Cutting-Edge Tech Helps Eradicate Stoat Threat to Orkney's Rare Birds

In October 2025, Orkney's conservation efforts to protect its rare native birds from an invasive stoat population are showing promising results. For the past six years, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland has been leading a major project to eliminate the stoat threat, which arrived on the islands around 2011 and has since spread rapidly.

The project has deployed a range of advanced technologies, including an artificial intelligence system trained to detect stoats' sinuous movements, thermal cameras that can spot them even in the dark, and a network of over 9,000 lethal traps. Specially trained detection dogs have also been used to help locate the remaining stoats.

The efforts have paid off, with the latest survey data indicating a 1,267% increase in the chance of curlew hatchings, a 218% rise in vole activity, and a 64% increase in hen harrier numbers since the project began in 2019. Orkney is now home to 160 hen harriers, a species heavily persecuted on the UK mainland.

Conservationists believe they are nearing the "mop-up" phase, with only around 100 pregnant stoats estimated to be left on the islands. The project, which has a £16 million budget and 46 staff, is one of the world's largest mammal eradication efforts and is crucial for protecting Orkney's unique biodiversity, which includes 11% of the UK's breeding seabirds and 25% of its hen harriers.