Norfolk Revisited
30th July 2025
Having left booking a place up on Shetland a bit too late, Judith and I decided to go somewhere neither of us had visited before. The Isle Of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides.
Technically I had been to Lewis before, albeit never leaving the ferry; as a foot passenger from Ullapool aboard the CalMac service on a calm day, looking for cetaceans with friends. And these were high on the hit-list for the week planned on the island, along with anything else we might happen upon.
Setting off early on the Friday morning, we were at the port in Ullapool in good time, and were first in the line for the crossing. Time for a coffee from a nearby cafe, and to spend a few moments admiring the waters and views from the front.
I'd not been over on this crossing as a vehicle driver before, and it was unusual to be ushered into a mezzanine level on the ferry, raised up above the main deck. Clearly wouldn't be the first off it! No matter, we weren't in any hurry.
The crossing was pretty calm and we spent the entirety of it glued to the safety railings on the outside viewing deck, looking for cetaceans. We saw plenty of dolphins but the seas were just a bit too choppy for us to see any whales, something Judith had never laid eyes on before. I think I glimpsed a minke whale, but trying to point it out from a fast moving ferry at distance, was impossible, and I never saw it resurface.
By the time we'd disembarked the ferry, visited Tesco for the weekly supplies and then driven across the island, it was almost time to access the cottage, but on arrival it was clearly still being cleaned, so we continued round the coast to a nearby beach.
We had wondered with it being during the summer holidays if the beaches might have been busy, but despite it being warm and sunny, there were only a few small groups around the white sands, and a few adventurous folk making the most of the turquoise waters. We found some rocks at one end to admire the view and peer into any rock pools, in search of any critters lurking within.
Dragging ourselves away from the heavenly beach, we returned to the cottage and settled in. We'd booked it for the view, and it didn't disappoint. The house itself could probably do with some TLC, but with that view, it mattered not, and it was well equipped and comfortable.
I had read online that the area where we were staying might be good for golden eagles, but it was still a surprise to watch one fly across the loch beyond the conservatory, and then circle back over the hillside along the road, and fly past behind the cottage. Not great light for images, but awesome to see.
We both decided it'd be good to begin the visit by exploring what was on our doorstep, so went for a drive towards a local beach. It was warm already and would be perfect weather for strolling along the shore. Then something caught our attention - a large bird perched on a mound not far from the road. Initially we thought golden eagle, but on closer inspection it was a juvenile white-tailed eagle.
After getting some images from the road, we opted to creep a bit closer and peer over some rocks, for a better view. The eagle looked at us but didn't seem bothered. Eventually it took off, flew past us and off to soar high over the beach we were supposed to be visiting.
Turning into another road that rolled down to the headland, we clocked another large bird in flight. Having just seen the white-tailed eagle, we assumed it was the same one, but something was different about it, and I grabbed my bins for a better view.
An adult golden eagle, and it was flying above the road towards us. As there was no one around, we parked up in the road, and jumped out. It's the first time I've hit the buffer on my Canon R5 mk2! The eagle flew around us, heading to some masts on the top of the hill, where it joined up with its partner, and they circled for a while.
After that excitement, we decided it was time to head to the beach, and stopped again when we saw a female merlin hurtling low across the moors, carrying prey. Lost from sight over a hill, alas, but what a first morning!
The remainder of the day was spent enjoying the warm weather, paddling in the sea, watching terns and gannets feeding just off shore, and drinking in the incredible views of the first beach, and some of the views along the coast from there.
The island seemed to feel less man-managed than Mull does, which sounds a little critical, and it's not meant in that way at all. I love Mull but there is a lot of sheep farming and woodland plantations on the island, whereas on Lewis, perhaps because of the location and harshness of climate, meant more of it had been left for nature to manage.
Whales were the target for the week, and after seeing a promising post on a social media site about one of the whale watching locations on Lewis, we were driving east across Lewis, back through Stornoway and then out to Tiumpan Head, near a lighthouse.
Parking up beside the road, we were lucky to find ourselves beside a local who was already looking excited about the sightings in front of us. Now I'm quite dismissive of minke whales, because mostly they just surface briefly and are gone again. I've seen one breaching from afar (from the Sealife Mull trip), but compared with the humpbacks, they're not so exciting.
But I had to eat my words, as the area of sea around us was like a minke soup! They were everywhere! For a first sighting of a whale, this was pretty incredible. Literally everywhere you looked, you would see one pop up either to breathe or to lunge-feed.
And in addition, there were pods of dolphins around, mainly commons but also the pale skinned Rissos, and seabirds too, gannets diving into the water, and kittiwakes and gulls picking fish off from near the surface. And because of them, I could see skuas hunting too, both great and Arctic skuas harassing the seabirds.
