Island Hopping in the Outer Hebrides - July 2026

By Sally Nowell

Well, what a fabulous start to our inaugural  ‘Island Hopping’ holiday. We began in Inverness and made our way down the south side of Loch Ness. In the cool morning we passed Stonechats and Wheatear and caught sight of a fishing Osprey and at Loch Ruthven we enjoyed views of stunning Slavonian Grebe. We made our way to our hotel in Mallaig, with sunset views overlooking Eigg and Rum.

On day two we boarded our private charter boat which took us around Eigg and Rum and into the south of Skye. We had a beautiful day at sea enjoying some astonishing scenery and wildlife. Highlights included White-tailed Eagle, Manx Shearwater, Bonxie, bow-riding Common Dolphin and glorious weather.

On day three we headed off on our charter boat again. The morning started out rather damp and gloomy, but before too long the clouds parted and we are once more blessed with blue skies. We zipped out past Eigg and Rum towards Canna and enjoyed watching feeding seabirds off the cliffs and were particularly thrilled to see two Minke Whales feeding with them. Afterwards we enjoyed a couple of hours ashore for lunch and a walk. In the bay families of Eider gathered and we had some new wader species, Ringed Plover, Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit. 

We had a relaxed start to our fourth day and explored the beautifully scenic Loch Morar. It was real picture postcard stuff as we enjoyed a gentle stroll along the shore, before boarding the ferry to South Uist, with some seawatching enroute. Highlights of our ferry trip were a  huge pod of Common Dolphin, numerous ‘Bonxies’, Razorbill with young and a hot cup of tea. We landed in Lochboisdale and checked into our hotel on South Uist, where we experienced our first huge and delicious Hebridean meal.

The next day, we soaked up the delights of South Uist, including a trip to the coast and the mountains, eight White-tailed Eagles, glorious dragonflies, Short-eared Owls and some spectacular wildflowers in the Hebridean machair. A surprise Corncrake fly past seen by one guest and a Storm Petrel seen just offshore, were some of the day’s other highlights. We spent another day in the calm and peaceful ambiance of South Uist wandering along deserted beaches and through fields of wildflowers. We had Golden Eagle, Peregrine, Hen Harrier, Kestrel, Buzzard and White-tailed Eagle within a couple of hours, oh and an Otter too! A definite highlight of the day was Craig’s excitement at finding a ‘By-the-wind-sailor’. Look it up, it’s an amazing thing!!

Common Dolphin

Sea Gooseberry

By-the-wind-sailor

Island Hopping

We left South Uist and made our way north to catch our ferry to Harris. Enroute we had a fabulous view of a Hen Harrier and very excitingly a Red-necked Phalarope with a tiny, tiny chick. We next headed to beautiful Balranald for lunch and then on to Lochmaddy to catch our ferry, before settling into our hotel in Tarbert, where we had an exquisite local seafood meal. Our next day was spent at sea and what a day!!! This was either everyone’s ‘favourite place’, or ‘magic moment’ - we visited ‘The Shiants’. To say we were blown away is an understatement. We saw thousands of birds and what was most spectacular and memorable was seeing ‘mummerations’ of Puffins wheeling up over their breeding terraces, literally filling the sky, going out over the sea and then lifting in huge rafts. This went on over the several hours we spent on these extraordinary islands. It was simply jaw-dropping!

On the final day of our ‘Island Hopping’ adventure we left our rather excellent hotel on the Isle of Harris and headed to the famous and stunningly beautiful Luskentyre Beach. A highlight there was a juvenile White-tailed Eagle and Craig finding a glorious Sea Gooseberry, a tiny Comb Jelly that looks like clear crystal - so beautiful. There followed a dash to the Stones of Callanish and then on to our ferry from Stornaway, Isle of Lewis to Ullapool on the mainland. In the bay we were thrilled to see five Risso’s Dolphins before the ferry left. Our fabulous holiday sadly came to an end in Inverness - what an amazing time was had by all.

If you would like to join our next Island Hopping in the Outer Hebrides trip, you’ll find further information and bookings here. Please email us or phone 01479 812498 if you have any queries.