GO WILD – UP NORTH HIGHLANDS
NORTH BY NORTH WEST
Walking, bird watching, sharks and even whales – this area has got the lot
HOSTELS
TO VISIT Durness Youth Hostel Tel: 01971 511264 Achmelvich Beach Youth Hostel Tel: 01571 844480
disappointed as there are a number of wildlife gems to enjoy. Starting at the northern tip, the beach at Balnakeil by Durness is a wild and beautiful place. Walk out to the headland at Faraid Head where between April and mid August, you’ll find a small puffin colony. Puffins nest in burrows so keep well back from the burrow entrances as you
M
ake the journey to the north-west Highlands and you won’t be
don’t want to accidently crush the burrow and trap the chick. Heading south is the island of Handa which in summer comes alive with more than 200,000 seabirds, including the pirates of the sea, great skuas. Tis small island is managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and you can visit in summer via a short boat trip from Tarbet. North of Lochinver, Stoer Head is a good place to watch for
passing whales and basking sharks. If you’re lucky you might even see a whale breaching (see pic above)!
It’s not all happening out at sea though and a couple of good walks are up to the Bone Caves at Inchnadamph and up Stac Pollaidh (pictured) for great views across Assynt. Te distinctive mountains of this Geopark are home to iconic species such as red deer, golden eagles and red grouse.
Feeding mainly on sand eels, puffins waste no time in laying their eggs and rearing their young before disappearing back to sea again. Puffins start congregating in the waters around their breeding sites in April, and generally lay their eggs during May. Troughout June and early July, the birds are very active flying to and from their burrows with food for the chicks.
36 SCOTTISH HOSTELLER 2012
Spot them
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