The procession reaches Scapa Beach

This year’s traditional Riding of the Marches took place on Sunday, with a number of visitors from Shetland and southern Scotland taking part.

Over 100 riders set out from Broad Street at 2pm, in a ceremony dating back centuries. The annual event sees a procession of riders accompanying a flag-bearer - this year, Captain Bill Spence - who carries the old Kirkwall town flag around the old burgh boundary.

Orkney's agricultural show season drew to a close on Saturday with the 118th County Show in the Bignold Park, Kirkwall.

The sun shone down on the show, which saw a cross-bred coloured steer calf take the cattle championship. The animal, born in March, is owned by the Johnston's of Hewan, Shapinsay.

Reserve went to Julyan, the champion at Wednesday's 'Hope Show - a Limousin cross calf, shown by Cogle & Co, Newbigging, South Ronaldsay.

A small group of men in their late teens or early 20s were involved in the disturbance, which saw some damage caused to a tent.

Anyone with information should contact Kirkwall police on 872241.

The mystery surrounding a "search party" seen "at work" on a property in Eday on Wednesday has been solved - they were a group of tourists.

The group were spotted on Wednesday after arriving via motor launch. They were reported to be searching fields by South Park - the home of convicted fraudster David McHugh.

Because of a police search of the property last month, locals assumed the men were also police.

But acting Inspector Angus MacLeod confirmed on Friday that the group was actually a tourist charter from Shapinsay who had travelled to Eday for a walk.

Archive story: English police search Eday property

Three men from Shetland were taken to Kirkwall police station on Wednesday night after being found in possession of suspected drugs.

Acting on information received, Kirkwall police detained the men at the Hatston Ferry Terminal under the misuse of drugs act. They were found to be in possession of suspected Class A and class C drugs.

The suspected drugs were sent away for analysis and the men released pending test results.

A one-year-old black cross heifer, shown by Liam Muir, Midhouse, Harray, was declared cattle champion at Thursday's West Mainland Show in Dounby.

Over a quarter of the population of Orkney - over 5,000 people - turned out for the show, which saw the sun break through the mist and fog briefly.

The reserve went to a five-year-old cow in milk from Muce, Birsay.

Police inquiries are continuing after an accident in Westray on Thursday morning in which a man died.

A police spokesman said that the man received fatal injuries after falling from a roof at Clifton, Rapness, at 11.40am this morning.

The man's name has not yet been released.

The Annual Rural Report 2004 outlines how the Executive is meeting its commitments for rural Scotland contained in the Partnership Agreement.

Commenting on the report, Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie said: "From providing funding to our agriculture and fisheries communities to improving rural housing, rural services and the natural environment we are working to maintain strong, prosperous and growing rural communities."

Click here to view or download the report

Ross Noble

Thursday saw the first comedy act to play Fusion this year, with Geordie funnyman, Ross Noble, on the mike.

First spotted at the Edinburgh Festival, Ross has been its biggest selling act for the past two years. Thankfully for Orkney, he fancied a change from the packed out venues in the cities, and headed North for a rural experience.

The Orcadian's Leah Johnston got a chance to speak to Ross just as he was packing his bags and heading north to Scotland, where he is playing a series of small venues.

Click here for full story

Meteor activity in the night sky was expected to reach a peak on Thursday night, with the Perseid meteor showers expected to make a good showing this year.

But the Orkney weather prevented any good views.

Associated with the debris from comet Swift-Tuttle, the meteors are generally seen any time during the dark hours from late July through to late August. But the showers are expected to reach a peak tonight and in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

See Sky Notes for Perseid chart

Robert and Heather Herbertson

An Orkney man is contemplating legal action against the NHS in Aberdeen after he caught MRSA - the so-called hospital superbug - not once, but twice.

Robert Herbertson, from St Ola, has lost the use of his right arm, after the infection forced the removal of his right elbow joint.

Robert and his wife, Heather, say they have suffered enough at the hands of "penny-pinching" NHS officials and spoke out this week after reaching the end of their tether.

The programme for the 14th Orkney Science Festival was released on Thursday, with copies distributed with this week's edition of The Orcadian.

The festival, which runs from September 1 -11, covers topics including astronomy, Skara Brae, dance, medicine and art.

