Fauna

For bird watchers, Skye is a paradise. The website skye-birds.com lists a whopping 244 different species, the most impressive of which being the large golden eagle. Due to rainy weather we sadly couldn’t make all the trips we had had in mind. Nevertheless, we actually saw the golden eagles several times. What an experience!

Of course you read the description and the stats in a guide book, but such a majestic creature actually landing a few metres away from you is an entirely different thing. We were both very impressed. The eagle even looked at us as if considering us for lunch. Though not technically endangered, their population has decreased dramatically over the last few decades, due to hunting. Making it all the better to meet one of these beautiful animals in their natural habitat.

All around the island, you supposedly can go seal watching as well. But to us it seemed like marine animals had a distaste for rainy weather as we only ever saw a handful swim past in the distance. But since we were drenched already we didn’t have any desire to get any closer. We also postponed the trip to Otter Haven near Kylerhea until our next visit to the island. According to the guide book it’s a great place to watch otters. It might though take an hour or longer for the animals to show up. Each sighting should also be noted down, for the work of the shelter.

Omnipresent of course are the island’s sheep. Every morning we’d be greeted by the rushing winds and a chorus of baaaaa. At regular intervals the road is lined with traffic signs, alerting drivers to keep their eyes open for wandering sheep - and since they are my favorite animals I would have loved to nick one of these signs as a souvenir but my husband stopped me time and time again.

The funniest traffic sign we had already spotted in the guide book we bought before the trip. We interpreted it quite differently though. It seemed to resemble a pig hiding between speed humps. And that was indeed what it was about. There are free living pigs on the island which you might have trouble spotting with the bad visibility of the weather and the winding roads. These pig signs really exist at the northern end of the island Raasay. We didn’t happen upon any of the pigs though.