Skye itself is quite a sizeable island, with a mountain range all of its own (the Cuillins) and stunning seascapes, with views that look over to other islands in the Inner Hebrides and also to the mountains of the Scottish mainland. The Cuillins are visible from every point on the island, it seems - below is the view from our B&B.....
Skye is a great place to go walking and also birdwatching. We walked through the woodlands and along the coast around Armadale, visited Rubha Phoil (more on that later in the week), walked from Orbost down the coast towards the Macleods Maidens, though we didn't manage to get close enough to get the best view of the seastacks. We also walked along the river Lealt into some very dramatic mountains. 
We also spent time in Portree, the main town on Skye, which itself has some very nice walks and a small and lovely wild nature park.
We saw lots of birds, including white tailed sea eagles, a golden eagle, mergansers, buzzards, a peregrine, a raven, wheatears, stonechats and a group of gannets fishing plus getting good views of a number of birds normally only heard - willow warblers, whitethroats and cuckoos. The whole island seemed to be full of the songs of the willow warbler and cuckoo. The swallows seem to have settled in well for the summer in Skye! To find out more about birds on Skye, you can visit the Skye Birds website. Wonderful flowers too, woodlands full of bluebells (see the new banner image!), river banks thick with marsh marigolds, fields covered in lesser celandines, plus a few orchids and butterwort in the marshy places. We also saw lots of tadpoles in ponds and large puddles. Deer and rabbits too in the fields. No otters, whales or dolphins....
(All species that appear in lighter green are hyperlinked to pages describing them)
(I'm featured on A Handful of Stones today, here, nothing to do with Skye....)
14 comments:
I love your banner and Cuillin pix. WHAT a lovely holiday it sounds. So jealous - and glad that I will return to Skye before too long. I'm jealous, too, of your eagle sightings: we looked and looked last June ... ditto for otters, though David had a good early morning sighting of a young one on a beach in the Broadford area. I loved Armadale" (and here).
Sorry- the second link should be this (I hope!).
Dear Juliet, thank you for your comment on The Past.
Today walking at the foot of the Prealpi Mountains with our two dogs -one is a Cavalier King Charles- I hope I have saved a very young woodpecker ( maybe a woodpecker), it had a red crest on the head, it must have fallen from a nest, it was full of energy, it protested for my intrusion when I took it in my hands and removed it from the asphalt of the road and put in a nearby garden one metre high from the ground.
Best, Davide
Those bluebells are fantastic on your header - and Skye looks equally fantastic - glad you enjoyed your stay.
Glad you're back and had a great time. Weren't you lucky with the weather?
The eagles are a very tempting reason for me to visit....
Lovely, and I've been there, so I know how lovely it is! Rather jealous you have just been, but I'll get over it. Liked you HAiku very much :~)
Delightful banner.
Had to look up wheatears - never heard that name before - pretty little bird.
Love those photos - beautiful country there...good to see you back :)
What a lovely corner of the world! Maybe someday I'll get to visit....
It all looks so lovely, been very rainy here.
Oh, my. What a great holiday, just the kind I would adore. Perhaps someday I can get here. Thank you for the photos and links. I'll be back for more looking!
Lovely photos. That gully is glorious, so lush.
Skye is so pretty and idyllic :) I'd love to visit someday!
Sounds absolutely wonderful. I enjoyed the photos so much!
What beuatiful photos! Glad you had a lovely time. I've always wanted to visit Skye, just the call of the South is stronger...Ciao. A.
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