Wildlife Watching & Photography around Scotland's Coasts
07th May 2009
In: Location Reviews
With the summer now more or less here, despite the best attempts of the recent weather, now is an excellent time to think about planning your trips out around the coasts to track down some of the local wildlife, without having to spend a fortune to do it!
Scotland has the longest coastline of any European country, which varies from steep rocky cliffs to gentle rolling sandy beaches, all of which makes it a brilliant country for marine and coastal wildlife. These are great places to go to watch seabirds, and there are a number of tourist boats who will happily take you to some of the best, but less accessible areas.
More detailed guides to specific locations mentioned here can be found in the other Blog posts for the Isle of May, Firth of Lorne and Isle of Cumbrae and I will be updating with additional location information throughout the summer. Hopefully this will be a useful taster though, and give you some ideas for where to go this year to find the local wildlife we have on our doorstep.
Isle of May
Probably the best places to visit to see seabirds like puffins, kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and eider ducks (to name a few!) would include the Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth, which you can reach by boat from Anstruther. Whether you are a bird watcher or keen photographer, there are plenty of opportunities to get up really close to the birds, and see breeding behaviour, hunting and feeding, and potentially also the eggs or chicks depending on when you go.
Nesting eider ducks can be seen early in the summer from about April - July
Farne Islands
Further south, and just over the English border are the Farne Islands in Northumbria. The most popular trips run out of Seahouses, and are very well run, by an extremely knowledgable crew. This is an excellent place for seabirds, and probably one of the best places to visit for the marine life in general. As well as all the species found at the Isle of May, there are also a number of large Tern colonies here, and sightings of arctic, common and sandwich terns are virtually guaranteed. This is great news if you are a photographer, as the terns are beautifully graceful and photogenic birds, if a little aggressive! Do watch out if you go too near their nests when they have chicks, as they will dive bomb passers-by. A hat is usually a good idea!
Terns are beautiful birds, but will aggressively defend their nest sites
The Farnes are also home to colonies of common and grey seals, which can be approached relatively closely by boat. However, it is underwater that these animals come into their own, and dive trips to dive with the grey seals are incredibly popular. I am hoping to go there myself next year with my camera and hopefully get some pictures of them underwater.
The Farne Islands are an important site for colonies of grey and common seals
Bass Rock
Bass rock is also nearby, and you can visit it through the National Seabird Centre, who organise boat trips for photographers and will 'chum' the water to encourage the local gannets to dive close to the boat. Bass rock has the largest colony of Northern Gannets in the UK, and to see the birds dive is nothing short of spectacular! They are without doubt my favourite seabird!
Gannets are graceful, powerful birds, and our largest native seabird species
Ailsa Craig
The other gannet colony worth a visit is on Ailsa Craig, or Paddy's Milestone, in the Firth of Clyde on the west coast. Trips to this island are run out of Girvan harbour and are cheaper than those run to Bass rock, which is good if, like me, you will be visiting with a non-photographer! The Firth of Clyde is also home to large numbers of porpoise, and is one of the best places in Scotland to see basking sharks.
Treshnish Isles
Travelling back up the west coast, and the Treshnish isles is another excellent place to see puffins and breeding seabirds amongst some fantastic geology. Trips to these islands can be taken from the south-west of Mull (itself about 2 hours on the ferry from Oban), via the island of Iona, which is home to one of the earliest Christian monasteries in the country, and out to the Treshnish isles. Many of the boat operators will also include a trip past Fingal's cave on the island of Staffa which is well worth a visit and resembles a smaller version of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.
Puffins are comical and pretty little seabirds - it's no wonder they are so many people's favourite!
This region of the west coast contains some very tidal waters, and as a result the seas are highly productive and support a great diversity of wildlife. As a result, it is a great place to go whale watching suring the summer when the Minke whales return, and there is always a chance of seeing a pod of Killer whales as well, although they are extremely rare (but regular) visitors to the Scottish west coast. Sightings of harbour porpoise are virtually guaranteed, and the west coast around Argyll and Mull are a stronghold for the animals, and pods of bottlenose and common dolphins are also regularly seen. The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust is based on Mull, and publish up-to-date information on the season's sightings and information on how to spot and identify the different marine mammal species.
Firth of Lorne
If you don't want to go to Mull though, there are plenty of operators on the mainland who will take you out to see the wildlife of the area, including boats working out of Oban, and the village of Easdale to the south. Both places offer trips out to the Firth of Lorne, to see whales, porpoise, dolphins, seabirds, golden eagles, and even white-tailed sea eagles. Trips to the Corryvreckan whirlpool are also offered and well worth it!
The Firth of Lorne is a stronghold for the Scottish harbour porpoise population
Chanonry Point
For those on a tight budget, it is even possible to go dolpin watching from the shore. The Moray Firth is famous for its resident population of bottlenose dolphins, and while there you can take a boat trip to see them, it is possible to see them up close from the shore at Chanonry point. The tide runs extremely quickly through the channel here, and the water gets very deep very quickly, allowing the dolphins to come close in to the shore, and within range of waiting photographers! I am hoping to visit this area myself in the next month or so, and will post back on how it goes.
I hope this brief guide has given you some ideas for how to get the most out of the summer and our very own Scottish wildlife. I'll be touring around most of these places myself this year, so keep checking back for more detailed location guides and of course, for new updates to the photographic galleries!
