October 2019 Newsletter

October's headlines

Top tips for autumn in Orkney

Autumn in Orkney is a special time of year. It's a season full of dramatic light, stunning sunsets, wild weather and so much more. Things slow down too after the whirlwind summer, giving you the perfect chance to visit some of our sites in solitude. We’ve picked out a few of our favourite things to see and do during autumn across Orkney. Check out our blog and share your suggestions with us on social media!

Celebrity chefs and seaweed

It has been quite the year for one of Orkney’s newest food and drink companies. During the spring, Orkney Craft Vinegar was featured on two nationwide television programmes hosted by James Martin, leading to an explosion of interest in the business’s range and a rapid expansion. Now things have settled down, we’ve managed to catch up with the man behind it all to hear about his journey.

Tall tales return for autumn

The Orkney Storytelling Festival returns later this month to celebrate its tenth anniversary in style. Dubbed ‘the little festival with the big heart’, the event sees international and professional storytellers join local favourites for a packed programme of folklore, walks, talks and more. Tickets are also available to buy online for the first time, so you can make sure you won’t miss a thing.

Join us on Instagram

Follow Visit Orkney on Instagram to see some beautiful images of the islands. We publish shots from around Orkney every week and you can join in too. Tag your own images so we can share your Orkney journey. Use #VisitOrkney and #LoveOrkney to keep in touch.

October in Orkney

October brings plenty of events and activities to take advantage of across Orkney.

As you might have read in the news, the Orkney Storytelling Festival takes top billing when it returns this month. It’s fast becoming a real favourite on the local festival circuit, featuring a wide range of inspirational and engaging storytellers from Orkney and around the world.

This year’s festival runs between the 24^th and 27^th, with tours and trips all included in the programme. Find out more from our blog or visit the official website, where tickets can be bought online for the first time.

The Vikings are coming in October! Orktoberfest is a celebration of Orkney’s Norse heritage and the finest ales, along with live music and plenty of fun and games too. The 2019 Orkney Ale Festival will be at the centre of the weekend, which starts on the 24^th and will be held in and around Stromness. The programme includes traditional music, a Viking feast, a torch-lit procession and a galley burning, a BBQ and much more.

Stromness is also the home of a special event this month as part of the Scapa 100 commemorations. ‘Scapa 100: The Orkney Story’ is a community conference that will see four days of talks and activities surrounding the legacy of the scuttling of the German Fleet in Scapa Flow a century ago. It's all happening between the 17th and 20th - find out more via the official website.

Orkney’s wartime connection to the sea also continues this month with ‘Remembering HMS Royal Oak’, a special display of objects from HMS Royal Oak and her crew. The exhibition at the Orkney Museum marks the 80^th anniversary of its sinking in Scapa Flow. It’s on display until the 26^th and entry is free.

There’s plenty for music fans to enjoy in Orkney this month. The Pickaquoy Centre has an Abba Party Night on the 5^th, featuring the 1974 Abba Tribute Show. Dig out your dancing shoes and find out how to get your tickets via the Pickaquoy Centre website.

The Reel in Kirkwall will be hosting its annual Traditional Music Festival in October between the 14^th and 19^th. The Reel Orkney Tradfest will see six days of artist-led classes, workshops, sessions and concerts, hosted by Orkney’s own Wrigley Sisters. Tickets for all Tradfest events are on sale now via The Reel’s website.

Later in the month you can catch up with Gnoss, ‘a dynamic four-piece of fiddle, flute, guitar and percussion’. The band will be onstage at the Sound Archive in Kirkwall as part of their autumn tour on the 25^th. Find out more from the Old Library Facebook page.

Right at the end of October you can see ‘Elvis – performed by Johnny Lee Memphis’. He’ll be bringing all of Elvis’s hits to the stage on the 31^st – find out how you can get your tickets.

The Pier Arts Centre has a couple of exhibitions open to enjoy. The Centre is hosting ‘Beyond Landscape’ until the 9^th of November, featuring works by artists with special engagements with landscape. It also has ‘Then Now When’, a collection of items focused on the life and legacy of Margaret Gardiner. You can also catch ‘Wrong on Every Level’ by Martin Laird at the Northlight Gallery in Stromness until the 9^th.

The Pickaquoy Centre Cinema has its usual selection of movies this month, including ‘Downton Abbey’, ‘Ad Astra’ and ‘Rambo: Last Blood’. There’s a wide range of theatre and ballet live broadcasts too. See the full schedule online.

