Hebrides: Islands on the Edge is a Holly Hapless Brand by Stephen Walker
Life below the inner Hebridean Seas is as varied as that above. The maelstrom that is the Corryvreckan is exacerbated by the spring tides.
The movements of the tides are critical to these animals as they filter plankton from the water streaming past. But corals have enemies; a sea slug. This miniature predator eats soft coral polyps. The dead-man’s fingers, however, have a neat trick!
For many years the people of St Kilda led an isolated existence. Surviving on a diet of Puffins, Gannets and Fulmars. This St Kildan way of life is past.
It’s not just popular, it’s oversubscribed. It’s up to this generation of school-leavers to decide whether the machair lives on. And these are exactly the people who will be most tempted to leave the outer isles for a mainland, mainstream life.
When a violent spring storm hits the west coast it threatens the live of much of the flora and fauna.
For the owls, though, the worst has already happened. Defeated by the relentless rain the male has gone and unable to protect the chicks and feed herself the female too has been forced to abandon them. In such a harsh spring even the most resilient cannot always survive and for the owl chicks it’s too late.
The White-Tailed eagles find Mull a perfect home despite the difficult conditions. Sandy, fertile Tiree is home to many Hares.
Far offshore from the sea loch and its woods lies the Isles of Coll and Tiree. Coll is rocky and hard to farm. But, Tiree is an island built of sand famous for being fertile.
The Machair is an area of great vitality, due to the wind-blown shell-sand on the land and the application of sea-weed by many generations if islanders
On the other side of the pool, one of Britain’s rarest birds sits on recently laid eggs – a red-throated diver!
When the seal mother neglects to bite through the umbilical cord of her pup, she puts it in real danger of drowning. The Sea Eagle chicks have survived.
This pup is a lucky one, what a first day and at last, it gets its feed. Perhaps, it will live to see the summer after all. It’s not far away now. And the giants are almost here.
The tides of the Kyle Rhea Narrows sweep hundreds of mackerel to the surface every day providing rich feeding for many of the local animals.
70% of the barnacle geese from Greenland over-winter on Islay feeding on the lush grass of the local farmland.
Dirk Campbell is a marine biologist who now dives for scallops while monitoring fish stocks in the seas off the Treshnish Isles.
These islands, with their unique landscapes and spectacular wildlife, have been popular with visitors for a very long time.
Autumn is the time of the red deer rut on the island of Rum. An old stag overthrows the master to claim his harem of hinds.
The Hooper Swans and Barnacle Geese fly in to enjoy the bumper spoils of a wet barley harvest. We get a rare sighting of the reclusive Twight.
Summer sees the arrival, in the Hebrides, of Arctic Terns harried by the Great Skua or Bonxie.
On these islands are some of the largest seabird colonies in Europe. Northern gannets alone number more than 100,000 birds… the greatest gathering on the planet.
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