The Call of the Loon multimedia talk, Stornoway

In April 2024, wildlife adventurer Roland Arnison set off on an ambitious solo quest: to record the calls of all of Scotland's seabird species, travelling only by sea kayak. His aim? To record the calls of each seabird species, to photograph, film and research them and to immerse himself in the perilous world of seabirds. And above all, Roland hoped to record the hair-raising ethereal call of the Great Northern Diver: the Call of the Loon.

By the end of summer 2025, Roland had spent 125 days on the expedition, paddled 800 miles and recorded the calls of 25 seabird species. Along the way, he battled the worst summer weather for years, experienced the joys of countless encounters with seabirds living on remote Hebridean islands and met some of the hidden army of researchers monitoring the fortunes of Scotland's diverse seabird populations.  Pushing his abilities to his limits, Roland eventually set off to paddle the long lonely voyage to the remote Atlantic islands of St Kilda, becoming the 8th person to achieve this crossing solo by kayak - and the first to carry out a seabird transect survey while doing so.

But the expedition almost ended early on, when Roland lost his kayak to the sea. His dramatic attempt to rescue it, swimming alone into cold tidal waters, soon descended into a desperate struggle with exhaustion, hypothermia, and near-drowning.

Roland's stories from his seabird adventures have featured on Radio 4's Tweet of the Day and Save our Seabirds and he has delivered his popular lectures to audiences across the UK including at the Royal Geographic Society.

And now Roland is bringing his multimedia Call of the Loon talk to Stornoway, as part of the Outer Hebrides Wildlife Festival 2026.

Roland will share his adventures with you, reveal what he learnt from his seabird research, showcase the sounds, photographs and film he captured and welcome you into the glorious world of our precious seabirds.

Comments from the audience at Roland's Call of the Loon talks:

"I really enjoyed the mix of science & story-telling; the great photos & sound recordings of the birds; plus the videos giving us a colourful glimpse of his experience trying to fulfil this mad but fabulous project!"

“Highly recommended, we absolutely loved it and learnt SOOOO much.”

“It was brilliant, exciting story and wonderful films, photos and sounds of beautiful seabirds!”

“Astonishing evening- highly recommend it.”

The Call of the Loon multi-media talk will in the Community Room at An Lanntair, Kenneth St, Stornoway HS1 2DS.  The talk will be around 90 minutes long with an interval with light refreshments available.

Seabird-themed greetings cards, mugs, wall art and other gifts from the Call of the Loon expedition will be available to buy at the event.

More info about the Call of the Loon expedition: https://rolandarnison.co.uk/call-of-the-loon-expedition/