Western Isles Wildlife
The Hebrides or Western isles as they are now known is a great place to watch the wildlife. Otters, Seals, insects and butterflies, rabbits, deer, whales, dolphins, porpoises, jellyfish, crabs, and much more - all can be seen on The Isle of Harris and The Isle of Lewis. The Western Isles provides a great focus for a huge diversity of wildlife, the unspoilt natural beauty of the islands providing a great backdrop for the manu species of wildlife that can be observed
These beautiful creatures really do look magnificent against the backdrop of the beautiful hebridean scenery. They can be seen playing around the coast of The Isle of Harris and The Isle of Lewis.
They are semi-aquatic mammals who live in holts around water edges. They can swim very fast and the bubbles of air trapped in their fur give them a silvery appearance underwater
The Western isles are a great place to watch the seals. Common seals and grey seals can be seen around the coastline of both The Isle of Lewis and The Isle of Harris.
Grey seals are the largest breeding seals found in the UK. Half of the world's population of grey seals is found around British coasts many of these around The Hebrides
Seals belong to a group of animals called pinnipeds.
The Western Isles - a great place to watch the birds. A wide variety of bird species to be seen around the Hebrides from birds which are resident to the Islands to the birds which pass through on migration.
There are many wading birds, like the charismatic curlews, oyster catchers, redshank's and greenshanks and also of course the masterful birds of prey the golden and sea eagles and many more...
The Hebrides or Western isles are a great place to watch butterflies and moths. You can get observe the butterflies behaviour on both The Isle of Harris and The isle of Lewis.
I am a novice with my insect and butterfly knowledge - and will appreciate any comments or addition information. The butterfly pictured opposite is the tortoiseshell butterfly.
Western Isles Wild Deer - These beautiful creatures really do look magnificent against the backdrop of the beautiful hebridean scenery.
It is the Red Deer, the largest of Scotland's two native deer that are often to be seen throughout the Western Isles. In the winter especially they come down from the higher ground to nearer the towns in search of food
Bumblebees - large hairy bees - not to be confused with honey bees. There are five species of bumblebee that frequent The Western Isles or Outer Hebrides
and they are all very interesting.
The garden bumblebee, the Great Yellow Bumblebee, The white -tailed bumblebee, the Heath bumblebees and the Moss Carder Bumblebee.
There are 8 dragonflies species seen in The Western Isles. The Large Red Damselfly, Four Spotted Chaser, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common Hawker, Common Darter, Black Darter and The Highland Darter
The Golden-ringed Dragonfly and the Emerald Damselfly have also recently but been said to have been spotted but really are most rare.
The Hebrides, a great place to watch and study the various insects. Watch their behaviour.
Often when you view your photographs, its only then that you see the true complex nature and beauty of the Insects.
There is everything from burying beetles (like the one pictured opposite) - sand hoppers - caterpillars, flies and many different creatures
Rabbits can be easily spotted jumping and playing about on many of the cliff tops and moorland throughout The Western Isles particularly on The Isle of Lewis and The Isle of Harris.
A pleasure to see!
The Hebrides is a great place to observe their behaviour. Hebridean Wildlife - a pleasure to observes I know they are really vermin, but I think they are lovely!
Crabs belong to a group of animals known as the Crustacea. The soft body is protected by a hard outside shell known. Unfortunately, this hard shell does not grow.
You can see many species of crabs here in The Western Isles - including the Green Crab (pictured opposite) masked crabs and many more
Jellyfish, also know as jellies or sea jellies. Found in every ocean - from the surface to the deep sea.
There are 200 species of jellyfish known in the world.
70 species of jellyfish sting. There are actually about 2000 different types of jellyfish belonging to the 200 species
Just magnificent seen close up.
Western Isles - Hebrides Sea Anemones. These beautiful creatures look very much like flowers - however they are actually predatory animals.
They come in all manner of shapes, sizes and colours & can be seen in many rocky pools on the Hebridean beaches - especially as the tides goes out
Western Isles - Hebrides - Dog Whelks aren't just pretty shells - there are sea creatures inside - they are sea snails. Many can be seen in the Western Isles - Scotland. The shells come in many different sizes and colours from red to green, yellow, orange.
The Dog-whelk is a predatory mollusc found on rocky shores, breakwaters & pier piles. The dog whelk can be separated from other seashore snails by the distinct groove along the shell lip
This sea creature - the sea slater looks much like an insect but is actually a sea creature - a species that is related to the woodlice family. They can be seen along the shore and can be seen running across the rocks.
They are actually crustaceans - Isopoda (iso meaning "same" and pod meaning "foot")
There are up to 10,000 species of isopod around the world. Half of the isopods live in the sea, the other half live on the land or in fresh water like ponds, lakes and rivers.
There are several species of dolphins that can be seen around the Western Isles.
The ones that are often seen are the Common Short Beaked Dolphins (Common Dolphins), Bottle Nosed Dolphins and the lovely more elusive Risso Dolphins along with a few other species.
There are two species of dolphins that fall into the category of Common Dolphin. The Short Beaked and The Long Beaked
