Wildlife in Scotland

One of the best things about Scotland is the wildlife. Last week saw the end of a two-week wildlife festival in Dumfries & Galloway which is in south-west Scotland so I thought I would tell you a little about Scottish wildlife.

Here are 3 iconic Scottish animals that you might see in the Highlands:

Red Deer are the largest species of deer in the UK and the largest wild animal. In the summer they live up in the hills. In winter they come lower down and can often be seen on the side of the road. The male deer is called a ‘stag’ and the female is called a ‘hind’. You will probably see some deer on our course in July.

Golden Eagles are a very big bird of prey (a ‘bird of prey’ is a bird that kills other animals). The best place to see them in Scotland is in the Highlands. If we are lucky, we will see one or two on our course, but they will probably be very far away.

Salmon are amazing fish! The species of salmon in the UK is the Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) and people who enjoy fishing (people like me!) think it is the king of fish. They are really amazing creatures. They swim thousands of miles in order to reproduce (have babies) and we will hopefully see some jumping up waterfalls.

Highland Cows are not wildlife. They are domesticated animals but they are still famously Scottish. You will definitely see Highlands Cows if you come to Scotland and you want to see them!

Red Deer was taken by Sandchem and is available to view on Flickr. Golden Eagle was taken by Grynneman and is available to view on Flickr. Salmon Leaping was taken by Roy Lathwell and is available to view on Flickr. Highland Cow was taken by RebelXTious and is available to view on Flickr. All photos are reproduced here under a Creative Commons License.