Onziebust

We are working hard to make our nature reserves safe and ready for our staff, visitors and wildlife. Many have now re-opened in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, although some facilities are not yet available. All our other reserves remain closed for now. Please see our COVID-19 updates page for the latest information (link below).

Address: RSPB Onziebust, Onziebust House, Egilsay, Orkney KW17 2QD

Grid ref: HY468302

See our updates page to see which reserves are open.

Discover Onziebust, a mosaic of glorious wildflower meadows, grassland fields and wetland areas which are a paradise for wildlife. Situated centrally within the Orkney islands archipelago, this hidden gem (which also features two tranquil lochs) is home to a population of curlews, lapwings and redshanks.

Plan your visit

Open at all times.

Free entrance to RSPB members: Yes

Adults: Free, but donations are very welcome.

Children: Free, but donations are very welcome.

Facilities

Car park
Viewing point
Nature trails
Educational facilities

Accessibility

How to get here

By train

There is no public transport available.

By bus

There is no public transport available.

By road

There is a road network on Egilsay, but the roads are narrow and distances are small. To reach the reserve, drive up from the pier to the crossroads (0.5 miles / 0.7km) and either park at the Community Centre, or turn right and follow the road south along the centre of the island. The reserve lies to either side of this road.

The roads on Egilsay are not suitable for coaches.

Sat nav POI file: If you have a satellite navigation system that can accept POI files, please see our POI page for a download link and instructions.

Other ways to get there

Egilsay is reached by a roll on-roll off ferry from Tingwall on Mainland Orkney, which can take passengers and vehicles. Visit orkneyferries.co.uk for information.

For flights and ferry information to Orkney, contact VisitOrkney at West Castle Street, Kirkwall, KW15 1GU. Website: visitorkney.com Tel: 01856 872856.

Get directions from Google Maps

RSPB reserves on Google Earth

Group visits are welcome. For more information, please contact the Orkney office on 01856 850176. Although the ferry can take coaches, the roads on Egilsay are narrow with soft verges, with limited turning opportunities and not very suitable for large coaches. The roads are suitable for minibuses, although opportunities are limited with only a small road network.

School visits are available on our Orkney reserves on a variety of topics. Please contact the Orkney Office on 01856 850176 for further details.

10 degrees, Light rain

Contact Onziebust

RSPB Onziebust, Onziebust House, Egilsay, Orkney KW17 2QD
orkney@rspb.org.uk
01856 850176

What will you see?

Our star species

Curlew

Long summer evenings are filled with the sound of curlews.

Eider

Eider ducks nest around the coast of Egilsay.

Lapwing

Watch the nesting lapwings here chasing predators that may come too close.

Skylark

Skylarks nest in the fields at Onziebust. Watch them displaying and singing overhead in spring.

Snipe

These cryptically-coloured waders can be seen probing their long beaks into the soft ground.

Nature spectacles

In winter, explore the eastern coastline of Onziebust and discover flocks of waders and wildfowl from the far north, including whistling wigeons, bleeping teals, busy turnstones and squelching snipes. Weather conditions can be challenging and at the same time spectacular, but it's worth the effort to head out in it to see swirling wader flocks and feeding wildfowl, within the big sky amphitheatre which surrounds the island.

Wading birds such as lapwings, oystercatchers, redshanks and snipe can be seen displaying. The skies are full of singing skylarks. The 'crex, crex' call of the corncrakes may be heard from May, though rare in recent years. On the beach, Arctic terns and ringed plovers often nest. Eiders, mallards, shovelers and tufted ducks breed here too.

The fields and roadside verges are full of flowers such as clover, yellow rattle, fumitory and vetch. The endangered great yellow bumblebee can be found here. Look out for otters on Manse Loch or along the coast. Wading birds raise their young and the long summer evenings are filled with the sound of curlews, oystercatchers, redshanks and snipe alarming.

Greylag geese arrive from Iceland, joining the island's residents. Many migrants start to move through from continental Europe, often bringing the odd rarity to the island.

This time of year brings a large variety of ducks - wigeons, teals, shovelers, mallard and goldeneyes - on Manse Loch, Loch of the Graand and along the eastern shore. Further offshore, flocks of eiders, long-tailed ducks and great northern divers can be seen and heard occasionally. Farmland birds can be found sheltering and feeding in many fields, with twites, skylarks and reed buntings.

About Onziebust

Habitat

Onziebust is a mixed grassland farm providing suitable habitat for corncrakes, while the wildflower meadows are full of bees including the nationally scarce great yellow bumblebee. The site's extensive wetland areas, with freshwater lochs, are home to a range of birds, including curlews and redshanks. The rocky coast and white sandy beaches provide important feeding opportunities for wintering waders and wildfowl.

Conservation

We want our Onziebust reserve to play the key role in both stabilising and increasing the corncrake population on Orkney and in ensuring that Orkney remains one of the most important breeding areas in the UK for waders especially curlews.

We are restorating a combination of fertile hay meadows and species-rich grassland to benefit corncrakes, waders and the rare great yellow bumblebee. Grazing by light traditional cattle is being used to provide optimal conditions for breeding curlews, redshanks, lapwings and snipe, by providing a mosaic of vegetation heights suitable for nesting and raising families of chicks.

Thanks to recent funding for a project, we have taken over the management of the farm, and are improving the building infrastructure to house an increase in staff to manage the site and animals to graze the reserve, and to provide both a residential volunteering scheme and a training programme for wardens and wildlife-friendly landowners wishing to conserve waders and corncrakes across the county.

Partners

Farming for wildlife; supporting people, sustaining nature.

In April 2017 RSPB Scotland were successful in securing a grant from the Orkney Leader Programme which is being used to start a wildlife-friendly farming operation on Egilsay to increase numbers of rare and threatened species such as corncrakes, curlews, lapwings and great yellow bumblebees.

Site information

The reserve is 270 hectares and covers more than 55 per cent of the island of Egilsay. The RSPB bought Onziebust reserve in 1996 primarily to help the nationally declining corncrake population and safeguard the important numbers of breeding waders. The wetland areas are botanically rich and full of wading birds such as curlews, redshanks, snipe and lapwing. The two lochs and coastline support a large numbers of wintering wildfowl.

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Activities and events

Leisure activities

Walking - There is a walk of slightly more than a mile (2km) from the pier across the centre of the island to the spectacular sandy beach on the eastern shore, from where you can explore the area. Alternatively, turn south at the crossroads up from the pier and continue along the road towards Onziebust Farm. This walk is 1.7 miles (2.7km) each way and offers fantastic views of the reserve.
Photography - Onziebust reserve offers fantastic opportunities for photography, with mixed landscapes, shifting light conditions on the surrounding seascapes, botanical delights for macro lenses and all the bustle and movement of the seasonal coastal wildlife, that will require a faster shutter speed.
History - St Magnus Church is well worth a visit. It is dedicated to Saint Magnus, who was killed on the island in 1117 by an axe blow to the head. For hundreds of years the story of St. Magnus, part of the Orkneyinga saga, was considered just a legend until a skull with a large crack in it, as if it had been stricken by an axe, was found in the walls of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. St Magnus memorial cenotaph is located at HY470300. There is a chambered cairn also on the reserve but no access is possible.

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Onziebust