north ronaldsay & mainland orkney

Sat 13 Sept - Fri 19 Sept 2008

Price £845 pp. Single supplement £75. Deposit £100pp.
Great value price includes transfer between Nethybridge and Orkney and flights between Orkney and North Ronaldsay.
Maximum ten guests plus leader from our resident team.

Only 29 miles from Fair Isle, North Ronaldsay is a wonderful migration hotspot, overlooked and under-explored! Few birders venture this far in the UK, and the holiday combines peace and quiet and a strong sense of exploration, with first rate birding. Once you get over the thrill of your 8-seat Islander Plane journey, your welcome at North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory will be warm, and accommodation comfortable. In good weather, regular species include Richard’s Pipit, Wryneck, Bluethroat, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Icterine Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Ortolan Bunting, Lapland Bunting, Little Bunting and Common Rosefinch. This is also prime time for some extremely rare birds, such as Great Snipe, American Golden Plover, Citrine Wagtail, Pechora Pipit, Radde’s Warbler, Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler, Arctic Warbler, Yellow-breasted Bunting, Rustic Bunting and Arctic Redpoll. Sea-watching can be exceptional, with skuas, petrels and shearwaters all possible. Whilst there is no guarantee of any particular species, North Ronaldsay is always surprising and very rewarding.

We also enjoy birding around Orkney, visiting spots where anything can happen! We visit the impressive standing stones at the Ring of Brodgar, stop at the delightful Italian Chapel and make time for an optional visit to Scara Brae, Europe’s oldest known settlement.

A completely different birding holiday and a cost effective alternative to Fair Isle and the Scillies, North Ronaldsay is easy to reach with Heatherlea. Comfortable en-suite accommodation throughout.

SEPTEMBER 2006
Blyth's Reed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Little Bunting, Jack Snipe, Sooty Shearwater, Barred Warbler and Pied Flycatcher were all enjoyed in 2006, as well as numerous Hen Harriers on Mainland Orkney, and petrels, skuas, shearwaters and hundreds of Harbour Porpoises on the ferry crossing! A fantastic adventure to the mystical north!

September 2005

American Golden Plover, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Barred Warbler, Lapland Bunting, 'Greenland' Redpoll - all on N Ron w/c 19 September - what a trip for your British birdlist! Seawatching and our ferry crossings produced Sooty and Manx Shearwater, Leach's and Storm Petrel, Great Skua, Curlew Sandpiper and Iceland Gull. Heatherlea Guide John Poyner and our guests saw all of these, it could be you!

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Please note: all itineraries are given as a guide only. Actual holiday content may vary according to the judgement of your guide, and elements beyond our control (eg weather).