We had a wonderful 'summer' holiday in Scotland. The weather was particularly mixed this year; but despite the cool temperatures, we had not expected to find spring primroses and bluebells and quite so much snow around in mid-June. It might even have been good weather for penguins!
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| Sign on the lovely Scottish island of Gigha |
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| Snow around Kintail |
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| Heading north through Glencoe |
Insects were rather thin on the ground this time, but we saw quite a few birds (like the Arctic Terns in the photo below) and an interesting selection of animals.
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| Dunvegan, Skye © David Gill 2015 |
I shall begin with my 2015 mammal list:
- Bottlenose Dolphin (from the ferry to Lochranza on Arran)
- Common/Harbour Seal (largely at Dunvegan on Skye)
- Grey Squirrel (Culzean)
- Hare (particularly at Kilmartin and on the way to the Mull of Kintyre)
- Otter (Skye and Argyll)
- Pine Marten (sadly no photograph, but a first for us)
- Rabbit (Skye)
- Red Deer (several locations)
- Red Squirrel (just one ... adjacent to Loch Awe)
- Roe Deer (several locations)
- Shrew (a nest, Attadale)
Sadly we failed to see any of the
Knapdale Beavers (the weather was particularly deluge-like that day), but we enjoyed looking. Their watery realm was straight out of a fairytale!
Beavers may have eluded us in 2015, but (despite a week on Mull last year), we had our best
Otter sightings ever ...
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| First view: was it an Otter? |
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| Definitely! |
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| Last view before it disappeared into the water ... |
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| Bluebells (and Primroses) on Midsummer's Day |
