Natural Orkney
Orkney is important. Not just as a remarkable archaeological testament to the history of mankind covering the last 5500 years but as a living breathing environment which has mercifully avoided much of the gross despoliation and the widespread pollution common in the developed world. Is it safe ?
Well, probably. But not certainly. This position is not due to profound care or consideration by the inhabitants, but rather due to the relative obscurity, poverty and isolation that the Islands experienced until the recent past.
Poverty and obscurity has been gradually replaced over the last 40 years until today we have a vibrant local economy which is driven increasingly by tourism, not farming.
Isolation has all but disappeared with modern transportation. The brave new world is now here. Fortunately for the environment it has arrived a few steps behind one of the few genuinely positive policies to be implemented by the somewhat tarnished European Ideal, the widespread enforcement of Environmental and Habitat Law.
This Law often conflics with the wishes of developers throughout Scotland, including the Scottish Executive. It is almost certainly the main cause behind slowing the process of both the Isle of Lewis Industrialisation and Donald Trumps Golf Business in Aberdeenshire. The domestic guardians of the legislation, SNH are regularly put into a curious position of conflict with their own employers.
Orkney has such a density of European designated Special Protected Areas and Special Areas of Conservation that allied with RSPB reserves and landownership and combined with the National Scenic Area Designation of the Hoy Sound, the local Nature Reserve of Mull Head and the equally significant distribution of archaeological sites, that it is de facto a National Park. It should be formally designated as such.
The selection of the “Heart of Neolithic Orkney,” World Heritage Site in 2000 was a step in this direction. In addition to the designation covering Skara Brae, Maes Howe and the Standing Stones both the enigmatic site of Minehowe and stunning if little visited area known as the “Egypt of the North” (the Westerness Walk) on Rousay are clearly of equal merit.
Other well known sites might also be fully justified for inclusion, and it would not be a long shot to suggest that entirely unknown sites will come to light in the future which will also gain such international merit. It is difficult to identify exactly how much of Orkney is designated (and protected) as of Archeological importance but it is certainly of greater density than any other part of the UK.
Environmentally it is easier to be precise. Three of the large Islands, Hoy, Rousay and Sanday either have over 70% of their land area formerly designated (Hoy and Rousay) or are of such significance as to be entirely unique (Sanday). A wide range of uninhabited Islands are fully protected, and the others might as well be.
What would be the point of National Park status ? In simple terms it would remove from local developers the ability to try and work around various levels of protected status and push the boundaries as far as possible by downplaying the significance of their actions and the actual importance of Orkneys natural environment.
This is not idle conjecture, such commercial pressure is happening all the time, at both small and large scale levels and is often well supported by locally elected representatives and local media.
By providing the inclusive nature of protection offered by National Park regulation the wider environment would be unequivocally placed first in all decision making.
This is certainly not the case at present. The abject abrogation of responsibility and failure to properly consider evidence concerning the Gruf Hill, Enyas Hill and just recently Merren Blo wind turbine applications is more than ample evidence of the failure of leadership evident within the council.
The increasingly mindless and architecturally utterly barren construction of block built boxes like a random blight on the landscape is further all to real evidence of a total lack of vision. The feverish expansion of Kirkwall into just another ugly modern British townscape removes any claim to be guardians of heritage or protectors of the environment.
Sites which are currently designated because of their nature conservation importance are identified on this GoogleMap.
International sites are those with protection under European law - Special Protection Areas (SPAs) designated under the EC Wild Birds Directive and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) designated under the EC Habitats Directive; together with Ramsar sites, designated under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.
SPAs and SACs taken together are commonly known as Natura 2000 sites. There are currently 13 SPAs, 6 Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and I Ramsar site in Orkney.
These International sites incoporate most of the National Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). There are 36 designated SSSIs in Orkney with a total land area of 23,644ha, representing 2.42% of the land area of the County. These range from the very small such as Denwick SSSI at 0.5 ha to extensive sites such as Hoy SSSI at 9,500ha.
More than 230 further sites have been identified as being of local importance to wildlife or to exhibit features of local natural heritage interest. While national and international sites represent the “best” of Orkney’s environment, these tertiary sites contribute to the diversity of sites which makes Orkney so important for nature conservation.
Natural wildlife heritage is not confined to the primary statutorily designated sites but is found throughout the countryside. Statutory and non-statutory sites, together with countryside features which provide wildlife corridors, links or stepping stones from one habitat to another, all help to form a network necessary to ensure the maintenance of the current range and diversity of our flora, fauna, geological and land form features and the survival of important species.
The most threatened of the natural heritage sites are those with no statutory protection. Special care is required to ensure that the network of tertiary sites which service the sites of primary importance and are vital in maintaining the bio-diversity of the Islands are not subject to further erosion through ill advised land use changes.
Three organisations today own or lease significant amounts of land specifically managed for wildlife - the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Orkney Islands Council. In excess of 300,000ha of Orkney is actively managed as nature reserves, or in excess of 25% of the total land area in the county.
The initial response from many locals and the establishment would be highly negative to such a proposal. The idea of taking decision making away from local control, or at least imposing a strict layer of statutory obligations, would be an anathema. There would be angry letters and red faced developers and land owners everywhere.
Thirty years ago such a response, seen as gross interference, would perhaps have been justified. Orkney was then fiercely self-sufficient and just as fiercely independent.
Today a more cynical view would suggest that any geographical area that receives such disproportionately high levels of financial subsidy has lost any claim to independence, indeed, such subsidies should be expected to come with appropriate conditions.
In time the benefits of National Park Status would come to be recognised as greatly outweighing the disadvantages. The not inconsiderable by-product of placing the environment above all other factors in future developments would be a great blessing to our descendants.
