Orkney Archipelago is made up of seventy islands, twenty of which are inhabited by 22,400 people who are mainly farmers. It is a great place to visit as Roger demonstrated with his beautiful photographs. It has been occupied since Neolithic times, up to five thousand years ago and there are preserved places to show this. There is the Neolithic village of Skara Brae which was uncovered in a storm which blew all the sand away. There is the Ring of Brodgar, the third largest stone circle in Britain, built around 2,500 – 2000 BC. There are the Standing Stones of Stenness which are four of an original twelve, huge stones forming a circle and nearby is the Barnhouse
Settlement, a neolithic site uncovered in 1984. The Ness of Brodgar is a complex of monumental neolithic buildings on a strip of land between two lochs. It was discovered in 2003 but this year is the final year of excavation and so the last year when the site will be able to be seen. At the end of the season it will be returned to being a green field to protect it for future generations, although the analysis of what was found will still be taking place and information will be available online.
There are approximately one hundred islands making up the Shetland Archipelago, fifteen of which are inhabited. Shetland, the main island is very different to Orkney as it is a bleak, treeless landscape. There are lots of physical remains of prehistoric eras on the various islands including the Mousa Broch. Brochs are a kind of Iron Age Roundhouse found only in Scotland.
Roger enjoys taking photographs of the wildlife which included little terns and razorbills. There were pictures of the guillemot and kittiwake colonies nesting on cliff edges. A favourite bird is the puffin which can be found nesting on grassy cliffs. There were pictures of shelducks with their dark green heads and red bill. They are known for nesting underground in rabbit holes. My favourite photo was of a gannet in flight but another photo showed the pieces of blue fishing net where the gannets were nesting on the cliffs. This highlighted the effects of marine pollution as some of the young birds can become tangled in the netting and it leads to their death. There was even a photograph of a Risso's Dolphin. These are predominately a deep water dolphins but occasionally one appears near the coast where Roger was able to capture it on camera.
Roger's final comment was to talk about the results of avian
or bird flu which had ripped through the various seabird colonies, killing tens of thousands of birds. Seabirds nesting on the cliff are particularly vulnerable to catching bird flu as they are in such close proximity to each other. In 2023 however, there was only one case detected in Shetland so maybe there is hope that the birds are starting to recover from the outbreak.
It was an enjoyable evening and Roger’s photographs of Orkney and Shetland were amazing!
Our next meeting is on 19th March. The speaker is Frederick
Barratt and he is talking about the Montgomery Canal
restoration. We start at 7.30 p.m. at the Millennium Hall. It is £3 per month and includes refreshments, a quiz and a free raffle ticket.
Mary Cowell (Gardening Club Secretary)