WILDLIFE
Wildlife Watch at The Ferry
The Ferry and her slipways either side of the Kylerhea Narrows are a great place for wildlife spotting.
On a daily basis grey seals can be seen fishing in the deep, narrow sound, particularly on a flood tide (coming in) which brings a plethora of mackerel amongst other fish for the picking. They are curious animals and often come close to the slipways to get a good view of the goings on. It’s hard to determine sometimes who exactly is watching who!
Dolphins are seen too with the occasional pod diving around the ferry to the delight of passengers and crew.
Enormous basking sharks also take the route via the sound to sieve up the plentiful plankton – a sight that will really knock your socks off.
Many different varieties of sea birds are common in and around the narrows.
Among the frequent visitors are oyster catchers, on the rocks and shore, shags, cormorants, gulls of all sorts, shearwaters and many others.
Eagles, buzzards and over the last few years ospreys have returned to the narrows.
The king among them all, of course, has to be our resident sea eagles.
The pair have fledged chicks in the locale for the last decade and recently raised youngsters. They take their parenting very seriously and can be seen daily around the narrows harrying gulls on the flood tide to release their hard won catches to take home to feed the hungry nest occupants!
They put on a spectacular show each day and the ferry skipper is only too happy to spend a little longer on the crossing to provide an excellent view of this most majestic of birds.
OTTERS
Otters can be seen also, although they are notoriously shy creatures and you need patience and a little luck to secure a sighting. It remains difficult to this day to mention otters in Glenelg without bringing to mind the author Gavin Maxwell who lived around these parts for many years.
Gavin Maxwell’s Sandaig
Famed author of Ring of Bright Water among others lived locally and was resident just down the coast at Sandaig. Visitors can walk down to Sandaig via the forestry path accessed from the road beyond Eilean Reach. If you’re visiting Kyle you can also visit the Bright Water Centre and learn more about Maxwell’s work.
Islands on the Edge
Ewan McGregor narrates this BBC documentary showing the sea eagle in spectacular form at the narrows, viewed from the ferry with Senior Skipper Donovan having a starring role.