Flora, fauna and the works of man

Flora:

Gorse.  This entire island is covered in beautiful flowering gorse bushes.  Entire hillsides covered in brilliant yellow flowers.  I'm sure you've seen them in the background of some of our earlier pictures.  I don't know how long it flowers and whether it will be here when the heather flowers.  I think that would be especially impressive.

Peat.  It doesn't just come in sealed plastic bags at the local DIY store.  We've come across a few people digging their own peat (for whiskey flavouring perhaps?) in the hills.  For such a dirty job, they generate nice neat, terraced lines.  No machinery, either.  Just a guy in his wellies and a spade.

Logging.  We've been trying to figure out whether this island is naturally (mostly) treeless, or whether it has been heavily logged.  We do see evidence of clear cutting - and a little more of it than expected.  It seems like they don't much mind putting large scale industrial environmental exploitation out for the tourists to see.  I have this idea that at one point the isolated little forests of pine that dot the island once used to be connected and were extremely hard done by by hundreds of years of foreign (English) exploitation.  I've also heard that the introduction of sheep and deer by the aristocracy keep anything from growing larger than a bush.  I'll have to do some more digging to satisfy my curiosity on this.

Fauna:

Seals.  We went on a glass bottomed boat tour of the Skye Bridge area (fun fact: the bridge is hollow and only the second box designed bridge ever made - the other fell down - and that it was built to its height specifications to ensure the Royal Yacht Brittainia could pass underneath - the yacht was decomissioned a year after the Bridge was built).  Anyway, we saw several Common seals frolicking in the bay and sunning themselves on the rocks.  They remind me of sausages with flippers.  We saw several more at Otterhaven.  They were cresting and diving like dolphins.  Actually, we were pretty disappointed when we figured out they were seals, as we had seen them earlier in the day.

Salmon Farms.  We've seen a couple of these floating in the Firths and lochs.  Some of them are towed to different parts of the loch depending on what time of day it is.  Cool to see some industrialised fish farming.

Otters.  We didn't actually get to see any otters, although they are "common" in this area.  I still have problems with the glass-bottom boat tour company, who heavily advertise the fact you might see a river otter while on a trip into the salt water bay.  We also took a trip to a place called Otterhaven, which is a little place in the middle of nowhere, where they've placed a shack up in the woods with good viewpoints and free binoculars.  We didn't see any otters, but got plenty of seals and a nice, quiet place to relax for an hour.  Plus the drive there was on a one track road with twists, turns, and hills that made your stomach turn.  Fiona took the wheel and worked the blind corners and summits like a pro.  I think I see an F1 championship in her future. 

Oystercatcher.  Fiona saw an Oystercatcher.  It was cool.

Mean seagulls.  On our boat trip we saw some sort of black backed gull, which has, according to our guide, an almost 6 foot wingspan and eats puffins whole.  I thought he might be pulling our collective legs when he talked about them attacking sheep by sitting on the back of their heads and knocking their eyes out with a peck to the back of the skull.

The Works of Man:

Eilean Donan Castle.  Wow.  Beautiful castle shown on a gorgeous Isle of Skye day.  It's situated right on the loch, and the parapets hung onto the rocks.  It's been extensively rebuilt by the leaders of Clan MacRae, which means you get a nice intact castle on the one hand, and on the other, you wonder a little if they are running cable TV through the 14 foot thick walls.  It think this is a necessary step on the Scottish tour of castles, even though as one of the more touristy ones it tends to be very busy.