Wildlife Hebrides

The Hebrides is one of the most spectacular and captivating places in the world.

An isolated, peaceful, unspoilt wilderness with a wide variety of interesting, beautiful species and habitats in a compact area. The Hebrides' environment is recognised internationally as being of global importance. Although most of us in the UK don't appreciate it, one of the last real wildernesses is right here on our doorstep; full of rare and iconic species such as the puffin, golden eagle, basking shark, whale, dolphin, otter and corncrake.

The peaceful uninhabited islands dotted around the Hebrides are undiscovered treasure troves of deserted white beaches and untouched beauty. Visiting the outer islands is a real adventure experience, where the pleasure of seeing beautiful landscapes and rare species is coupled with the excitement of exploring the most untouched and isolated locations.

Opportunities to explore the sea are plenty, ranging from chartering a yacht for a wildlife cruise to peaceful wildlife watching from a kayak or the shore. The coastal landscape of the Hebrides is one of breathtaking beauty, where vast, brilliant white beaches join turquoise waters in the summer, and in the winter fierce Atlantic storms produce wild, pounding waves.

The fertile machair lands lining the West Coast become a beautiful carpet of rare and colourful wild flowers in summer. The craggy cliffs are teeming with breeding sea birds and the shores are home to one of the densest populations of otters in North West Europe. The sea lochs of the Hebrides are unsurpassable in their beauty and abundance. Fresh water lochs, numbering 6000 at the last count, are a massive resource for fishermen and birds alike. Often remote from transport links, you can have a whole loch to yourself while you enjoy a peaceful and undisturbed day watching the natural world go by.

There's something mystical about the land of the Hebrides -perhaps because it is so tied to the culture and the crofting way of life: rolling moors, peat banks, sheilings, lazybeds! The islands' hills are a sight to behold, the highest being the Clisham in Harris, at 799m. Founded on Lewissian Gneiss rock, the glaciated uplands of Harris have a lunar appearance.

St Kilda, the world heritage site, is the gem of the Hebrides. Lying 64 kilometres west of the Harris coast, it boasts the highest cliffs in the UK, 50,000 breeding pairs of gannets and the biggest colony of puffins in the UK. Overall, St. Kilda is home to over one million sea birds.

The only way to appreciate the real natural beauty of these islands is to experience it for yourself.

If you would like to be notified of Wildlife Hebrides launch, please join our mailing list.