Orkney Island Information

Mainland

Orkney Mainland is by far and away the largest of the Orkney Islands and different aspects and locations feature in all our Orkney Holidays.

Mainland is the most developed island for tourism, with many fine archaeological and historical sites, some famous and frequently visited, and others which are off the beaten tourist track. The most famous, Skara Brae, Maeshowe and the Ring of Brodgar, are part of a World Heritage Site, so these can be included on most Orkney Holidays if you want to see them. If you have already visited them, there are plenty of other places we can show you on Mainland. For more information see Archaeology page.

Some of the most spectacular sea cliffs occur on the Mainland, where you will see birds, flowers and amazing geology. There are several RSPB reserves, some with hides, and others where we can walk and see much of Orkney's justly famous birdlife. See Wildlife page.

There is a wealth to choose from on Mainland, and our choice will depend on what seems most appropriate for the group at the time. We are in touch with developments in wildlife and archaeology, so we can tap in to special events or sightings for your benefit.

Shapinsay

Our home island of Shapinsay features in most of our Orkney Holidays. It is obviously the island we know best, and can take you to places little visited by others.

Shapinsay has many identified archaeological sites, some of which can be pinpointed and imagined, others which show more evidence of occupation, and one is well-presented and open to the public. You can trace Orkney's history of the past few thousand years here in Shapinsay.

Shapinsay is a varied island, with wetlands, sandy beaches and a good cliff walk. Different habitats host different birds and flowers, and there is an RSPB reserve at Mill Dam which Paul manages as the Warden, with a great view from the hide. We also have a bird hide on our own land with views over the shore, loch and sea. Our 36-acre farm is managed for wildlife and we can walk around the fields and tracks looking at the birds and wild flowers at Furrowend. Both grey and common seals haul out on Shapinsay’s shores and on other nearby skerries and holms.

We have an inflatable workboat based on Shapinsay, which allows you to get closer to seals and birds, weather permitting. This is usually a half-day trip to the nearby islands and skerries or to explore sea cliffs from below.

Several craftspeople work in Shapinsay, and you can visit their workshops to see them working, or view the finished product in the Balfour Village Smithy craft shop. The Smithy also has a museum of island life, which tells tales of Shapinsay's development in the recent past. Balfour village itself is unique in Orkney - the first planned village and a local conservation area.

Shapinsay is styled ‘the green isle in the heart of Orkney’, and is surrounded by arms of Mainland Orkney and the North Isles. Shapinsay is seven miles long, has 300 inhabitants, and enjoys a relaxed pace of life.

Rousay

Rousay is world famous for its prolific and well-presented archaeology which is without parallel in Britain.

If these tombs were on the Orkney Mainland they would be part of the World Heritage Area, but being in Rousay they are peaceful places where you can take time to really imagine life in the distant past. The most unique is Midhowe Stalled Cairn, an amazing structure, well worth the visit. Nearby is a very well preserved Iron Age broch.

A drive round the island gives insights into what made it how it is today, as well as lovely views to Westray in the distance, and over Egilsay and Wyre in the foreground. A Norse site can be picked out on each of the smaller islands.

Rousay has the highest road in Orkney and at the top of it is a surprising bank of wild flowers, often hosting species which have finished flowering in the rest of Orkney, and some which aren't usually seen in other places.

On your Rousay trip there is a good chance to see red throated divers, short-eared owls, hen harriers, sea ducks and waders.

Hoy

Hoy is a mountainous and rugged island, with similarities to the Scottish Highlands.

To reach Hoy we cruise through Scapa Flow where the North Atlantic Fleet was based in both World Wars. Reminders of this can be seen on the way and at the wonderful Lyness Naval museum, with stories of heroic doings on both sides, and a short film of the history of Scapa Flow shown in an enormous oil storage tank!

In the first War the German fleet was scuttled by its own Navy rather than allow its ships to be used by the Allies. You can see where all these ships were moored, and imagine the scene on that fateful day. We also see the site where the Royal Oak was sunk at the beginning of WW2.

The ferry goes past the island of Flotta, the present site of the oil terminal where North Atlantic and North Sea oil is stored for shipment.

