliance officer.
Here in the Stromness Office we also have Sue Whitworth, our Field Teacher, and Jenny Dewar, our People Engagement person, while above all we have Morag Wilson, our Administrator, who manages, heaven knows how, to keep the whole show on the road!
So that's the team. In summer we have additional folk such as our summer warden on Papa Westray (always known as Papay here in Orkney), our Corncrake Officer and various research and monitoring staff depending on just which surveys need doing in a particular year. You'll be hearing from all of them, I hope, as time goes by.
We have an amazing array of birdlife here in Orkney. At the coast we have sea cliffs teeming with species such as guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes, although, as you'll be hearing they have all been having a hard time of late due to food shortages.
On some of our islands, immediately inland of the cliffs are areas of maritime heathland, which can hold large numbers of Arctic terns and Arctic skuas; they too have been feeling the pinch in recent years due to the lack of sandeels, their main prey. A little further inland, Orkney possesses some of the richest wetlands in Scotland with lots of breeding ducks and waders.
Our wader populations are second only to those on the Uists - but we have some 5,000 pairs of curlews and they have hardly any - not that there's any competition between the Scottish islands you understand!
A few miles further inland and you're into the hills and about to make acquaintance with Orkney's most famous bird, the hen harrier - about 80 female harriers nest here every year but, because of their polygamous breeding system there are only about 25 males.
Short-eared owls are also common here feeding almost exclusively on the Orkney voles. And that's just summer - we've got lots more to tell you about the winter and the spring and autumn migration seasons.
So please keep looking at our site and we'll try to keep you updated with just what's going on.