OUTER HEBRIDES and the SHIANT ISLES

SAT 1 JULY – FRI 7 JULY 2023

SAT 29 JUNE – FRI 5 JULY 2024

PRICES: from £2145pp

Single supplement: £295. Deposit: £300pp

Max 7 clients. Leader Toby Green (2023)

A real adventure, taking in some of the most remote and isolated parts of the British Isles, including chartered boat trips to rarely visited Little Bernera, and the Shiant Islands. We travel across Skye, where highlights include both eagles, Otter and a quiet spot for Adders. We also search for Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl on remote back roads. Depending on weather, we may explore Harris, where stunning beaches and superb mountains make the island so famous, with picture-postcard views around every corner or head to Berneray across the Sound of Harris to see the dunes and machair. On Lewis, we take a RIB boat trip to Little Bernera, a fascinating and under visited island west of Lewis featuring good flora and fauna in breathtaking scenery. The overwhelming feel is of space and solitude and on Lewis we explore the rarely visited southwest corner, targeting Golden and White-tailed Eagle, Merlin, Twite, Wheatear, Red-throated and Black-throated Diver, Cuckoo, Eider, Greenshank and other waders, Common and Grey Seal and Otter. Other highlights are a visit to the Callanish standing stones and ancient Dun Carloway broch. At the Butt of Lewis, seabirds fly around the north-western edge of the British Isles and we enjoy great views as they pass. Twite, Rock Pipit and Wheatear breed and rarities can arrive at any time on this exposed headland.

A major destination is the Shiant Isles, twelve miles from the northern tip of Skye. This is a very important Puffin site, hosting around 240,000 birds, two percent of the world’s population! We charter our own RIB boat, and as we travel, the seas can teem with birds: Manx Shearwater, Arctic Skua, Great Skua around the ‘flurries’ of fish, many Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake, the occasional Storm Petrel, and more! We have excellent chances of Rock Dove, Peregrine and White-tailed Eagle here and on our final morning during a visit to Tiumpan Head, a great seawatching spot, with a long list of recorded cetaceans. Our holiday concludes with a return crossing of the Minch with further wildlife opportunities. Total species c. 80. Number of centres: 3.

Combine with:

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

The Outer Limits in summer (p20), Eagles, Divers and Dotterel (p21).

SCOTTISH ISLANDS

Inner Hebrides from Canna to Iona (p37), Ultimate Outer Hebrides (p38).