page_title: Mainland, Orkney
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Mainland, Orkney / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: Wood at w:Finstown, w:Mainland, Orkney taken from the A965 One of the few woods on Orkney. The house in the background is Binscarth. This photo was taken in 1974.
context_page_description: The Mainland is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections.
  Seventy-five per cent of Orkney's population live on the island, which is more densely populated than the other islands of the archipelago. The lengthy history of the island's occupation has provided numerous important archaeological sites and the sandstone bedrock provides a platform for fertile farmland. There is an abundance of wildlife, especially seabirds.
context_section_description: Mainland has a great deal of marine life surrounding it, especially seabirds. Corncrakes can also be found in some parts. The Loch of Harray can host up to 10,000 wintering duck and is important for pochard.
  There are few wild land mammals although there is an endemic  sub-species of the common vole, the Orkney vole or cuttick, (Microtus arvalis orcadensis) found only in the Orkney archipelago. It may have been introduced by early settlers about 4,000 years ago. Brown hares and rabbits can be found and there are frogs, but no toads.
  There are six hundred recorded species of plant on the Orkney Mainland. Two rarities to be found here are the oyster plant (Mertensia maritima) and the Scottish primrose (Primula scotica). The latter is endemic to the north coast of Scotland, including Orkney and nearby Caithness. It is closely related to the Arctic species Primula stricta and Primula scandinavica.
caption: Most of Mainland is treeless, but there are woods at Kirkwall and elsewhere, including Binscarth Woods in Finstown.
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