section heading hidden

Why Orkney's Cliffs Come Alive in Late Spring

Between April and August, Orkney's coastline turns into one of the busiest neighbourhoods in Britain. The red sandstone cliffs that face the Atlantic and the North Sea hold tens of thousands of breeding seabirds, and on a breezy June evening you can stand on a headland and watch guillemots pouring off the ledges, fulmars gliding past at eye level, and puffins whirring in low over the sea with their beaks full of sand eels.

What makes Orkney special is the scale and the access. Nowhere else in the UK can you watch so many species from public paths, without a boat and without a long expedition. But it is also fragile. Seabirds here are nesting, not performing, and a little knowledge goes a long way towards making sure your visit does no harm.

Where to Watch Puffins

Puffins are the bird most visitors come to see, and Orkney does not disappoint — though they are never as numerous here as on Shetland or the Farne Islands. Look for them in borrows on grassy slopes at the top of low cliffs, often just a few metres from a footpath.

• The Brough of Birsay — a tidal island on the west Mainland, reached by a causeway that is only walkable for a few hours each side of low tide. Puffins nest close to the path on the slopes below the lighthouse.
• Marwick Head — dramatic cliffs best known for guillemots and kittiwakes, with fulmars patrolling the updraughts. A few puffins can be seen below the path, especially in June.
• Yesnaby — easily reached from Stromness, with puffins, guillemots and razorbills on the cliffs, and wonderful evening light.
• Noup Head, Westray — one of the great seabird cities of the north, with huge numbers of guillemots and razorbills packed onto the ledges in early summer.
• Hoy — the west coast around Rackwick and the cliffs towards St John's Head offer puffins, great skuas and Arctic terns, though the walk in is a serious one.

Timing Your Visit

Puffins usually come ashore in early April and leave again by mid-August, with the best sightings from mid-June to mid-July when adults are feeding young. Guillemots peak in May and June, and the chicks jump from the ledges — fluttering down to the sea with the fathers calling them from below — in late June and early July. Razorbills follow a similar pattern.

Time of day matters more than most people expect. Early morning and the two hours before sunset are calmest and quietest, both for birds and for photographers. Midday has flatter light and more visitors. Wind is the real deciding factor: a stiff onshore breeze pins birds to the cliff and gives you magnificent close passes, while a flat calm day is quieter and hazier.

Reading the Colony

A little identification makes everything more enjoyable. Guillemots are chocolate brown with a slim, pointed bill and stand shoulder-to-shoulder on bare ledges. Razorbills are blacker, with a blunt, striped bill, and nest in crevices. The black guillemot, common in Orkney's harbours and inlets, is a neat black-and-white bird with bright red feet and a high whistled call.

Add fulmars, grey and stiff-winged and famously willing to spit oil at intruders; kittiwakes calling their own name from tiny nest ledges; shags with their messy crests; and, offshore, gannets folding into the sea like white darts. Around the tern colonies, watch for great skuas, or bonxies, harrying other birds until they drop their catch. It is a spectacle, and a slightly brutal one.

Watching Without Disturbing

Disturbance is the single biggest risk to a colony. A bird flushed from a nest ledge exposes eggs to gulls and crows, and in cold, wet weather it can cost a chick its life.

• Stay on established paths and keep well back from cliff edges. Do not walk across the grassy tops of cliffs where puffins burrow.
• Keep your distance. If a bird stops what it is doing and stares at you, or takes flight, you are too close. Back away slowly.
• Keep dogs on a short lead near colonies, and away from the cliff altogether. Even a well-behaved dog is a predator as far as a nesting bird is concerned.
• Never fly a drone near seabird colonies. It is illegal without a licence and it causes real panic, particularly among terns and skuas.
• Skip the recordings. Playing bird calls to draw birds in causes stress and can pull adults away from hungry chicks.
• Keep low and quiet at viewpoints, especially at headlands where your silhouette against the sky looks like a threat.

Practicalities: Weather, Gear and Getting There

Orkney weather changes fast, and the cliffs are exposed even on a fine day. Bring waterproofs, warm layers, a hat you can tie on, and sturdy boots — the grass paths are often wet and the ground undercut. Binoculars of 8x40 or 8x42 are ideal; a telescope is a bonus for raft counts offshore.

Treat the coast with respect. Sandstone crumbles, and the grassy edge of a cliff can overhang an empty space below. Never lie down to peer over, and never test a crumbling edge. Check tide times locally before crossing to the Brough of Birsay, and leave yourself plenty of margin. Mobile signal is patchy on the west coast, so tell someone your plan.

Making a Base for Birding Days

Stromness makes an excellent base for the west Mainland cliffs at Marwick, Yesnaby and Birsay, while Kirkwall is handier for the north isles ferries to Westray and Stronsay. A guest house base takes the sting out of changeable weather: you can head out in the morning, dry your boots over a radiator at lunchtime, and go back out for the golden evening light.

Pack a flask and a bit of patience, ask locally which cliffs are holding birds this week, and let the weather set your plans rather than the other way round. Orkney's seabirds have been part of this coastline for thousands of years. Seen quietly, from a respectful distance, they are one of the finest sights in the British Isles.