Orkney Stoat Eradication Project Boosts Rare Vole and Bird Populations

The Orkney Native Wildlife Project, the world's largest stoat eradication effort on an inhabited landscape, is delivering measurable conservation results across Scotland's Orkney Islands. After removing more than 8,500 stoats over six years, the project is seeing dramatic recoveries in the populations of species that the invasive predators had threatened.

The Orkney vole — a unique subspecies found nowhere else on Earth — has reached the highest activity levels since monitoring began. Hen harrier breeding attempts have hit a decade-high, and short-eared owl numbers have remained elevated after recovering from concerning lows in 2019-2020.

“After removing more than 8,500 stoats over six years, the project is seeing dramatic recoveries in the populations of species that the invasive predators had threatened.”

Stoats were first detected in Orkney in 2010, likely arriving as stowaways in animal feed shipments. With no natural predators on the islands, the stoat population exploded, devastating the native Orkney vole population and threatening ground-nesting birds that depend on voles as a food source.

The eradication effort, led by RSPB Scotland and NatureScot, has used a network of thousands of traps across the islands. The project has worked closely with local communities, farmers, and landowners, who have been essential partners in monitoring and maintaining traps across their land.

The project aims to make Orkney completely stoat-free by December 2027. If successful, it will be one of the most ambitious invasive species eradication programs ever completed on an inhabited island group, providing a model for similar conservation challenges worldwide.