Isle of Jura Wildlife Guide

So, I am just back from a wonderful 4 days photographing wildlife on the remote Isle of Jura. It took a three hour drive and two ferries to get there but was so worth the effort. So I thought I would pull together a brief Isle of Jura Wildlife Guide for you.

Video of Isle of Jura Wildlife

The trip was incredible. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to (re)launch my YouTube channel. I decided to share a video of the wildlife encounters that I had there. This is a brand new venture for me. I would love to share more wildlife sightings in Scotland through this outlet. Let me know what you think. If you can, please like, subscribe, and comment on the video. Your engagement really helps me get noticed by the algorithm that rules YouTube.

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Red Deer

This Isle of Jura wildlife guide would not be complete without mentioning red dee. Jura is known for having lots of deer. Estimates online say there are about 6-7,000 deer. The head stalker for the estate there told me there are more like 5000 deer. The Scottish government has encouraged them to reduce numbers. We (my wife and I) were certainly not disappointed. We had several great sightings of red deer all over the island every day.

There was one stag we came across which was particularly relaxed and tolerant. This allowed me to approach from different angles. It shows how different shots of the same target can be when you change the light angle. These shots were taken at the same time of day, and they are all full colour, not black and white.

Another goal of mine was to capture more environment shots. I wanted to show the deer in their habitat. I also aimed to showcase the scenery of the island.

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Birding

There were lots of nice birds around too including a couple of views of Male Hen Harriers.

In fact talking of birds, we had one amazing sighting from the ferry on the way out. A small falcon briefly shadowed the boat. It happened as we crossed from Jura to the mainland. It was a Merlin, our smallest bird of prey.

Another bird we had quite a few sightings of was the impressive and mighty White Tailed Eagle. This mighty bird seems to be crowding out the Golden Eagle on Jura.

If you are interested in birding on Islay and Jura then I recommend this book.

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Otter

Lastly, we spent a decent amount of time looking for the telltale signs of an otter. These signs typically include the V-shaped wake in the water and the disappearing tail.

We had sightings of Otter most days. Still, after researching and scouting locations, we managed to have a truly sustained sighting. We spent about an hour and 45 minutes with a mother and cub.

After a while, we got to know each individual. We started to predict their behavior, like where they would come ashore. This led to a sustained photography session. We took fill the frame shots at 700 mm with both the Mum and Pup.

This was my highlight of our 4 days on the Island. Please watch the YouTube video above to see some of the video footage I managed to capture. A real highlight of my Isle of Jura wildlife guide video.

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Seals

There were other sea mammals around of course including Common Seals. The sunrise providing particularly good light one morning which was good fun to capture the seals hauled out on rocks.

Jura is a great island for sustained wildlife encounters, if you haven’t been I encourage you to visit. If you have enjoyed this Isle of Jura wildlife guide, I want to let you know that I offer bespoke wildlife and photography guiding services on Jura and other Scottish Islands. Please do get in touch if you are interested in this.