Glendale, Skye - Tourist Guide
Recent Wildlife Sightings in Glendale, Skye
Find out what's around in Glendale, Isle of Skye, with our regularly updated wildlife sighting and nature reports.
If you see any interesting or unusual wildlife in the Glendale area, please or give Andy a call on (01470) 511354.
Skye-Birds
For the very latest information about recent bird sightings on the Isle of Skye, please visit Bob McMillan's excellent Skye Birds web-site.
February
19th
There was an otter fishing off the white beach at Lower Milovaig at 2:45pm.
August
7th
There were minke whales, porpoises and a basking shark, all a fair way out off shore at Neist Point today (Ron & Elaine Stores).
19th
An excellent report has just come in that a pod of 3 killer whales (orcas) were close in-shore at Neist Point at 7pm on the 15th. The male came right up to the point and rubbed himself along the rocks. His dorsal fin could clearly be seen to be around 6 feet high. (The Poole Family from Norfolk).
September
21st
There was an otter at the shore in front of The Three Chimneys in the evening (Rebecca Smith & Martin Page).
November
4th
There was an otter fishing the shoreline off the seaward end of the Milovaig loop, late morning.
There was a harbour porpoise in the mouth of Loch Pooltiel and a pod of 30+ common dolphins were breaching and splashing out in the Minch off Lower Milovaig, late morning.
23rd
We are expecting the aurora borealis to be visible this evening and an even better display tomorrow night.
There has been a lone black-headed gull hanging around Lephin and Fasach all week. There was a white-tailed eagle soaring over Scorr Farm / Ferinquarrie at 3:30pm.
24th
Aurora borealis,
Lephin. November 24th, 2012.
(Click photo to enlarge)
The aurora borealis was visible again in the early hours of this morning, being at its brightest between 12:45am and 1:30am. This photo shows the view from Lephin across to Ferinquarrie and was taken at 1:05am.
More photos of the Northern Lights taken this morning are available here.
There is still a great spotted woodpecker visiting feeders in Mairi Fawkes's garden at Fasach (per skye-birds.com).
25th
There were a pair of goosanders off the black beach at Ferinquarrie, late morning.
December 2012
1st
There are still a few late meadow pipits lingering in the glen, with four at Glasphein and a single at Lephin, late morning.
A beautiful sunny day in Glendale punctuated by heavy sleet and hail showers. The mountains on the Western Isles were white with snow.
2nd
There was a dipper on the wide burn that runs under the top road in Upper Milovaig at mid-day. There was a mistle thrush in MacDougal's Spruces, Lower Milovaig at 11am. There were a pair of red-throated divers off Meanish Pier, late morning. There was a flock of 40 fieldfares on the bottom road in Upper Milovaig at 12:30pm.
4th
Sub-zero temperatures caused the first real ice problems of the winter on the roads this morning. Untreated roads were lethal, with the Holmisdale Road by the Post Office and the Kinloch/Glendale Road at Dunvegan being extremely bad before 8am.
5th
The glen largely escaped the weather this morning but over the brae it was a different story! The single-track was covered in thin snow and ice through Colbost, Skinidin and onwards to Fairy Bridge; ungritted and extremely treacherous. Then you hit "winter wonderland" at Bernisdale with accumulations of snow up to 2-3cm on the roads around Borve and Portree. Traffic moving very slowly and took 70 minutes for the usual 30 minute commute to Portree this morning.
8th
Our resident sub-adult white-tailed eagle was soaring low over Beinn Bhuidhe, Upper Milovaig at 1:45pm, gradually drifting towards Borrodale. There was a group of 8 long-tailed tits in the brae, late morning, and a mistle thrush on the Kinloch/Glendale road at Dunvegan.
9th
Our resident pair of white-tailed eagles were soaring extremely low over the white beach at Lower Milovaig at 11:45am and then gradually drifted along the bottom road towards the pier. They remained in Lower Milovaig until at least 2pm, being seen patrolling the cliffs at the seaward end of Milovaig, in the pier area and over Loch Pooltiel/White Beach during the afternoon. There was a flock of 8 goosanders off the white beach at 12:45pm (2 males and 6 females).
