[6] The site forms part of the Hermaness, Saxa Vord and Valla Field Important Bird Area (IBA), designated as such by BirdLife International.

Shags nest on boulder beaches on the west coast of Hermaness; due to relative inaccessibility of these areas counting is difficult, but NatureScot estimated a population of around 150 pairs in 2002.

Puffins can be difficult to count due to the fact they nest in burrows, however NatureScot estimate that somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 pairs can be found at Hermaness, representing around 6% of the British population.

The coastline also hosts small numbers of breeding herring gulls, razorbills and black guillemots, all of whom tend to nest in more secluded areas such rock crevices and amongst boulders.

[8] Away from the coast, almost 1,000 great skuas, known locally as bonxies, nest at Hermaness, maintaining territories on the large expanse of moorland that covers the centre of the peninsula.

Both grey and common seals visit the beaches regularly, and sightings of whales and dolphins have increased in recent years.

Responsibility for watching the bonxies passed to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in 1906, and the role was widened to include monitoring of other seabird populations.

[15] In addition to being an NNR, the headland holds a range of other conservation designations for its spectacular wildlife, habitat and geological features.

[26] That night, or in the early hours of 1 January 1992, the hut was struck by one of the most severe storms ever recorded in the British Isles[27] with winds reaching Hurricane force, gusting up to 150 knots (280 km/h; 170 mph) as measured at the nearby Muckle Flugga Lighthouse.

The man was found on 5 January close to where the hut had been, his girlfriend half a mile (800m) away below a 300 ft (90m) cliff in Burra Firth the following day.

[29] Today, the site of the hut is marked by a cross made of large stones laid into the ground, a memorial for the two lives lost.

[30] Access to the location is currently problematic, as the direct footpath to the top of Hermaness Hill that passed the cross closed in 2017.