Driving north through the island's rugged landscape, we stop to look at wildlife and hear anecdotes and stories about incidents in Hoy's past. There are minute beautiful heath and bog plants to be found, and remnants of Orkney's once widespread native woodlands, with Berriedale wood, the most northerly in Britain.

Hoy is home to well over 50 pairs of breeding red throated divers and hundreds of Bonxies or Great Skuas. We see many other exciting Orkney bird specialities on the trip to Hoy, with the possibilities of elusive breeding dunlin and golden plover. We always keep a sharp look out for the Arctic hares which make their home on Hoy and nowhere else in Orkney.

The enigmatic Dwarfie Stane is a glacial erratic hollowed out by Neolithic man, which we visit on the hillside on the way to Rackwick: is it a hermit's home or a Neolithic tomb - or both? Rackwick is often stated to be the most picturesque valley in Orkney.

South Walls

South Walls is nearly an island in its own right, but is connected to Hoy by a narrow isthmus or ayre. Visits to South Walls are excellent for seeing grey seal pups in the autumn and viewing wild flowers in spring and summer. The Scottish Wildlife Trust Reserve at the Hill of White Hammars is particularly good for wildlife. There are some beautiful sheltered coves and bays which can hold seaduck, divers, grebes and prolific quantities of wading birds, plus in autumn the area hosts barnacle geese from Greenland, the only regular flock in Orkney. Hundreds of these birds make a spectacular sight. There is an interesting Martello Tower to visit, which housed a huge gun to defend Atlantic Conveys from American Privateers in the Napoleonic Wars.

Eday

All of the North Isles of Orkney owe their current landscape to their particular Victorian landowners.

In Eday, the laird wanted grouse moors, so today a large part of the island is heather covered moor, with farming round the edge.

We get unfamiliar views of familiar landmarks on other islands all around us as Eday is centrally placed: a 360 degree panorama from Eday has Rousay, Westray, Papay, Faray, Sanday, Stronsay, Auskerry, Copinsay, Deerness, Shapinsay and a distant Mainland identifiable in it.

With a population of about 140, people are well spread-out, and the island feels uncrowded and peaceful. The moors, farmland and sea bays have various birds nesting on them, including a few whimbrel at the southern tip of its breeding range in Britain, great and arctic skuas, and various species of ducks and waders.

In the centre of the island is the narrow waist or aith, which is the origin of the island's name. This is now the site of London Airport, with an Islander aircraft service. Further north is the Mill Loch with the densest concentration of breeding red-throated divers in Britain. Near here are the impressive archaeological sites of the Stone of Setter and Vinquoy Neolithic tomb. The stone is the tallest standing stone in Orkney, and Vinquoy is a small Maeshowe-type cairn.

There are tales of Pirates, Jacobites and earlier prehistory associated with Eday.

Egilsay

Egilsay is best known in Orkney today for its corncrake management. The RSPB owns a large part of the island, and much work has been done on providing early cover, and other management techniques, in the hopes of encouraging more birds to nest there.

In addition to corncrakes, many other birds and flowers benefit from the management strategies. In spring and summer this island is alive with wildlife, especially fantastic numbers of breeding waders. The sound of these birds displaying is wonderful.

In Norse times the island was a holy place, which was chosen by the cousins Earls Magnus and Haakon for their meeting to sort out which of them should be the sole Earl of Orkney. Magnus was slain by Haakon's cook, and was later created a martyr. His nephew Rognvald began building the Cathedral in Kirkwall in his memory in the mid-twelfth century. We will visit St Magnus Kirk on Egilsay, with its round tower.

Wyre

Wyre, named by the Norse for its spearhead shape, is a small island nearby, with a twelfth century chapel and a Norse chieftain's tower called Cubbie Roo's Castle.

The Scots poet Edwin Muir spent his early childhood at the Bu near this tower, before moving to Glasgow. He looked back on his time here as idyllic, and his poem 'Childhood' expresses the sense of security and timelessness he associated with Wyre.

Westray

We take the large ferry north to Westray with our minibus, passing Shapinsay, Rousay, Egilsay, the Greenholms, Eday and Faray on the way.

We look for birds and marine wildlife en route, crossing the wide Westray Firth. Main attractions in Westray are the puffins, more accessible here than anywhere else in Orkney. Other birds are found on lochs and fields, and on the spectacular RSPB sea bird city cliffs of the Noup Head, with its lighthouse, noise and incredible aromas! There are also lots of birds to be found on the fields, moors and lochs.

