September 2019 Newsletter

September's headlines

Foraging Fortnight comes to Orkney

A brand-new festival comes to the islands this month. Foraging Fortnight is taking place across five different regions of Scotland in September, and the local element will be included as part of the annual Orkney International Science Festival. In Orkney, the programme includes foraging walks, food workshops and a look at the health and nutrition benefits of seaweed, with events planned until the 15^th of September. Find out more via Orkney.com.

HBO documentary on the silver screen

A major documentary on climate change, featuring Orkney’s pioneering marine energy work, will be shown in the islands for the first time this month. HBO’s ‘Ice on Fire’, which was produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, includes Orkney’s Orbital Marine Power and the European Marine Energy Centre. It will be shown in Kirkwall on September 6 and in Stromness the following evening. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Skara Brae is unmissable!

Skara Brae has always been one of Orkney's most popular attractions, now this ancient collection of stone-age dwellings could be set to attract a whole new generation of visitors, thanks to Lonely Planet. Orkney's Neolithic village is included in the travel guidebook brand’s new ultimate UK travel hitlist, which features 500 of the most unmissable experiences and hidden gems in the UK. Skara Brae has reached the lofty heights of 22^nd on the list. Scapa Flow and its unique WWI wreck-diving has also made the cut, coming in at 312th.

New guide to Orkney’s finest food

The latest version of the ‘Peedie Orkney Foodies Guide’ is out now, full of information on the finest producers, restaurants and retailers to be found in the islands. The pocket-sized booklet features a number of Orkney Food & Drink members and highlights the incredible range of quality products available here. There are also sections showcasing the hotels, cafes, restaurants, shops and delicatessens where you can sample Orkney’s larder for yourself. Pick up your booklet at locations throughout Orkney, or download one from the Orkney Food & Drink website.

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.

September in Orkney

The main months of the summer might be over but the Orkney calendar is still full of interesting activities.

In fact, September brings some of our most popular events. Things get underway with a blast right at the beginning of the month with the annual Orkney Rock Festival. Although it begins in August, you can still enjoy a whole day of live music on the 1^st, with gigs in Helgi's, The Sound Archive and The Auld Motorhoose in Kirkwall. See the Orkney Live Wire Facebook page for more information.

Things return to a slightly more sedate pace with the Orkney International Science Festival. One of the main fixtures on the annual island schedule, the festival always features a unique programme, full of talks, workshops and hands-on events. Exploration, wildlife and adventure will be at the heart of things this time around, with it all taking place between the 5^th and 11^th of September. Visit the official website for ticket information.

Don’t miss the Orkney Vintage Club Rally on the 7^th. Kirkwall’s Broad Street will be full of vintage cars, motorbikes, tractors and stationary engines as part of the festival, with some of Orkney Food & Drink’s members offering street food on the day too. Head along between 1pm and 4pm. As you read in the news, Foraging Fortnight will also make up part of the Science Festival programme. There are some really fascinating events planned so make sure you check out the official website to get involved.

The festival-fun doesn’t end there, though. The Orkney Blues Festival is back this September, with its usual weekend of live music between the 27^th and 29^th. Held in and around the bars and venues of Stromness, this year’s programme includes performances from Gregg Wright, Dave Arcari and First Foot Soldiers. Visit the festival’s website for more details.

Back to the start of the month now, and one of the summer’s most special activities comes to an end on the 1^st. RSPB Orkney’s Eaglewatch in Hoy will host its last day, offering a final chance to glimpse the island’s white-tailed eagles and their new chick, which fledged in August. There are scopes available to see them and plenty of expert information available too. Stop off at the Dwarfie Stone car park between 11am and 4pm.

There’s another unique event on the 1st, this time in Westray. The island will host an open-air concert as part of its Westray Connections weekend, featuring live music from the Kirkwall City Pipe Band and plenty of other local acts. Take in the action at the school playing fields in Pierowall from 1pm.

The Orkney Aviation Festival gives fans of flight the chance to take part in a number of activities this month. There’s an illustrated talk in the King Street Halls on the 12^th on Faroe Airways, Orkney’s first scheduled international air service. The festival also has a showing of ‘Airplane II: The Sequel’ at the Picky Centre at 7.30pm on the 13^th, and another talk, titled ‘The First Flight Around the World – via Orphir’ in the King Street Halls on the 14^th.

Doors Open Day returns this month, and in Orkney you can get the chance to visit some special locations on the 21^st and 22^nd. Stromness Museum, Deerness Distillery, Orkney Wireless Museum and the Orkney Fossil & Heritage Centre will be open on both days, with Kirkwall East Church, BBC Radio Orkney and the Orkney Museum welcoming visitors on the 21^st. Find out more via the official website.

If you want to explore Orkney’s Neolithic sites this September then guided walks are still available. The Rangers will be on hand at the Ring of Brodgar every weekday at 1pm until the 13^th. From then, the tours will be available every Thursday at 1pm. You can also join the Rangers at the Standing Stones of Stenness every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10am until the 13^th. The walks will then be on offer every Wednesday at 10am.

There’s plenty to see at the cinema this month. The West Side Cinema in Stromness has ‘Ash is Purest White’ on the 21^st at 7.45pm in the local Town Hall, with doors opening at 7.15pm. Meanwhile, the Pickaquoy Centre has showings of ‘Fast & Furious: Hobbs and Shaw’, ‘Blinded by the Light’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’, amongst others, this month. See the full schedule on the Centre’s website.

The Pier Arts Centre is hosting ‘Beyond Landscape’ until the 9^th of November. It also has ‘Then Now When’, a collection of items focusing on the life and legacy of Margaret Gardiner, on show. The Loft Gallery in St Margaret’s Hope has ‘Holm Sweet Holm’ by Guiliana Criscuolo until the 21st. Meanwhile the Waterfront Gallery in Stromness is showing ‘An Orkney Mix’ until the 28^th. You can also see ‘Shoreline Birds’, an exhibition by Adele Pound, at the Beach Gallery in Hoy until the end of the month.

