Orkney is famous for its rich history and enormous collection of Neolithic sites. However, it’s also well-known amongst nature lovers for being one of the best places to see Britain’s native wildlife, with orcas, hen harriers, humpback whales and short eared owls all spotted regularly from Mainland (without even needing to get in a boat!). We crammed so much into our week on Orkney that our stop at Mull Head Nature Reserve was a brief one, mainly to see the collapsed sea cave called ‘The Gloup’.
Mull Head is a 200 acre nature reserve situated in the north east corner of Mainland. There are a few different walking trails of various lengths to do (although I’d plan your route in advance and make sure you know where you’re going, as way marking was quite vague on the tracks we used). The car park was surprisingly busy when we arrived, although we only saw a few people once we got away from the car. The nearby visitor centre has toilets too, which is handy when you’ve been driving around the island all day before you arrive!
We arrived fairly late in the afternoon and were feeling pretty tired from a few other walks we’d already done that morning, so rather than following a set walk we just had a wander along the coast to the Brough of Deerness. This took us past the Gloup (care needed as it’s only partially fenced off) and along the cliffs to the Brough, where we turned around and re-traced our steps, as the onwards trail was temporarily closed.
After a busy morning this was a nice easy walk, pretty much entirely flat, although if we’d wanted to we could’ve dropped down some steep stairs to the small beach by the Brough of Deerness (which we didn’t). Despite not spotting any wildlife other than some sea birds nesting on the cliffs, we still enjoyed our walk. There are lots of helpful information boards telling you about the wildlife which lives on the reserve, so even if you don’t spot it in real life, there’s still some interesting facts you can take away.
Dog friendly rating – 3/5. Short leads needed to be on for the entirety of the walk we did due to sheer drops, but if you pick up an inland trail you might be able to let your dog off (please respect any signs asking for dogs to be on leads). We didn’t come across any stiles on the path we followed, but there could quite possibly be stiles on the other routes.
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