Letter From Orkney - A Tale of History (ancient & modern), Natural History & Green Energy

Letter From Orkney

Orkney is a must-go destination for lovers of outstanding scenery, history, and wildlife. Orkney's Neolithic Heart includes the stunning Stones of Stenness, leading via a narrow isthmus to the Ring of Brodgar. The 5000 year old Maeshowe tomb predates the Great Pyramid. We will never know what rituals, were carried out here; or why the tomb fell in to disuse after 500 years. Remains of later immigrants can be found everywhere, with Pictish and Norse settlements, brochs and ruins throughout the archipelago. If you want something different then descend into Rennibister earth-house, or crawl into Cuween chambered cairn. Give yourself time to visit more than just the Mainland Island, Hoy's Dwarfie Stane, and Roussey's Midhowe are only a short ferry ride away.

For military historians, a visit to Scapa Flow is essential. Known as a safe haven for King Haokon's Viking fleet in the 13th Century, its strategic use comes down to the 20^thC as the base for the WW1 Fleet of 24 battleships and 3 battlecruisers who sailed to the Battle of Jutland in 1916. WWII saw the Home Fleet based at Scapa Flow, where it played a major role in protecting the Arctic Convoys to our Russian allies in Murmansk. The sinking of HMS Royal Oak, with the loss 833 men, led to the creation of the Churchill Barriers by Italian POWs. All that is left today of their prison camp is the outstanding Italian Chapel, decorated by Domenico Chiocchetti. Restored in the 1960's it is hard to believe that it is built from 2 Nissen huts, drift wood, scrap and cast concrete.

For us the highlight was the bird life. We had the fortune to be taken on a walk by Tim Dean, author of the authoritative “Birds of Orkney”. First stopping off to see an example of the rare Primula Scotia, we visited a number of superb sites along the Mainland's West Coast. There are a wide range of sea and coastal birds, too many to list but including fulmars, guillemots, razorbills, puffins, oyster catchers and curlews; all ever vigilant for cruising skuas. The coastal scenery is superb too, with a number of long distance footpaths not always shown on OS maps.
What is not apparent is the dramatic fall in nesting bird populations, which scientific studies have linked to a substantial fall in sand-eel and other fish stocks. The cause is not overfishing, as determined by the Scottish Fisheries Research Services which found little change in the fish population despite a trial 2-year closure of a Shetland fishery. The sad conclusion is that climate change is now delivering major environmental impacts, altering the scale and timing of sand-eel availability, such that insufficient stocks are present during key nesting periods. The Scottish Government's innovative Marine Protection Zones, intended to protect both nesting colonies and their feeding areas will make a +ve impact, and are a policy that the rest of the UK can learn from.
Orcadians are also making a major contribution to combatting climate change. Wind turbines, solar panels and ground-source heat pumps are widely deployed; on their best days Orkney exports electricity to the Scottish mainland. The technological gem will be the harnessing of tidal power, a field in which Orkney leads the world. Latest estimates are that 85% of Orkney's power will be home-grown this year, and soon the island could be self-sufficient with clean, low-cost renewable energy. A testimony to the ethos of self-reliance to found here. The UK can learn a lot from Orkney, who have demonstrated that green energy can replace Russian Gas, Middle East Oil and imported Uranium.