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The northernmost island of Orkney lies just 50 km SW of Fair Isle. North Ronaldsay is low lying, reaching only 20 m asl at its highest point. The solid geology is of Devonian flagstones. There is only a thin, patchy layer of red boulder clay on the island – but this glacial deposit holds a remarkable array of erratic stones.

Drumlins occur widely on Orkney – George Mackay Brown likened the drumlins of Harray to sleeping whales. Each drumlin is a small hill, tending towards an egg shape, with its steepest slopes and summit at the up-ice end. Drumlins rarely occur singly, however, and are found in groups or swarms, with the tapered end of each hill pointing in the direction of glacier flow. Together the drumlins give a streamlined, undulating terrain, with intervening boggy depressions which has been termed basket of eggs topography.

Isolated outcrops of fine- to medium-grained basic igneous rocks associated with thin beds of tuff have been recorded in the Middle Old Red Sandstone (~390 Ma) Eday Flags on Shapinsay. At Haco’s Ness, volcanic rocks are well exposed in a narrow strip along this part of the shore and in a vertical cliff section. What we see here is very similar to what we would see on a visit to the coastal lava sequences found on Iceland today.

The West Shore is part of a nationally important Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its Devonian stratigraphy and modern coastal geomorphology. The West Shore is a rare place where deep time, ancient environments, and active coastal processes are all visible in a single walk. A fine walk starts in Stromness town and can lead you through the geology and all the way to the majestic cliffs at Yesnaby.

It's the perfect way to find out about Orkney's [...]

Significance: a coastline noted for its Devonian geology and coastal geomorphology

Significance: this bay lies adjacent to Skara Brae and provides evidence of the interaction between coastal processes and human disturbance between 6600 and 4400 radiocarbon years ago. The settlement first re-emerged from the dunes after a storm in 1850.

Significance: this site provides evidence for changing ice-flow conditions during the last ice sheet glaciation

Significance: the construction of the Churchill Barriers started in 1940 and led to a fundamental change in the pattern of tidal flow around Scapa Flow. A range of coastal landforms have been created subsequently which illustrate the fundamental control of coastal configuration on the transport and deposition of sand.

Significance: Rackwick lies at the southern end of two major glacial breaches on Hoy. Its well-developed moraines indicate that at the close of the last glaciation two lobes of ice retreated northwards at a time when the Pentland Firth was probably still occupied by ice.