Scotland Part III: The Animal Life

By "animal life" we don't mean the pubgoers. Truthfully, although we consumed our fair share, we didn't see much rowdiness. But we did see more than our fair share of real animals!

The guy on the left is a red squirrel; they are endangered in the UK because the American grey squirrel is taking over. Great, another reason to resent the yanks!

The farm animals lived up to their billing on this trip: the highland "coos" grazing in wild fields, and sheep everywhere, as you can see from the pics below.

At the farm in Glen Fruin, part of the menagerie was a group of peacocks. At right is a female that posed in the sunset; pictured below are the male showing off and one of the young in the trees (we had no idea peacocks flew up into the trees).

One of our stops on the Isle of Mull was a bird of prey rehabilitation center, "Wings over Mull." Despite the cold rainy weather, we were treated to a falconry demonstration.

The second of two boat trips took us to Troup Head, a bird sanctuary on the east coast. Just us, five Scots, and two RSPB guides. The seas were very rocky, so it was difficult to try and hold on while taking pictures. But the trip was great for several reasons: (1) the guides were very knowledgeable, (2) the other passengers were very friendly, (3) we saw lots of birds including the gannets and kittiwakes the area is famous for, and (4) we had an incredible pod of dolphins following us for most of the trip.

On the way back from the cliffs, we had somewhat of a tea party on the boat. How the captain and our guides prepared tea and coffee in these seas we'll never know. We talked about places to see, where to eat, and our experiences with the Dutch. And one of the passengers shared her homemade tablet. A great end to a wonderful trip!

Pictured: the foggy coast; gannets and kittiwakes nesting on the cliffs

Pictured: our dolphin escorts

Our first boat trip was to the Staffa & Trenish Isles. The main reason we took the trip was to see puffins, and we weren't disappointed! One of the best days of our trip weather-wise, we saw other animals on this trip too. Soon after we left the dock at Ulva, there was an otter sighting. We didn't get very close, but as this was the only otter we saw in Scotland it was nonetheless pretty exciting. No good otter pics, though. Once out to sea we saw the dorsal fin of a minke whale. On Staffa we saw numerous seabirds like oystercatchers. And on Trenish the guillemots tend to nest on one part of the island; there are so many you can't hear anything but their calls.

Pictured: minke whale, guillemots

But the stars of the show were the puffins. It is incredible how close you can get to these birds; they were only slightly wary of the group of us rushing to snap their photos. The first pic is Rochelle's prize photo; out of the hundreds of shots we took, this is the only successful one of a puffin coming in for a landing (along with a couple of the missed shots).

All in all, we couldn't be happier with our trip. As we said in our first entry, Scotland is a land of contrasts, and we experienced a lot in our two weeks there. Next time we visit we'll spend a bit more time in the cities, which will likely be a different sort of "wild!"

Scotland Part 2: Castles & History

All around Scotland are reminders of the history that has shaped the country ... there are so many castles here that you lose count. Some are ruins, some are still homes. Some try to recreate a long-gone era, some keep moving with the times. In and among the castles are many monuments, gardens, and other historical homes.

Our first truly dramatic castle sighting was on the ferry from Oban to Mull. Duart Castle (below) sits alone as you turn the corner toward the Craignure ferry dock. We later visited it, passing the MacLean clan cemetery on the way in to the castle.

Some of the castles have extensive gardens and grounds to explore. Pictured below are: Cawdor (is this where Duncan died in Macbeth?), Crathes (we didn't see the ghost of the Green Lady), and Glamis, with it's nice photo exhibition of the Queen Mother.

Ruins abound across the country. Many of the castles were destroyed to ensure they couldn't fall into enemy hands. Two of the ruins we visited are pictured below. Urqhart sits on Loch Ness ... we didn't see Nessie, but perhaps the rain scared her away. Loch Leven sits on an island (in -- you guessed it -- Loch Leven), and is one of the castles where Mary, Queen of Scots was held. To get to the island you take a ferry (in this case, a very small boat); the poor ferry driver was getting soaked this day!



We visited a few historic buildings as well. Our favorites were the Hill House in Helensburgh (designed by the famous Glasgow architect Charles Rene Mackintosh) and the 18th-century Duff House in Banff.

Scotland doesn't immediately leap to mind when we think of WWII, but there is a lot of world war history around the country. The Commando Memorial looks out across a sweeping view of Lochaber and Glen Nevis. Outside of Poolewe is an old training ground with old gun hides; many Russian sailors set out from here during the war.

It wouldn't be a vacation without a visit to some gravesites, right? At least not for us. The Clava Cairns might not look like much, but it is amazing to think that we were viewing burial mounds and standing stones that date back to 2000BC. A little more recent, but still old, were some of the gravestones in the Stirling Holy Rude cemetery, like this one dated 1696.

Some of the cities were protected by impressive fortresses. Unfortunately, the weather kept us from snapping impressive pictures. Below are Stirling Castle, the view from Stirling to the Wallace Monument, and Inverness Castle.

We'll leave with the most scenic of our Scottish castle stops. First is Castle Stalker (Rochelle loves the name); it's privately owned but there is a great viewpoint from the highway. If you're a Monty Python fan, you might recognize it as Castle Aaaarrrrggghhh!

Second is Eilean Donan, restored in the early 1900s by the MacRaes. It's no wonder why this is one of the most photographed spots in Scotland. Luckily the weather held for us as we toured the castle.


Stop by next week (August 6) for our final Scotland installment on the wildlife (as in animals, not pubs)!