Wild Skye

An Island and its Wildlife

The first comprehensive natural history of the Isle of Skye, covering geology, palaeontology, flora, fauna and human history.
Authoritative coverage of Skye’s world-class dinosaur sites and fossil record, including the latest discoveries.
Richly illustrated throughout with outstanding photography of Skye’s wildlife, landscapes and fossils.

Subject: ornithology-birds-birdwatching natural-history wildlife-travel

Tags:

birds
Coming Soon
hebrides
islands
mammals
marine life
natural history
skye
wildlife

Description

Few places on earth pack so much natural drama into so small a space as the Isle of Skye.

Wild Skye is the first book to bring together the full natural history of this extraordinary Scottish island, from its volcanic origins and world-class dinosaur fossils to its golden eagles, otters, cetaceans and ancient human landscapes. Drawing on deep local knowledge and illustrated throughout with superb photographs taken on Skye, it celebrates the island’s most important and iconic wildlife.

The book opens with Skye’s dramatic geological story – its ice-age origins and volcanic fire – before moving through the island’s astonishing palaeontological record, including its globally significant Jurassic dinosaur sites. Subsequent chapters explore how human settlement has shaped the landscape over millennia, then survey the living island in rich detail: its varied flora; birds of mountain, moor and coast; land mammals including red deer, pine marten and otter; marine life from seals to the minke whale; invertebrates; reptiles and amphibians; and the remarkable aerial spectacle in the skies above.

Wild Skye will appeal to anyone with a love of this extraordinary island: visitors and residents alike, birdwatchers, wildlife enthusiasts, walkers and those who simply want to better understand the wild world around them.

DOI: 10.53061/VUCU2982

About the Author

David Blakesley is a naturalist and writer with a particular passion for Skye’s wildlife and landscapes. His academic career included a lectureship in horticulture and research on tropical and UK habitat restoration. David also co-founded Autism and Nature, an organisation that was dedicated to engaging children with special educational needs and disabilities with the natural world. He has published widely, including academic and popular books, and most recently a children’s novel on Skye’s dinosaurs.

Robert McMillan is a retired police officer who moved to Skye in 2004 and has since dedicated himself to ornithology. He has served with the Scottish Raptor Study Group, Scottish Ornithologists’ Club and British Trust for Ornithology, and has published and contributed to numerous ornithological papers and the annual Highland Bird Report. In 2005 he published Skye Birds, now in its third edition, and maintains the long-running website www.skye-birds.com.

Tone Blakesley is a researcher and postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh whose fieldwork on Skye has described a new dinosaur track site and several dinosaur bones, published in PLOS One. Tone has also produced a feature-length documentary on the discovery, and has designed books and educational resources on natural history.