Westray was a thriving Norse community and many traces remain, some of which have been excavated. There is fine Z plan castle at Noltland dating from the time of the Scottish Earls of the sixteenth century: its owner was implicated in all sorts of intrigues at court, including plots involving Mary Queen of Scots, and later Magnus King of Sweden.

Some Jacobite sympathisers lived in Westray and had to hide in caves in 1746 to escape government forces.

Papa Westray

Papay is a very small island, reached by a passenger ferry from Pierowall in Westray.

There is no roll-on/roll-off ferry but a cargo ship visits twice a week. With a population of around 70, every individual counts and the community spirit in this island is what keeps it going. Therefore this island has a very different atmosphere.

It is a beautiful peaceful place with empty beaches, lots of bird sound, excellent wild flowers, and two outstanding archaeological sites: the Knap of Howar, the oldest standing dwelling house in Europe, and St. Boniface Kirk, restored in 1995 but linking Papay to the Christian world of the eighth century as an important centre.

The main farm of Holland is open for us to look around, and it is the finest example of a traditional farmstead in Orkney. It is a working beef and sheep farm, the old buildings mixed with modern ones; with a horse tramp, stack yards, barn for island dances, a doocot, threshing mill and a bothy museum of island artefacts for us to see.

To reach Papay, we leave the minibus behind on Westray and take the passenger only ferry across. This cruise of about 25 minutes is excellent for seeing Great Northern Divers in summer plumage and we are often lucky to see porpoises.

The island co-operative in Papay provide a minibus to transport us around the island, but we mostly travel on foot, as the island is small, and it is the best way to enjoy the scenery and absorb the special peace and tranquility which is Papay.

This is a very special place, and a 'must visit' place for anyone who falls under Orkney's spell.

We visit the RSPB reserve on North Hill, which is a special area of Maritime Heath. To appreciate the plants here you really need to get down low as they are dwarf plant communities. Primula scotica can be found here in profusion, along with such wee gems as grass of Parnassus and Spring Squill.

The reserve has a small cliff site with nesting kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills and is famous for the largest arctic tern colony in Orkney, plus many pairs of arctic skua. We can watch the skuas chasing the terns to make them drop their sand eel dinner. We visit the site that has the dubious distinction of being where the last Great Auk was shot.

Papay is also an excellent place to get good views of both grey and common seals.

North Ronaldsay

The island is well placed for attracting migrant and vagrant birds. Almost anything can turn up and it does! Easterly winds bring European rarities to the island, while westerlies can carry American exotics to its shores.

We may find the first returning Arctic breeding waders such as little stints, sandpipers and ruff using North Ronaldsay as a stop-over. Offshore maybe both Manx and sooty shearwaters, fulmars, gannets, and various auks flying close to the island as they wander the oceans. Nearer shore are flocks of eiders, rafts of cormorants and shags and a few red throated divers, with purple sandpipers on the rocks and ringed plovers, dunlin and sanderlings on the expansive sandy beaches.

The islands' sparse bushes and stone dykes can hold passage passerines such as warblers, chats and shrikes. There is always great excitement, as we never know what we might see.

North Ronaldsay, called Rinansey in Norse times, has no roll-on/roll-off car ferry so relies on the plane for supplies and transport. It is a tranquil island, with little sign or sound of traffic or bustle. It is a fantastic place to relax and wind down from the hustle of daily life in the south.

Seals, experts at relaxation, lie about the island's beaches, and seem to be very tolerant of a close approach.

The famous rare-breed North Ronaldsay sheep graze on seaweed all around the perimeter of the island. They are kept on the shore by a high stone wall, which runs for 13 miles around the island, and it is fun to see these sheep quarrelling over a tasty frond of seaweed.

We can see how the islanders process their sheep's wool at a small factory at the base of Britain's tallest land-based lighthouse, soaring to 139 feet. The view from the top for those who brave the climb is superb. After mid August the nights are again dark enough to see the northern lights, or "Merry Dancers", in clear conditions, though this cannot ever be guaranteed as they are dependent on sunspot activity.

North Ronaldsay, distant from light pollution, is a good vantage point.

