Wideford Burn
| Distance | Approximate Time | Height Gain | OS Map |
| 5.6 kms | 2 1/2 hours | 75 metres | Explorer 461: Orkney - East Midland |
Description
Rising gently to 75m at the highest point. Much of the walk is through scrub or small bushes and while not difficult, care should be taken. Much of the return route is along country roads. The extension walk to Scapa Beach ends on the outskirts or Kirkwall.
Access Info
Busses to Kirkwall town centre daily from all over Orkney. Thereafter a walk to Inganess Bay approx 1.25 miles from town centre. Click here for more infornation.
Additional Info
The walk starts at Inganess Bay with its beach of silver sand ? good for swimming in summer and bird watching in winter. It?s an important wintering site for great northern divers, slavonian grebes and waders. The route follows the burn through wetlands full of wild flowers such as lady?s smock, meadowsweet and water avens. Red and blue damselflies also add a splash of colour by the water on a fine day. Moorhen, mallard and teal frequent the small loch, while waders such as redshank and curlew can be seen in the wetlands. Shy birds such as sedge warbler and reed bunting are harder to spot as they hide in the tall vegetation. Snipe put on aerial displays on summer evenings ? listen for the characteristic drumming sound made by the males.
Where the path rises above the burn near Wideford Farm, you will walk between bushes of native willow scrub, reaching only to waist height but thriving here because of the shelter and the lack of grazing. Other trees such as hawthorn, rowan and alder flourish in the valley of the burn, providing shelter, food and nesting sites for birds. The flowers change as well, here we find plants such as heather, tormentil, heath spotted orchid and meadow vetchling. The extension to Kirkwall allows you to wander on another sand beach, this time bordering on Scapa Flow and it then follows a burn most of the way to the town.
