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Lewis and Harris summer 2024
- Thread starter davholla
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- Lewis
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It is great, I went in summer 2012.
Dale.
Bo Derek
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- Dale.
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Me too, it's at least an over nighter to make the most of it though.
I've never been but I've seen some wonderful images from there.
It looks like a magical place.
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You probably need a few days, even though there is next to no traffic, it can take a while to get around the island due to the small roads. And you may need to wait for a weather window...
What bits did you like? I am particularly interested in birds and insects and will probably go to St Kilda, if I go. I was thinking of going for a week to allow time for rain etc. And also going to another island
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Mainly the scenery and the quiet roads. We started in Stornaway and did a loop down to South Uist stopping at various places along the way.
Tringa
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Fitting in Lewis and Harris, St Kilda and another island around the weather(though storms are just as interesting as calm weather(but not so good for bird/insect photography) and doing them justice is going to be a push in a week. You might be lucky with St Kilda, we've tried three times and not managed it.
The obvious other island to go to when in Lewis and Harris is North Uist but that would increase your mileage. From years of visiting NW Scotland and the Hebrides I know it is easy to spend too much time travelling.
Birds and insects can turn up almost anywhere. There is the eagle walk and observatory on Harris and one of the highlight, if you are lucky, are red necked phalaropes on Lewis and usually plenty of species on the machair.
The outer isles(and just about anywhere in NW Scotland) are superb places.
Dave
The obvious other island to go to when in Lewis and Harris is North Uist but that would increase your mileage. From years of visiting NW Scotland and the Hebrides I know it is easy to spend too much time travelling.
Birds and insects can turn up almost anywhere. There is the eagle walk and observatory on Harris and one of the highlight, if you are lucky, are red necked phalaropes on Lewis and usually plenty of species on the machair.
The outer isles(and just about anywhere in NW Scotland) are superb places.
Dave
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Thanks for that. I have never been to the outer Hebrides - can you see seabirds on Lewis and Harris? I would love to see Skuas most of all.
BTW I am considering Orkney instead of Lewis and Harris.
Tringa
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Plenty of sea birds around Lewis and Harris all the usuals you'll expect.
Orkney is also a brillant place. I've seen both light and dark phase arctic skuas there and to see such a large bird match the manoeuvrability of a tern is a joy -well it was for me, not so much for the tern.
Great skuas are also present. I think a good percentage of the UK breeding population are on the island of Hoy but one of the largest numbers are(or were) on Unst in Shetland. Unfortunately their numbers have taken a hit recently - https://www.birdguides.com/news/disastrous-nesting-season-at-shetland-great-skua-colony/
You'll not be disappointed in the Hebridies, Orkney or Shetland.
Dave
Where is a good place in Lewis and Harris for seabirds? I did google it but I can't find a good site. Did you see skuas at Lewis and Harris?
What time did you try to book for?
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We went this year - mid-May booked 2 weeks in advance - not much available accommodation that met our requirements but we were lucky and got one that popped up as a cancellation.
As others have said don’t underestimate time in getter from place to place, many roads are not that great and often (esp on Lewis) you have to go North or South in order to get across the island, then you can go in your intended direction. It took us over 2 hours to get from where we were staying (Lewis West coast) to bottom of Harris.
We are definitely going to go again but I will spend more time closer to where we are staying and not be so ambitious in trying to cover many locations.
As others have said don’t underestimate time in getter from place to place, many roads are not that great and often (esp on Lewis) you have to go North or South in order to get across the island, then you can go in your intended direction. It took us over 2 hours to get from where we were staying (Lewis West coast) to bottom of Harris.
We are definitely going to go again but I will spend more time closer to where we are staying and not be so ambitious in trying to cover many locations.
Tringa
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I've seen great skuas on Lewis but one way of getting good views of seabirds and others is from the ferry to the islands or from a wildlife trip. I think there is a trip from Harris around the Shiants(about 6 miles off the east coast of Harris).
On my trip around the Shaints(from the mainland) I saw puffin, guillemot, razorbill, kittiwake, gannet, gulls(HG, LBB,GBB), great skua, golden eagle, white tailed eagle and minke whale.
Some info here - https://www.western-isles-wildlife.com/index.html
Dave