Sanday

Sanday is a large island with a population of 550. It has always been a good place to live as Neolithic man discovered 5000 years ago. The soil was easy to till, the climate equitable and the landscape and seascape inviting. 3000 years later the Norsemen found the same, and Sanday became an important source of grain for the Norwegian colonies of Iceland and Greenland. Big Norse farms were built on earlier “farm mounds”, and are still in operation today. The people of Sanday preserve their traditions of hospitality, and the island has an atmosphere of easy going contentment.

The most striking feature of the coasts are the incredible sandy beaches, stretching away in front of you in wide sweeping curves, fringed by a turquoise sea scattered with bobbing seals. Both grey and common seals lie languidly around on the rocks or beaches, or swim lazily along in the shallows, keeping pace with you as you stroll. In fact Sanday is so important to both seal populations that it has international recognition as a seal conservation area. In autumn grey seal pups can easily be seen too.

Sand dunes and heaths support a wealth of wild flowers and Orkney’s birdlife is well represented. Curlew, redshank, lapwing, oystercatcher, dunlin and ringed plover make this their home, and in autumn are joined by thousands more of the same species from the Arctic, plus bar-tailed godwits, purple sandpipers, grey and golden plovers and knots. Being on the east side of the Orkney archipelago means many passerine migrants find refuge on Sanday during both spring and autumn migrations.

In addition to the sandy beaches, rocky holms can be reached at low tide. Here amongst the gulls, seals and flowers you feel as if you are on an uninhabited island miles from anywhere. At one time Sanday folk came here to grow their vegetables as their gardens, known locally in Sanday as keelie-craas, are still here – small circular stone enclosures taken over as nest sites for fulmars now.

The early settlers in Sanday left us the chambered cairn of Quoyness, an amazing Maeshowe-type building, and many other settlement and burial sites, many not excavated. These show continuous settlement through the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, right up to the arrival of the Norse. There are many traces of Norse life here, in the place-names and personal names and also in archaeological remains.

The most famous of these was the Scar Viking Burial, where the three bodies, a man, a woman and a child, had been buried in a boat with their valuable grave goods.

The burial was exposed by coastal erosion and excavated in the nick of time. A sword was buried with the man, while the woman had brooches, gaming pieces and the famous whale-bone plaque, carved with dragons heads and probably used for smoothing linen. The nature of this grave raised questions: the grave goods indicate a pagan burial but the date was tenth century when the Norse were Christian and were being buried in Christian cemeteries.

The plaque showed direct links with western Norway several generations after the first Norse settlement – perhaps it was an heirloom that had been passed down generation after generation.

Sanday has four parishes and each has its own interesting mills, Laird’s houses, kirks, and farms. Lady Village is in the centre of the island, while Kettletoft on the south coast is where fishing and creeling boats are based. Start Island at the north-east corner has a lighthouse to warn ships of the treacherous nature of the low-lying land, while at the southwest corner are sea cliffs and natural arches.


South Ronaldsay

South Ronaldsay holds the best place to see grey seals having their pups in Orkney without getting in to a boat. The area has spectacular cliffs and a rugged and wild coast, along which we can walk to see the seal action.
The Tomb of the Eagles is unique for its hands on approach to showing the treasures and human skulls found by the landowner Ronnie Simison, a farmer who excavated both a Neolithic tomb and Orkney's best presented Bronze Age site. There are several good hotspots for migrant birds well worth exploring in South Ronaldsay too.
South Ronaldsay is reached by crossing the four Churchill Barriers or causeways by road, built in the 1940s to prevent German ships and U-boats from entering the safe anchorage which is Scapa Flow. The Barriers are good places to view seabirds and sea the famous block ships. We can also go inside the Italian Chapel, and experience the simple peace, tranquility and hope for a better future that the prisoners of War would have felt.

Flotta

Flotta means Flat Island in Old Norse and is a small island in the middle of Scapa Flow and reached by ferry. It is perhaps best known for its oil terminal and the Flotta flare, burning off unstable gasses, seen from all over Orkney. However, the rest of the island is unspoilt, and boasts a wonderful 360 degree panorama of islands around Scapa Flow, yet is rarely visited by tourists. The island is steeped in War time and other historical sites. There are lovely beaches, rocky shores and heather moorland for wildlife, especially seals, making it an interesting and unusual place to visit.