10th
There were two red deer stags grazing openly beside the road at Borrodale School at 8am.
11th
It was a very beautiful, frosty morning in Glendale. Roads were good all the way to Portree but it was very cold: ‑1.5°C at Milovaig & Lephin, falling to ‑4.5°C at Skinidin & Dunvegan.
12th
Aurora borealis,
Milovaig. December 12th, 2012 at 11pm.
(Click photo to enlarge)
There was a faint display of the aurora borealis over Glendale between 11pm and midnight. It was one of the weaker auroras that we've experienced this winter and only just visible to the naked eye, being very low to the horizon. Better on camera than to the naked eye.
We were also experiencing the Geminid Meteor Shower, with up to 2 shooting stars per minute streaking overhead.
A woodcock was flushed from the roadside at Colbost at 8am.
13th
Aurora borealis,
Milovaig. December 13th, 2012 at 12:30am.
Last night's aurora borealis (Northern Lights) continued into the early hours of this morning and the greens intensified after midnight.
It was a bitterly cold day, with a thick frost in the morning and showers of sleet & snow in the afternoon. By 3pm, there was a dusting of snow on all the higher grazing areas around the glen.
14th
Our resident pair of white-tailed eagles put on a fantastic display over Meanish Pier at 2pm, circling in very low, tight turns with frequent lunges at each other.
17th
There was a very late male blackcap in her garden at Upper Milovaig this morning (Anna Cleland).
18th
There was a woodcock circling beside the Colbost straight at 8am.
23rd
A lone lapwing, heading West over Loch Pooltiel, landed above the bottom road in Lower Milovaig at around 1:30pm. It is very rare to see lapwings in Glendale outside the breeding season. There was a single red-throated diver at Meanish Pier at 12:45pm
There was a red deer hind grazing openly beside the road at Hamaraverin at 9am this morning. The same hind was grazing at exactly the same place and time yesterday morning too.
25th
Christmas Day was a washout in Glendale with over half an inch of rain and all the burns & the Hamara River heaving with water.
26th
There was a small pod of 3+ harbour porpoises off Neist Point at 11am.
Highlight of the day was a pair of slavonian grebes on the Scorr Farm side of Loch Pooltiel at 10am. Our resident pair of white-tailed eagles were circling low over the bottom road in Lower Milovaig, the white beach and Beinn Bhuidhe before heading off towards the seaward end of the Milovaig loop at 9:05am. There was a red-throated diver on Loch Pooltiel all day. The first returning black guillemot (still in winter plumage) was back on Loch Pooltiel at mid-day.
Two gannets flew North past Neist Point in the morning, which is extremely rare in winter. There was a superb male hen harrier hunting around the car park area at Neist at mid-day that put up a flock of 70 fieldfares. There was a red-throated diver and 3 eiders in Moonen Bay, late morning. There are no fulmars back on the nesting ledges at Neist yet, although they will be returning imminently. There were seven goldeneye and 1 redshank at Loch Mor at mid-day.
27th
A juvenile white-tailed eagle flew low up the middle of Loch Pooltiel, from the pier to Beinn Bhuidhe, at 10:15am before veering across to, and landing on, Scorr Farm.
28th
Glendale was battered by a storm between 4am and 7am this morning, with a maximum wind gust of 66 mph (106.2 km/h) recorded at Lower Milovaig and over half an inch of rain falling before sunrise.
Later, from 3pm onwards, we were hit by another, more ferocious storm with winds gusting up to 83 mph (133.5 km/h) at 11pm and over 40mm of rain fell over the glen in the day.
29th
There was a beautiful male stonechat on the top road in Lower Milovaig, early afternoon. There was a white-tailed eagle patrolling the cliffs on the Lower Milovaig Grazings at 1:30pm and later seen out over the sea across the mouth of Loch Pooltiel, before heading onto Dunvegan Head at 2:15pm.
Eighteen grey seals basking on the skerries in Loch Pooltiel this afternoon was the highest count for some time.
31st
A white-tailed eagle skimmed at almost ground level along the cliff at the top of crofts 3, 2 and 1 Lephin at 9am. It almost landed on croft 2 before continuing towards Hamaraverin.