The isolated archipelago of Orkney's 70 islands (of which 20 are inhabited) lies off the northeast coast near the tip of Scotland. These nearly treeless islands were of great strategic importance in both World Wars; the dozens of World War I shipwrecks are a great attraction for divers. Most visitors will stay in either Stromness or Kirkwall on Mainland, the major island.
Many of the more remote islands are of interest for those who have plenty of time and like nature and isolation. A thriving artists' and writers' colony has developed on the islands, centered on the town of Stromness.
Orkney is also a bird-lover's paradise, offering thousands upon thousands of puffins, eider ducks, whooper swans, arctic terns and many other species that nest there in the summer months.
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