The Beach Gallery in Hoy also has ‘Fire and Ice: A Winter on North Ronaldsay’, a collection of photographs from Sue Mara, documenting her six-month stay in the island. It's on display until the 11th.

You can still see ‘Scapa 100 – Salvaging our Heritage: The Wrecks of Scapa Flow’ and ‘Living Wrecks: The Marine Life of Scapa Flow’ at Stromness Museum this month. The Orkney Museum’s ‘1919 – The Scuttling of the German Fleet’ is on display in September too.

That’s just a taste of events in Orkney during September. 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

Join local wildlife cameraman and photographer Raymond Besant as he picks out some of his favourite 'Wild Orkney' highlights in September.

Most of the seabirds visiting our cliffs in order to breed like puffins and razorbills have long since gone back to sea for the winter. However, one of our most impressive seabirds - and a real success story - can still be seen through September, as the last of this year’s ‘chicks’ are fledged. I say chicks, but by the time this year’s gannets leave the nest, they are as big as the adults!

Young gannets are dark brown and gradually, over five or six years, they take on the white plumage and stunning yellow head of the adults. You’ll need to visit the impressive cliffs of Noup Head in Westray to see the last of this year’s seabird spectaculars. Park at the Lighthouse (taking notice of the sign that says ‘Dangerous Cliffs’!) and head south until you reach a small headland of black rocks that allows you to look back along the length of the cliffs for some fantastic views.

This is a relatively new colony that started in 2003 but is now booming with over 1100 nests. The ‘guurrr-guurr-guurr’ call of hundreds of gannets above the crashing waves at this site is truly special. Look out for bonxies harassing the adults as they return to the cliffs to feed their chick, and the ever-present fulmars will check you out as you walk along the clifftop.

Luckily, gannets can also be seen along our coasts in smaller numbers during and autumn and winter. There are not many more impressive sights than one of these powerful birds falling from the sky, folding its wings at the last second and plunging into the sea in pursuit of prey. I love watching them on stormy days, in their brilliant white plumage they really stand out against the dark skies and raging seas. Head to the Brough of Birsay car park, Marwick Bay, Yesnaby and Hoxa Head in South Ronaldsay for sightings.

September is a month where our summer migrants are thinking about heading back to their winter haunts. One of my favourites is the wheatear. This small passerine is such a welcome sight as one of the first spring arrivals of the year, so it’s slightly bittersweet seeing them leave again, knowing the onset of winter isn't too far away.

They seem to like broken down old dykes or ramshackle bits of coastline and maritime heath, but at this time of year you can encounter them almost anywhere, sometimes flitting along the road in front of you on a coastal walk. The flash of its bright white rump is a tell-tale sign it’s a wheatear. The females lack the black ‘robbers mask’ that the male has but she is beautiful none the less, with a soft grey back and delicate peach breast.

Of course, many of the wheatears seen now are migrants from further north, passing through Orkney on their way back to Africa. But for those of you with a keen eye, just look a little longer. You may be lucky to see a Greenland wheatear. At first glance it will look similar to our ‘ordinary’ wheatear, but the birds that breed in Iceland and Greenland are slightly bigger and have stronger, more uniformed colour. It’s almost like taking a picture of our wheatear and turning the vibrance and saturation all the way to max in Photoshop!

One of the most thrilling wildlife encounters in Orkney is spotting an otter. Elusive at the best of times, the trick when you find one is to use some fieldcraft to follow it for better views, or to get close enough to photograph it. September and October will see the appearance of new otter families in Orkney, the female having kept new cubs below the surface in safe holts during the summer months.

Luckily for us, the mum will now have two or maybe three new hungry mouths to feed and needs to be out fishing a lot more to provide for them. The cubs are also less wary, often intent on playing and less aware of the dangers of their surroundings. Otters are widespread in Orkney and found in most of the islands as well as the mainland. They require freshwater to clean their fur on a daily basis so its relatively easy to find signs of their presence if you know where to look. Burn mouths are often good places to start - look at the rocks on the shore next to the burn and the likelihood is you’ll find an otter’s calling card; its poo, or spraint, as it’s known. Full of fish bones and often tarry or jelly like in appearance, this lets other otters know this is its territory.

If an otter sees you before you see it, don’t worry as all is not lost. Stay still, preferably below the horizon, and just watch. If it carries on feeding then you’re good to start again. Its eyesight isn't the best but it has an incredible sense of smell and this will give you away if the wind is behind you. Try to get into a position where you can follow the otter with the wind in your face, which is easier said than done sometimes. The holy grail is to get into position on the shore whilst the otter is coming ashore with a fish, all the while trying to remaining undetected!

The adrenaline can peak and the encounter can be an exciting one, but try not to be tempted to chase or keep following the otter if you have been well and truly discovered!

The Brig O’Waithe is often productive, as is the Barn Hide on the Harray loch near the Standing Stones of Stenness. Otters are also regularly seen in the islands of Stronsay, Sanday and Eday.

Find out more about Raymond’s work via his official website. You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Focus on photography

September’s featured photographer is Carol Leslie, who spends much of her time focusing her lens around one of Orkney’s north isles.

My interest in photography grew after my first son was born in 2009. I bought a Lumix FZ45 bridge camera and started taking photos, mainly of my children and Orkney's landscapes and seascapes to begin with. My first DSLR was a Canon EOS 700D, quickly followed by a Nikon D750. I also started investing in lenses - my favourite is my 28-300mm, which is great for close-ups and zooming in without changing lenses.