Still photography seemed a waste, so I switched to video mode, and took lots of clips of the whales. Alas I wasn't recording when Judith spotted a breaching humpback in the distance, and almost exploded with excitement. A real joy to see such a reaction, and I was quickly looking in the same direction to see it breach again.
Needless to say, we stayed for the rest of the day, finally dragging ourselves away when the tide had changed, and the action subsided. What an amazing place to visit.
Monday was supposed to be seeing the first of two boat trips, but a slight change in the weather forced the company to reschedule it to the following day, early evening. We decided to explore the north west coast of Lewis, and see what was around the Butt Of Lewis, another lighthouse at the most northerly point of the island.
The landscape along the way was quite different to where we were staying, quite flat with cliffs down to the sea. We did take a slight detour when we spotted a white-tailed eagle casually flying over a village! And paused again to watch a juvenile white-tailed eagle hunting. It picked something up from a field, but we were too distant to make out the prey. I thought perhaps a gosling, as there were many around.
The lighthouse was quite busy with folks, so we found a sheltered spot on the cliffs for lunch, and watched the seabirds passing by. No cetaceans that we could see though, despite lots of feeding frenzies by the birds out on the choppy water.
Coming back down the coast, I took a look in one of the RSPB hides, observing various ducks, herons, little grebes, greylag geese and whooper swans.
Calling into a cafe beside a beach and harbour for a coffee proved to be a good move, when we spotted some harbour porpoise in the bay. And provided some amusement when I got both splashed by a wave breaking on rocks near the harbour wall, and then found myself attached to the wall by a cord on my fleece, stopping me walking away. Stylish as ever!
With a weather front coming in, we briefly had a look at another RSPB location that promised phalaropes, but we couldn't see anything on the lochs, and the light was fading quickly. The cottage beckoned, and a glass of G&T in the conservatory.
As the boat trip was supposed to be going at 7pm, we spent the first part of the day at Tiumpan Head again, getting amazing views of a few pods of Rissos dolphins passing by. Strange looking dolphins, and because of their pale skin colour, visible when under the water swimming along.
I'd promised a lobster meal during the week, but finding anywhere that sold it wasn't easy. Langoustines weren't a bad substitute, so we visited a restaurant near the harbour in Stornoway for a seafood lunch, which ended with hysterics when Judith snapped one, flicking part of a claw several feet across the room.
Annoyingly after lunch we received another notification that the boat trip had been cancelled again due to a lack of clients, and offered another date later in the week. I rearranged the booking, and so as not to waste the day, we headed south to Harris for a look around.
Ice creams in Tarbert, followed by a tour around one of the most stunning places I've ever been to. So different to Lewis, with an almost "moonscape" feel to it, with little in the way of vegetation in some areas. But we were treated to glorious weather, and took quite a few phone shots of it all.
Midweek already, and time for another boat trip. Before that, we spent the morning mooching round the area near the cottage again, visiting the beach we'd gone to first, and exploring more of the rock pools.
The boat left on time, and we headed out to some sea stacks north west of where we were staying, sailing across the loch that the cottage overlooked. I had hoped for cetaceans on this one, but we spoke to one of the crew who said that the east coast was best for them, so it was more of a bird trip. We spotted an adult white-tailed eagle flying away from one of the islands we visited, but it was going fast, so no chance of the boat being able to follow.
Gannets, skuas, kittiwakes, terns and puffins were the stars of the show, with a lone peregrine on one island cliff. Plenty of seals around too, and the views were gorgeous.
Lots of black guillemots fishing too, which were a welcome sight.
That day ended with an exquisite meal at the local restaurant (Uig Sands) where we enjoyed some fantastic food. As I was driving, I opted for the low alcohol beers, and they're actually really good these days. These were from the Black Isle Brewery, just over the water from home!
Our last full day, and the boat trip was rearranged again! Thankfully this time they'd secured enough punters to go out, and we set sail from Stornoway, after spending a few hours in the morning, again at Tiumpan Head (definitely a favourite location from the trip!).
The water was pretty calm and we skimmed the surface in our rib, watching squadrons of gannets flying past, heading to fish somewhere, or perhaps heading back to their nests, with bellies full of fish.
While the humpbacks failed to put in an appearance during the trip, we did get to see several minkes and loads of dolphins. And because we were on a rib, we were low down for the views - it was a fab trip and I wished I'd chosen to risk a camera on it, instead of just taking my phone. There was never any risk of getting it wet.
The day ended back at Tiumpan Head, for another view of the seas we'd just been zipping across. Unfortunately, the wind dropped and the midges came out to play, so we were soon heading back to the safety of my car.
And as quickly as we guessed it might, the week was over, and we were sailing back across towards Ullapool, again looking for cetaceans... back to my home for a week of further adventures in the Scottish Highlands. Not a bad place to call "home".
