Calling in the canine crew

Ground-nesting birds are on the up in Scotland's Orkney Islands, thanks to man's best friend

- James Fair

IN THE ORKNEY ISLANDS, A SPRINGER SPANIEL and a black labrador are part of the team that is successfully removing stoats as part of a project to help wildlife. The dogs' remarkable sense of smell has helped conservationists from the Orkney Native Wildlife Project to track down more than 6,500 of the small predators, which are not native to the Scottish archipelago.