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Mainland ToursMainland West. We concentrate this tour along the western seaboard, calling at Yesnaby, Marwick Head and Brough Head for the endemic Scottish primrose, broughs and seabirds. Two RSPB reserves offer opportunities to see and hear breeding wildfowl, red-throated divers and short-eared owl. No trip to Orkney is complete without a visit to the stunning 5,000 year old stone age village of Skara Brae, and this tour provides the opportunity to visit this spectacular site.
Mainland South and East. This mainland tour looks at the wildlife and history of Scapa Flow and its surrounding nature reserves. Its importance in naval history is marked by the eerie display of old boats wrecked to prevent entry to the fine natural harbour in the second World War. Early in the season long-tailed duck and great-northern divers are resplendent in their breeding plumage. Later, breeding puffins adorn the cliffs at the Brough of Deerness, a wild spot reached only by a narrow ledge. The nearby sea cave of the Gloup is a spectacular chasm won from the sea. Another much-loved Orkney feature we visit is the baroque Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm, built by prisoners of war working on the Churchill Barriers.
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