Try your luck at spotting the top 20 and the mythical 'Boobrie' in the Highlands this autumn
Yes, we know – ‘please don’t wish the summer to be over already’ we hear you cry. And we do concur. But, it is worth getting these thoughts in early if you are wondering where to go this Autumn for a well earned break away from it all. Accommodation and Tours do book up early.
The Scottish Highlands are beautiful, and offer romantics of the present day and of myth and legend something different. One such challenge is to spot the Top 20 birds and mammals. For those who believe a little further, you may like to go in search of the legendary Boobrie.
The Boobrie is a mythical water bird of Scottish Highlands folklore. Said to be similar to a Great Northern Diver but with white markings and the ability to roar. It is said to haunt lochs and salt wells while very long heather was the natural resting place and shelter of the Boobrie.
According to the most authentic reports, the animal was endowed with the power of assuming at pleasure the forms of three different animals. Those of a most enormous and ferocious water-bird, of a water-horse and of a water-bull.
The Boobrie as a water-bird has wings that appear to have been given by nature more for the purpose of assisting him in swimming under water, than flying. He is larger than seventeen of the biggest eagles put together. His neck is two feet eleven inches long, and twenty-three inches in circumference, his bill is about seventeen inches long, black in colour, measuring round the root about eleven inches; for the first twelve inches the bill is straight, but after that assumes the shape of an eagle's and of proportionate strength. His legs are remarkably short for his size, black, and tremendously powerful. The feet are webbed till within five inches of the toes, which then terminate in immense claws of most destructive nature. The print of his foot on the mud at the end of the lake (as accurately measured by an authority) covers the space generally of the span of a large wide-spreading pair of red deer's horns.
The sound the Boobrie utters resembles that of a large bull in his most angry humours, but much superior in strength. The favourite food of the Boobrie is the flesh of calves; failing them he feeds upon sheep or lambs, as suits him, or seizing his prey he carries it off to the largest neighbouring muir loch, swims out to the deepest part, where he dives, carrying his victim along with him, and there feeds, returning on shore at pleasure. He is particularly fond of otters, which he swallows in great numbers and with considerable avidity.
The Highlands are very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. Before the 19th century the Highlands was home to a much larger population, but due to a combination of factors including the outlawing of the traditional Highland way of life following the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the infamous Highland Clearances, and mass migration to urban areas during the Industrial Revolution, the area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe.
Scotland will forever be a outdoors enthusiasts dream and we will always go there with warm hearts and cold hands. And full glasses hopefully.
The Top 20 in full.
BIRDS
MAMMALS
The Scottish Highlands are beautiful, and offer romantics of the present day and of myth and legend something different. One such challenge is to spot the Top 20 birds and mammals. For those who believe a little further, you may like to go in search of the legendary Boobrie.
The Boobrie is a mythical water bird of Scottish Highlands folklore. Said to be similar to a Great Northern Diver but with white markings and the ability to roar. It is said to haunt lochs and salt wells while very long heather was the natural resting place and shelter of the Boobrie.
According to the most authentic reports, the animal was endowed with the power of assuming at pleasure the forms of three different animals. Those of a most enormous and ferocious water-bird, of a water-horse and of a water-bull.
The Boobrie as a water-bird has wings that appear to have been given by nature more for the purpose of assisting him in swimming under water, than flying. He is larger than seventeen of the biggest eagles put together. His neck is two feet eleven inches long, and twenty-three inches in circumference, his bill is about seventeen inches long, black in colour, measuring round the root about eleven inches; for the first twelve inches the bill is straight, but after that assumes the shape of an eagle's and of proportionate strength. His legs are remarkably short for his size, black, and tremendously powerful. The feet are webbed till within five inches of the toes, which then terminate in immense claws of most destructive nature. The print of his foot on the mud at the end of the lake (as accurately measured by an authority) covers the space generally of the span of a large wide-spreading pair of red deer's horns.
The sound the Boobrie utters resembles that of a large bull in his most angry humours, but much superior in strength. The favourite food of the Boobrie is the flesh of calves; failing them he feeds upon sheep or lambs, as suits him, or seizing his prey he carries it off to the largest neighbouring muir loch, swims out to the deepest part, where he dives, carrying his victim along with him, and there feeds, returning on shore at pleasure. He is particularly fond of otters, which he swallows in great numbers and with considerable avidity.
The Highlands are very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. Before the 19th century the Highlands was home to a much larger population, but due to a combination of factors including the outlawing of the traditional Highland way of life following the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the infamous Highland Clearances, and mass migration to urban areas during the Industrial Revolution, the area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe.
Scotland will forever be a outdoors enthusiasts dream and we will always go there with warm hearts and cold hands. And full glasses hopefully.
The Top 20 in full.
BIRDS
- Capercaillie
- White-tailed Sea Eagle
- Golden Eagle
- Ptarmigan
- Black Grouse
- Crested Tit
- Scottish Crossbill
- Long-tailed Duck
- Velvet Scoter
- Iceland Gull
MAMMALS
- Pine Marten
- Otter
- Badger
- Red Deer
- Bottle-nosed Dolphin
- Red Squirrel
- Mountain Hare
- Grey Seal
- Harbour Porpoise
- Roe Deer
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