If you want to keep up to date with news from this site, you can subscribe to the RSS feed using the link at the bottom of each page or in the right-hand side of your browser's address bar if you have auto-RSS enabled.
Scotland has the longest coastline of any European country, which varies from steep rocky cliffs to gentle rolling sandy beaches, all of which makes it a brilliant country for marine and coastal wildlife. These are great places to go to watch seabirds, and there are a number of tourist boats who will happily take you to some of the best, but less accessible areas.
More detailed guides to specific locations mentioned here can be found in the other Blog posts for the Isle of May, Firth of Lorne and Isle of Cumbrae and I will be updating with additional location information throughout the summer. Hopefully this will be a useful taster though, and give you some ideas for where to go this year to find the local wildlife we have on our doorstep.
Isle of May
Probably the best places to visit to see seabirds like puffins, kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and eider ducks (to name a few!) would include the Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth, which you can reach by boat from Anstruther. Whether you are a bird watcher or keen photographer, there are plenty of opportunities to get up really close to the birds, and see breeding behaviour, hunting and feeding, and potentially also the eggs or chicks depending on when you go.
Nesting eider ducks can be seen early in the summer from about April - July
Farne Islands
Further south, and just over the English border are the Farne Islands in Northumbria. The most popular trips run out of Seahouses, and are very well run, by an extremely knowledgable crew. This is an excellent place for seabirds, and probably one of the best places to visit for the marine life in general. As well as all the species found at the Isle of May, there are also a number of large Tern colonies here, and sightings of arctic, common and sandwich terns are virtually guaranteed. This is great news if you are a photographer, as the terns are beautifully graceful and photogenic birds, if a little aggressive! Do watch out if you go too near their nests when they have chicks, as they will dive bomb passers-by. A hat is usually a good idea!
Terns are beautiful birds, but will aggressively defend their nest sites
The Farnes are also home to colonies of common and grey seals, which can be approached relatively closely by boat. However, it is underwater that these animals come into their own, and dive trips to dive with the grey seals are incredibly popular. I am hoping to go there myself next year with my camera and hopefully get some pictures of them underwater.
The Farne Islands are an important site for colonies of grey and common seals
Bass Rock
Bass rock is also nearby, and you can visit it through the National Seabird Centre, who organise boat trips for photographers and will 'chum' the water to encourage the local gannets to dive close to the boat. Bass rock has the largest colony of Northern Gannets in the UK, and to see the birds dive is nothing short of spectacular! They are without doubt my favourite seabird!
Gannets are graceful, powerful birds, and our largest native seabird species
Ailsa Craig
The other gannet colony worth a visit is on Ailsa Craig, or Paddy's Milestone, in the Firth of Clyde on the west coast. Trips to this island are run out of Girvan harbour and are cheaper than those run to Bass rock, which is good if, like me, you will be visiting with a non-photographer! The Firth of Clyde is also home to large numbers of porpoise, and is one of the best places in Scotland to see basking sharks.
Treshnish Isles
Travelling back up the west coast, and the Treshnish isles is another excellent place to see puffins and breeding seabirds amongst some fantastic geology. Trips to these islands can be taken from the south-west of Mull (itself about 2 hours on the ferry from Oban), via the island of Iona, which is home to one of the earliest Christian monasteries in the country, and out to the Treshnish isles. Many of the boat operators will also include a trip past Fingal's cave on the island of Staffa which is well worth a visit and resembles a smaller version of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.
Puffins are comical and pretty little seabirds - it's no wonder they are so many people's favourite!
This region of the west coast contains some very tidal waters, and as a result the seas are highly productive and support a great diversity of wildlife. As a result, it is a great place to go whale watching suring the summer when the Minke whales return, and there is always a chance of seeing a pod of Killer whales as well, although they are extremely rare (but regular) visitors to the Scottish west coast. Sightings of harbour porpoise are virtually guaranteed, and the west coast around Argyll and Mull are a stronghold for the animals, and pods of bottlenose and common dolphins are also regularly seen. The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust is based on Mull, and publish up-to-date information on the season's sightings and information on how to spot and identify the different marine mammal species.
Firth of Lorne
If you don't want to go to Mull though, there are plenty of operators on the mainland who will take you out to see the wildlife of the area, including boats working out of Oban, and the village of Easdale to the south. Both places offer trips out to the Firth of Lorne, to see whales, porpoise, dolphins, seabirds, golden eagles, and even white-tailed sea eagles. Trips to the Corryvreckan whirlpool are also offered and well worth it!
The Firth of Lorne is a stronghold for the Scottish harbour porpoise population
Chanonry Point
For those on a tight budget, it is even possible to go dolpin watching from the shore. The Moray Firth is famous for its resident population of bottlenose dolphins, and while there you can take a boat trip to see them, it is possible to see them up close from the shore at Chanonry point. The tide runs extremely quickly through the channel here, and the water gets very deep very quickly, allowing the dolphins to come close in to the shore, and within range of waiting photographers! I am hoping to visit this area myself in the next month or so, and will post back on how it goes.
I hope this brief guide has given you some ideas for how to get the most out of the summer and our very own Scottish wildlife. I'll be touring around most of these places myself this year, so keep checking back for more detailed location guides and of course, for new updates to the photographic galleries!
If you want to keep up to date with news from this site, you can subscribe to the RSS feed using the link at the bottom of each page or in the right-hand side of your browser's address bar if you have auto-RSS enabled.