Orkney and Shetland trip planning (3 Viewers)

[Mendobirder]

Okay, having changed our minds about where to go... we are looking at a trip to Orkney and Shetland starting mid-May and lasting two to three weeks. My main question right now is, how many days would you allocate for each area? It looks to me like one can easily use up a week or more in either place, especially if you lose a day or two to weather.
A second question is whether it will work to stay in one spot on each and explore from there. We definitely will want to island-hop in both places.

 

[Phil Andrews]

In terms of the second part it will depend to a degree on your preferred accommodation solution (and your desire to drive) - easier to move around if using B+Bs rather than self catering. If you are staying in say south Mainland on Shetland it would be upwards of 3 hours travel up to the cliffs at Hermaness for example.

 

[earthdragon64]

Most self-catering units at that time of year tend to be for 7 nights, so hotels or B&Bs would give more flexibility. Having said that, I stayed on Orkney Mainland for a week last June and easily could have spent another week there. I stayed in a holiday chalet near Dounby, which is close to 5 or 6 RSPB reserves and also central for most of the best archaeological sites as well including Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness, Maes Howe and a few more. It's also quite handy for a day-trip ferry to Hoy which has nesting White-tailed Eagle and a fantastic walk out to the coast near the Old Man of Hoy. You can also easily do day trips out to some of the other Orkney Islands as well. I've not been to Shetland so can't help with that.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

The planning will perhaps depend on what you want to see and what type of birding you want to do. Birders tend to visit the Northern Isles to do two kinds of birding: looking for seabirds/ breeding birds and looking for migrants and rarities. At the time of year you're visiting, you can productively do both. Indeed, if you visit Fair Isle and various other places, it will be good for both.

One thing it would be good to do is the trip to the broch on Mousa to see European Storm Petrels. It would be best to base yourself in the south Mainland of Shetland for that.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

More moons ago than I care to recall, I did a three week summer trip to Shetland, spending a week based on Unst, another on Mainland based in Lerwick, and a memorable week on Foula. Certainly was not bored at all.

 

[delia todd]

Shetland:

Fair Isle would be lovely for a few days, unfortunately the Bird Observatory cannot take visitors due to fire damage; accommodation there is limited so early booking advised. The Good Shepherd doesn't sail every day, so need to manage the dates round that (hope you're good sailors it can get very rough), unless you fly from Sumburgh.

It takes a long time to go from the south of the chain to the north, so a two base B&B would probably be best, there's loads of B&Bs throughout the islands.

Others have mentioned Hermaness and Mousa. I'd add the Jaarvick Centre and Fetlar as shouldn't be missed.

I've not been to Orkney, but would love to go. I'm not sure how many days you'd "need" for there, so suggesting you split your 3 weeks in half for each. Still won't be long enough for either though LOL

 

[JTweedie]

If you're going to be there for two or three weeks then joining a trip run by someone like Shetland Wildlife might be worth it as they'll take you to all the key sites over a week and after that you could make your own way around once they've given you a good idea of the best places to go.

To add to the other suggestions:

From Lerwick you can take a boat trip out around the island of Noss which is good fun. Fetlar has Red-necked Phalaropes. If you're interested in botany then a trip to Keen of Hamar would be good for seeing some endemic species plus orchids. You'll have really long hours of daylight too so lots of time to spend outside. Otters just about anywhere around the coast. Killer Whales seen fairly frequently enough too. You can stand on the same geological fault as runs through Loch Ness further south in mainland Scotland. The UK's largest active sand tomobolo at St Ninian's Isle where you'll have the sea on either side of you.

 

[Mendobirder]

Logistics are making this look difficult, so I think this year we are going to the Western Isles instead. We will keep working to figure out how to make a trip to Orkney and Shetland work for us and try again next year I think. So many great things to see up there! The Noss boat tours sound amazing, especially the early-morning trips. And the Mousa Broch for Stormys would be awesome; those would be lifers for me.