Click here for Orkney Science Festival Website

The club's open day ended at 4pm and aimed to attract more members - in particular younger players - to the club.

The Aurora Borealis, as photographed in November 2003.

A steady build-up of solar activity over recent days, could see a repeat of last month's display of the Merry Dancers, or Aurora Borealis.

In the Sky Notes section of The Orcadian website, Rousay-based astronomer John Vetterlein has been tracking a steady build up in solar activity associated with a large group of sun spots.

As these sun spots move towards the centre of the Sun the activity may increase and trigger displays of the aurora borealis, similar to those witnessed last month.

Click here for Sky Notes Aurora Borealis Gallery

The first theft involved a large sum of cash stolen from a house in Hamnavoe, Stromness between 12.30pm and 3.30pm on Tuesday.

The second theft was in the Quoybanks area of Kirkwall where cash was stolen from a house sometime in the past fortnight.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the police on 872241.

The supreme beef champion at Wednesday's 'Hope Show was a Limousin cross calf, shown by Cogle & Co, Newbigging.

Called Julyan, the calf is a half-brother of Cameron, who won the County Show title last year.

The skull, shoulders and chest of the Minehowe skeleton.

A rare Iron Age burial is causing great excitement at Minehowe - and as usual has raised a whole new set of questions about life around the Tankerness site.

Archaeologists returned to the Iron Age site last week, and have since found a formal human burial in the floor of the metalworking structure that has been the focus of excavations for the past few years.

The body, which was buried some time after the initial construction of the structure, has been transferred to Orkney College's archaeology department.

Andrew Mill, managing director of EMEC, and Jim Wallace after the unveiling of the plaque at the Billia Croo substation where electricity generated by test machines will come ashore.

A tidal energy test site could be ready for use by late 2005, Jim Wallace told those at the opening of the European Marine Energy Centre at Stromness on Tuesday.

Orkney's MSP said the wave energy test centre would help make Scotland a global leader in harnessing the power of the sea.

Guests at the opening included media from around the world, including Switzerland, China, Portugal and Russia. Mr Wallace and EMEC managing director Andrew Mill unveiled a plaque at the Billia Croo substation where the power generated by test machines will come ashore.

Click here for more details

Repeating their 2003 success, the cattle champion at Tuesday's Shapinsay Show was shown by the firm of T & J Leslie of Quoymorhouse, Shapinsay.

The Limousin cross steer was born on Christmas Eve 2003 and was by Lethenery Stevie, a Limousin calf bull, out of a home-bred Charolais cross cow.

The severe weather is believed to be the result of the devastating Hurricane Alex which ravaged parts of America over the past few days.

Police are warning shop owners and workers to be on the look out for forged £10 notes which are currently circulating in Orkney.

The counterfeit notes are Royal Bank and although they look like genuine notes they don’t have watermarks.

Anyone coming across a forgery is asked to hand it into Kirkwall Police Station.

But a new guide for European surfers launched this week includes the county in its list of top 600 breaks and "best surf spots on the best swells".

The guide, Surfing Europe, was launched last week at the annual Rip Curl Board Masters contest in Newquay, England.

Orkney's Big Brother star, Cameron Stout, has joined a special weight loss study being run by Aberdeen's Rowett Research Institute.

The 33-year-old Orcadian will be participating in a study using "Atkins-type" diets.

Organisers hope the study will provide new insights into how the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet helps people to lose weight.

Champion of the yard at Saturday's 106th annual East Mainland Show was a Charolais cow from Biggings, Toab.

After much deliberation, Baillieston Topsie, a 15-month-old Charolais heifer shown by Ronnie Baillie, was awarded the title. Full show results will be in this week's The Orcadian.

Show season continues this week with the Shapinsay Show today, the St Margaret's Hope show on Wednesday, the Dounby Show on Thursday and the County Show next Saturday.

Sanday-based ultra-distance runner William Sichel took second place in his first attempt at trail racing at the weekend.

William joined the 73 runners entered - of which ten were non-starters - for the "Devil o' the Highlands" race - a 43-mile race is from Tyndrum to Fort William on the West Highland Way.

William finished in a time of 6hrs 37mins 6secs.