A Walk at Brodgar
Starting at the new car park on the east side of the road to the north of the Ring of Brodgar, take the wooden boardwalk that leads towards the road crossing and into the Historic Scotland compound in which the Ring itself stands. By all means, explore the Ring itself but you’ve probably done that lots of times before – instead, I’m going to take you a little further afield!
Head west towards the isolated mound, Salt Knowe, in the north western corner of the compound before finding, a little further to the south, a track between two fences that leads you towards the Loch of Stenness. If you are in the vicinity of the Ring in high summer, you can’t fail but notice the abundance of flowers. This species-rich grassland has been greatly enhanced in recent years by Historic Scotland’s policy of mowing followed by removal of the cuttings, a practice that gradually reduces the nutrient status of the ground and allows beautiful flowering herbs like Cat’s-ear to out-compete aggressive grasses such as Cock’s-foot.
The loch is tidal, being connected to
In places along this part of the walk, you will notice piles of old grass bales from which nettles are sprouting vigorously. This is not just untidy farming! This is a deliberately created habitat to try to attract back Corncrakes. This type of ‘early cover’ is what Corncrakes require when they arrive back from In winter, you may also notice a field or two of crops such as Mustard or Rape or Radish. These have been planted along with other species to provide food for small seed-eating birds during the winter and are working really well in this regard. A mixed flock of up to 150 Linnets and Twites together with Reed Buntings usually utilise this food supply while a small party of Snow Buntings may also be present. If you are there in summer and this bird crop is close to the walk, take a closer look at just what plants are there. Ploughing areas like this that often haven’t been ploughed for 20 years or more, awakens dormant seeds and can produce a magnificent array of flowering arable ‘weeds’ such as Heart’s-ease Pansy, Field Pansy and several species of fumitory including the nationally scarce Purple Ramping Fumitory.
Following the loch-side path eventually brings you back to the Brodgar road just north of Brodgar House. From here, the path turns back northwards with the road between you and the Harray Loch. This loch is fresh rather than brackish and although it holds many of the same wintering wildfowl species as Stenness, it is particularly favoured by another diving duck, the Tufted Duck and its close relative, the Pochard. In summer, Fulmars will be gliding on stiff, straight wings along the loch shore while, a little to the north, the offshore islands in the loch hold a large colony of Black-headed Gulls with, sometimes, small numbers of Arctic Terns and Common Terns alongside them.