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Orkney is famous for its landscape, its history, its culture and its wildlife. The Orkney Native Wildlife Project (ONWP) aims to safeguard the unique and internationally important native wildlife of Orkney and the benefits it provides for local people and the economy by addressing the threat it faces from an invasive non-native predator: the stoat.
Stoats were first reported in Orkney in 2010 and their presence threatens the Orkney vole, which is found nowhere else in the world, and many birds including hen harriers, short-eared owls, red-throated divers, waders and seabirds, many of which support Orkney’s thriving wildlife tourism industry. It is therefore essential to remove stoats from Orkney to prevent significant and long-term negative impacts on Orkney’s native wildlife and ensure future generations can continue to enjoy it.
This project is working with local communities and landowners to undertake the world’s largest stoat eradication operation on a mixture of privately and publicly owned land. Comprehensive biosecurity measures are being implemented and maintained during and beyond the lifetime of the project, to reduce the risk of reinvasion and to secure the long-term sustainability of the eradication. Education, training and interpretation activities are informing, enabling and encourage people to become involved in conserving wildlife on Orkney.
The project is a partnership between RSPB Scotland, NatureScot and Orkney Islands Council,
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