Second stoat caught on Rousay ends hope of a lone intruder

For the trappers and volunteers who spent months searching Rousay, catching the island's first stoat was a success—but not the end of the job. A second animal has now been trapped and killed, overturning hopes that removing one predator had resolved the threat to the Orkney island's native wildlife. ^{12 13 1}

A trail camera detected the second stoat near Loch of Loomachun on 21 October 2026. It was caught nearby two days later, according to The Orcadian. BBC Scotland's report on 23 October confirmed that it had been trapped and killed. Two animals have been removed; whether more remain is unknown. ^{7 1}

Before the second detection, the Orkney Native Wildlife Project had said it was “increasingly confident” that the animal caught on 9 October was Rousay's only stoat. That was a qualified assessment, not a declaration that the island was clear. Even so, the second capture decisively ends the single-animal explanation for this incursion. ¹

The distinction between a sighting and a capture matters here. The second animal was detected on 21 October, not established to have been caught that day. Likewise, the first capture in October was not the first evidence of a stoat on Rousay: the response had begun with potential sightings in April and confirmation in May. Trappers, local volunteers and the island community all contributed to that search. ^{7 12 13}

Project manager Sarah Sankey described the second sighting as “a deeply concerning development”, adding that it was especially unfortunate so soon after the first removal. The Orcadian reported that eradication efforts were stepped up after the detection. The available accounts do not specify how many extra traps or cameras were deployed, or set out a post-capture surveillance timetable. ^{1 17}

The purpose of the search is to protect wildlife that cannot simply be replaced elsewhere. Stoats prey on ground-nesting birds and the Orkney vole, a subspecies found nowhere else in the world. The vole is larger and heavier than the common vole; its entire natural home is this archipelago. ¹

Orkney is also an important breeding area for curlews, red-throated divers, hen harriers and short-eared owls. Those birds illustrate the wider conservation stakes, not a measured toll from these two animals on Rousay. No island-specific predation count or population decline attributable to the pair has been established in the available evidence. ¹

Stoats are native to mainland Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom. Related to weasels and otters, they usually hunt rabbits and small rodents such as mice. The problem is not that the species is inherently harmful everywhere: it is that an effective predator has entered an island ecosystem where it is not native. Females can produce litters of six to 12 kits a year, making delay a risk—but there is no established evidence here that stoats have bred on Rousay. ¹

The wider task began long before this island's search. Stoats were first recorded in Orkney in 2010 and became established on Mainland Orkney, Burray and South Ronaldsay. NatureScot identifies those established populations as the background to the archipelago's removal effort. ¹⁰

The project says more than 9,100 stoats have been removed across Orkney since 2019, a cumulative figure reported by the BBC on 23 October. It is neither a Rousay count nor an estimate of how many animals remain. The operation uses trail cameras, traps and dogs trained to detect stoat droppings. Its stated aim is to remove every last stoat, with a programme target of a stoat-free Orkney by 2030—not a promised clearance date for Rousay. ^{1 4}

The BBC describes the wider programme as a £15 million project. That reported cost is not a complete audited account of expenditure. Separately, an RSPB announcement on 14 August 2024 set out a further £2.5 million commitment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and more than £1.5 million from the Scottish Government's Nature Restoration Fund, managed by NatureScot. Those were funding commitments, not a fresh October 2026 award or a running total of money spent. ^{1 5}

Finding both animals near the same loch does not explain how they arrived. Conservationists say stoats are strong swimmers and could have crossed Eynhallow Sound from Mainland Orkney. But that remains a possible route, not an observed crossing or an established explanation for either animal. The captures do not show whether the stoats arrived together, crossed separately or reached Rousay by some other means. ¹

That uncertainty makes biosecurity inseparable from removal. The project's work aims both to stop stoats spreading to additional islands and to prevent their return after eradication. Finding animals already present and detecting fresh arrivals are connected tasks; success at the first does not remove the need for the second. ¹⁴

Public sightings help direct the response alongside monitoring tools, dog searches and information from the trap network. The project accepts reports by phone, through its website and through the “Stoats in Orkney” Facebook group. It says some detailed morning reports have led to traps being installed by lunchtime and an animal caught overnight—an example of what useful information can achieve, not a guaranteed response time. ¹¹

There is no announced date for declaring Rousay clear, nor an established clearance threshold in the information available. The second capture has answered one question: the first animal was not alone during this incursion. The questions that determine what happens next—whether others remain and how new arrivals can be prevented—are still open.