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Introduction to Species Action Plans
| Orkney hosts a wide range of species. Being a group of islands and as far north as we are we have a predominance of species that are internationally threatened and nationally rare. Many of these species are currently declining and it is necessary to protect their ecosystems as well as the individual species. This ensures greater protection for a wider range of species. A few species require one step further to guarantee their survival. These are the species that have been identified for Species Action Plans. Three groups of 10 species have been selected for individual action plans. The aim is to produce these plans for spring/summer 2004. |
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OBAP SPECIES Group 1 |
Great Yellow Bumble Bee |
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It is one of a number of bumblebee species to have undergone a drastic reduction in range and abundance as a result of the loss of this habitat in the modern agricultural landscape. On the Hebrides during August 1997 it was strongly associated with areas that had been winter-grazed and then allowed to grow throughout the summer. Such areas supported good stands of red clover and common knapweed, both of which were important forage plants. Nests are constructed underground. The number of workers of the great yellow bumblebee per nest is often noted as being particularly low, with workers being of a large size. | |
Pipistrelle Bat |
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The smallest and most plentiful bats in Wales, the pipistrelles (a female is shown here with her young) is typically 3.5 to 5 cm head-and-body length and weighs between 4 gm and 8 gm each. Because these very common bats occur in towns as well as in the countryside, and they often fly at head height, they are extremely noticeable despite their small size. Most pipistrelles are somewhat darker brown on the back than they are underneath. | |
Otter |
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Otters are members of the weasel family. The weasel family have long, thin bodies and short legs, ideal for pushing through dense undergrowth or hunting in tunnels for prey, and they can walk on the soles of their feet like humans. Otters spend most of their time in water. They find virtually all of their food in, on or beside water. Fish form the bulk of their food. Otters can be found in freshwater, most estuaries and along the coast. They are shy and retiring in nature. Otters are generally difficult to spot but you can easily find signs of their presence, such as footprints and spraints (pooh). | |
Common Skate & Thornback Ray |
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The upper body is covered in prickles and, once the fish is mature, a number of large spines - hence its common name. Found usually over sand and mud in water of 10 to 60 metres depth, thornback rays will move into the shallows in spring when they are ready to spawn. They lay their eggs between March and August, and it takes about five months for the eggs to hatch. Young thornback rays feed on crustaceans and other bottom-dwelling creatures, switching more to eating crabs and small fishes as they develop. They reach maturity in about eight years. To avoid taking in silt when resting on the bottom, thornbacks draw water into their gill chamber through a hole just behind the eye - this aperture is called a spiracle. |
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Corncrake |
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Corncrakes are related to moorhens, coots and rails but differ from most members of the family because they live on dry land. They are very secretive, spending most of their time hidden in tall vegetation, their presence only betrayed by their rasping call. In flight their bright chestnut wings and trailing legs are unmistakable. They nest and rear their young in tall grass or herbaceous vegetation, such as nettles, cow parsley or yellow flag (iris). Sometimes they will use standing crops of oats and barley in late summer, after the hay fields have been mown. |
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Skylark |
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The skylark is a small brown bird, somewhat larger than a sparrow but smaller than a starling. It is streaky brown with a small crest, which can be raised when the bird is excited or alarmed, and a white-sided tail. The wings also have a white rear edge, visible in flight. It is renowned for its display flight, vertically up in the air. Its recent and dramatic population declines make it a Red List species. | |
Reed Bunting |
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Sparrow-sized but slim and with a long, deeply notched tail, the male has a black head, white collar and a drooping moustache. Females and winter males have a streaked head. In flight the tail looks black with broad, white edges. This farmland and wetland bird suffered a serious population decline making it a Red List species. | |
Purple Ramping Fumitory |
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Purple ramping-fumitory was first recognised as a species separate from other fumitories in 1902. So far, it has not been found outside the British Isles. Its main strongholds in the UK are Cornwall and western Lancashire. This plant is one of a suite of so-called "arable weeds" whose declining fortunes have been linked with changes in farming practices over the last half century. |
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Scottish primrose |
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Similar to the bird's-eye primrose but found nowhere else in the world, this perennial has rosettes of leaves, broadest near the tip and with no teeth on the margin and hairless above but white and floury beneath. Short flowering stems, rarely over 10cm, arise from the centre and terminate in a cluster of purple flowers, with five notched overlapping or contiguous petals, developing into small, egg-shaped capsules longer than the calyx with five erect teeth. | |
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