The West Side Cinema has three showings this month. See ‘The Boy Friend’ in the Hoy Kirk Heritage Centre on the 4^th. There are also screenings of ‘Woman At War’ and ‘Last Breath’ in Stromness Town Hall on the 5^th and 19^th. Find out more on Facebook.

If you’re keen to get out and about this autumn then we’d always recommend taking advantage of a guided tour of some of Orkney’s World Heritage Site locations. You can join the Ranger team at the Standing Stones of Stenness every Wednesday at 10am, and at the Ring of Brodgar every Thursday at 1pm. Both walks are free and there’s no need to book. Call 01856 841 732 or email orkneyrangers@hes.scot for more information.

That’s just a taste of events in Orkney during October. There’s always lots more happening around the islands – keep up to date with our events page, pick up a copy of local newspaper ‘The Orcadian’ every Thursday or tune into BBC Radio Orkney every weekday morning from 0730 on 93.7FM or on Facebook.

Wild Orkney

Autumn is a wonderful time to experience wildlife across Orkney. Join local nature cameraman and photographer Raymond Besant to find out more about some of the highlights available this month.

Everyone has a favourite beach, but with so many different ones to choose from, an absolute favourite can be hard to pick. October is the perfect time to get out and explore some new stretches of coastline; the weather has cooled and there’s a good chance the cobwebs will be well and truly blown away!

I could spend all day talking about the coast but I’ll stick to sandy beaches. The fourth barrier beach in South Ronaldsay is a popular choice and easily accessible. A fantastic dune system has built up here over the last three decades and when the wind is blowing hard, a stroll through the extensive marram grass down to the beach is a lovely way to start this walk. You're unlikely to have this beach to yourself though, so if you’re looking for something a little bigger head to Waulkmill in Orphir.

Waukmill has a good claim to be Orkney’s favourite beach. It’s certainly impressive in size at around 500-metres-wide and is slightly unusual in that it’s sheltered on either side by sloping moorland and 20-metre-high cliffs. Keep an eye out for stonechat and wren on the walk down the path through the heather. Fulmar cruise the cliffs and oystercatchers look for molluscs to feed on in the sandy ridges Beautiful pools form as the tide flows in over the sand bars. Something to look out for is the delicate-looking case of the sea-mouse or sea-potato – it’s fantastically detailed but very brittle and often hard to get home in one piece. When alive they are covered in bristles that help them move through the sand. Again, Waukmill is popular but big enough never to feel crowded.

If it’s solitude you want then head for the north isles. Grobust in Westray has a charm all of its own and has fossils for you to hunt, whilst Rothiesholm in Stronsay is widely accepted as being one of the best beaches in Orkney to look for more unusual shells.

There’s only one winner in my eyes though - Tresness in Sanday. Even choosing a beach in Sanday is like asking what your favourite chocolate is! Running down the east coast of the island is a dynamic sand dune system with an impressive mound at the end. This high ridge of sand and marram grass is forever changing - built up and often shifting in stormy weather. You can park your car on the main road and walk around Cata Sand, a massive intertidal sandy area. Don't be tempted to walk across the sands - although safe, it’s muddy in parts and you’re better off keeping to the edge until you reach the ridge. Here you have a choice, cut across and walk along the sea edge or continue along Cata Sand.

Cata Sand is heavily colonised by lugworms and so is a particularly good place to see wading birds like curlew and bar-tailed godwit, Large flocks of golden plover and knot can also be seen wheeling over the sands. Standing on the high dune promontory gives you an amazing vista of the turquoise waters looking out to the North Sea, one of the most stunning views in Orkney.

Orkney is a real migration hotspot; it’s often the place windblown rarities make their first landfall. Any bush or scrub is well worth a scan with your binoculars in the hope of finding a yellow-browed warbler or red-breasted flycatcher. But it’s the migrants that come here on purpose that I have more of an interest in.

Orkney’s greylag goose population and some of the problems they cause have been well-documented, but there is another species of goose that arrives in autumn and calls Orkney home for the winter - the barnacle goose. You may have already seen some barnacle geese in Orkney during September; these are likely to be birds from Svalbard and are just passing through on their way to over-winter on the Solway Firth.

Our birds however come from Greenland. The majority of that population head to Islay but around 1500 arrive in Orkney. They spend the vast majority of their time grazing the fields in South Walls. They really are a delight to look at with their stunning black and white plumage and slightly creamy-coloured faces.