In October 2025 we removed 134 stoats from Orkney, 52 fewer than we did the same month last year.
This is a great sign! It shows that after the breeding season we have fewer stoats than in previous years.
Our Mop-Up Phase trial in East Mainland is leading the way in a change of focus for us. Soon, our Orkney-wide focus will shift to detecting and trapping the final stoats - which means we'll be moving away from watching a passive catch-rate fall year-on-year, and be putting more resources on targeted trapping.
Most of our stoats in October 2025 were caught in North-West Mainland. Folk in south-West Mainland reported the most stoat sightings. And most new traps were deployed across the South West Mainland.
Getting on the scent trail!
We always go on about how amazing our stoat detection dog team are. These fantastic four legged collegues and their handlers are experts at locating stoats throughout Orkney, but how on earth do they do it?
Liam and Reggie explain...
Rapid Reponse Volunteers
We have a brand new volunteering opportunity starting with the project! As we have moved further through the eradication it has become incredibly important that we begin to respond to each and every sighting reported to us. This started in East Mainland and the Linked Isles in 2025 with the launch of our Mop Up Phase Trial.
We are looking for individuals who would like to join our rapid response team and work alongside our trappers to respond to public sightings deploying rapid responses when stoats have been sighted. If you are interested and would like to learn more then just click here!
Sightings!
As we head into winter our work doesnt stop! Winter is a key time on the project where we are working to track down female stoats before they have a chance to breed next year, and you all play a key role in that. Have a watch of our next video to remind yourself of all the ways you can report your stoat sightings!
