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Hebridean WildlifeOne of the best things about living in the Outer Hebrides is the Hebridean wildlife. There are large tracts of land that are uninhabitable thus making it a natural sanctuary, particularly for birds. Much of Lewis is like this - with settlements pretty much around the coasts and moorland, hills and lochs in the middle. You can find the recently re-introduced Sea eagles on the West side of Lewis now, in addition to golden eagles. The loch at the foot of our croft very often gets Whooper swans at certain times of year. In recent years, Scottish Natural Heritage along with SEERAD have encouraged crofters to improve habitats for wildlife, particularly the corncrake. These birds can be heard in summer with their rasping call - you may be lucky to see one but they tend to like to hide in tall grass and rushes. To learn about what birds are regularly seen (and the odd rarity!), there is a local website for birders: Bird Sightings:Outer Hebrides There is also a discussion forum: The Western Isles Wildlife Forum Marine LifeOf course, being islands on the Atlantic frontier, this means a lot of marine life as well. The waters here are some of the cleanest in Europe which is why the shellfish are so sought after in Spain. We get the giant basking sharks quite regularly off our coast. Broad Bay (Loch a Tuath) on Lewis has one of the largest Grey seal colonies in the UK. With the seals, we get the odd pod of killer whales too. We can have as many as 28 different species of dolphin in our waters too, with the Atlantic White-sided dolphin being the most common.Because there are so many marine mammals in the area, this also means a high number of strandings here too. If you find a stranded sea mammal, please do not attempt to put it back into the sea yourself as you can not only injure yourself, but could fatally injure the animal. So many dolphins have bled to death because of well-meaning but uninformed people trying to pull them back into the sea by their tail flukes or dorsal fins. And as for seals - they bite! Instead, if you see a stranded marine mammal, take a note of the time you saw it, where exactly and call the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) on 01825765546. This is a 24hr number and they will contact the local coordinator. This number is good for the entire UK, not just the Outer Hebrides! You can also ring the SSPCA/RSCPA who will then contact BDMLR to get the marine mammal medics to deal with the animal appropriately. For more information, go to BDMLR's website. Here you can learn about what work BDMLR does, how to become a medic and where your nearest course is and how to support the organisation.
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