Orcadians to help shape wildlife project

A lottery-funded project set up to protect Orkney’s native wildlife from invasive non-native stoats is encouraging the community to get involved and help shape the development of future work.

The Orkney Native Wildlife Project has launched a community consultation today (23 November) to gather the thoughts and ideas of Orkney’s residents and invite people to give their views on a range of proposed opportunities for people to engage with the project, including wildlife surveys, workshops, family events, evening talks and cultural events.

Amy King, the Project Development Officer, hopes the consultation will also encourage Orcadians to find out more about the project and why Orkney’s incredible native wildlife needs protecting. During the consultation Amy and the project team will be travelling around the islands talking to local community groups and holding a range of public events.

Amy said: “We all need to work together if we are going to successfully safeguard Orkney’s fantastic native wildlife and so I am really keen to hear if people have additional ideas that we might add to the project plan. We also want to hear people’s thoughts on the activities we are developing as part of the project to give as many folk as possible the chance to get involved.”

The Orkney Native Wildlife Project is a partnership between Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and RSPB Scotland, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project aims to ensure that Orkney’s native wildlife is protected from the impact of invasive non-native stoats and continues to provide benefits for the islands’ residents, visitors and economy.

Orkney is an important place for wildlife. Although it accounts for less than 0.5% of the UK’s landmass, Orkney is nationally and internationally important for a range of species. For example, the islands are home to more than a fifth of the UK’s breeding hen harriers and a third of the UK’s breeding Arctic terns. They also have the highest densities of breeding curlews in the UK.

However, stoats pose a significant threat to many of Orkney’s native species, including the hen harrier, short-eared owl and the unique Orkney vole.

Development funding of £64,600 was awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to help the partnership progress plans for an ambitious stoat eradication project before applying for a full grant of more than £3 million in early 2018.

Community groups that would like to receive a talk from the Orkney Native Wildlife Project team, or find out more about the project, should get in touch with Amy King on 01856 886 161 or amy.king@snh.gov.uk. The consultation runs until February 2018 and the questionnaire is available online at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/C8662JK as well as at various locations across Orkney.

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