Scottish Highland wildlife seen from our garden

Skye has a large Eagle population, among which are at least three breeding pairs of Sea Eagles. Two of those pairs can often be seen over Trotternish.

Eagles are considerably larger than buzzards. An Eagles' wings look oblong with finger-like feathers on the end.

Most people ask how to distinguish between Golden Eagle and Sea Eagle, as they are usually seen soaring high above. The answer is in the shape of the tail. The Golden Eagle has a wedge-shaped tail, while the Sea Eagle has a pointed v-shaped tail.

The Peregrine is a 38-40cm Falcon, which is slowly recovering from the crash in numbers in the 1960's due to over use of pesticides. A resident bird that nests on remote cliff ledges, it "stoops" to catch and kill birds in flight, mainly rock doves and pigeons. It can also take fast-flying Ducks too.

 

 

The Corncrake is a shy secretive bird of the Rail family, that can only be found in the North-West of Scotland and the Outer Isles. They breed in Scotland and migrate to Africa in the winter. Despite the efforts of the RSPB and the Scottish National Heritage their numbers remain low and they are a very endangered bird. We often have a calling male on our croft land from early May.

The Otter is a playful, shy and mainly solitary nocturnal animal. We sometimes see one on calm early mornings or calm late summer evenings. The male "dog" otter can grow to 120cm in length, and weigh over 10kg. The female is smaller and can have from 1 to 5 young which she raises on her own in a burrow known as a holt. Scotland and Skye are now the main home of the otter.

 

Other wildlife regularly seen are numerous types of sea-birds, shore birds, waders and Atlantic grey seals. On very rare occasions we see Pilot Whales and Dolphins. These are more often seen from the Caledonian MacBraynes Ferry, along with Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills and Gannets.

Day trips on this Ferry are available to Harris and North Uist. A coach gives you a small tour of each island with another small ferry trip across the Sound of Harris. Return to Uig arriving at 6pm.

A longer trip is available in the Summer months (Saturdays only). It takes you to Harris where a coach takes you to Lewis, stopping at many sites of interest on the way, including the standing stones of Callanish. This trip arrives back in Uig at 10.15pm

Ard-Na-Mara
11 Idrigill
Uig
Isle of Skye
IV51 9XU
tel: 01470 542281
fax: 01470 542289