Otters. I absolutely love them. It’s one of those feel-it-in-your-chest-but-know-it’s-irrational things. I find it hard to put into words, but I love them. From their furry faces to their sleek little tails, I love them. Prior to coming to Scotland, I’d never seen one in the wild. Read on to find out how.

Otters have had a rough trot in the UK in recent history. Throughout the 20th century their populations throughout the region declined drastically due to poisoned waterways, baiting, and habitation reduction. However, relatively low population levels, isolation and pristine waterways have rendered Scotland a relative haven for the wee little beasts, and I was lucky enough to spot one near Kylerhea, in the far southwest of the Isle of Skye.

Kylerhea is located just over the Skye bridge, about 30 minutes south from Broadford (the second largest town on Skye). To reach Kylerhea, you’ll need to take the A87 south from Broadford until you come upon a winding road - this road is ‘unclassified,’ and hence has no name. You’ll need to follow this for about 20 minutes - the path is really treacherous, expect sharp curves, steep descents and some extreme gradients. We did it in our 5.5 m campervan and survived so in any car you will be fine. Despite the treacherous route, the views made it entirely worth it - thankfully I wasn’t driving at this stage and was able to bask in the natural splendour about me rather than focus on the road. However, after making a hairy descent down a final pass you’ll come upon the diminutive village of Kylerhea - before reaching this, take your first left towards the ‘Otter Hide carpark,’ which will be signposted.

After parking up, follow the trail along a ridge-line above the coast below for about 1.6 km’s - the track is really straightforward, and only forks once. You’ll be afforded some excellent views of the bay down below, and if lucky enough, could spot a dolphin, porpoise, or possibly even a whale en-route to the otter hide-out. You’ll come across the hide after making right at the only fork in the road. The hide itself is fairly cosy, and provides a commanding view of the bay and shoreline down below. There is a telescope to use to spy down onto the beach, and a series of benches from which to scan for sea-life. The thing to exercise now is patience - scan the shoreline directly below you, surrounding the lighthouse. There is a resident population of otters that live around the bay, and regularly feed on the shoreline, and the rocks just up the beach. We sat here for about half an hour before spying one - admittedly, it was a really brief glimpse, but heartily worth it. The experience of actually seeing one of these fellows gliding through the water below was fairly sublime, and one that I’d recommend to anybody. What I would state from the outset is that you are fairly far away from the otters in the hide (thankfully, for their wellbeing), so any glimpse you catch of them will be fairly microscopic and possibly brief. We strongly recommend that you take binoculars down and luckily for us a Scottish couple from Edinburgh had a pair they were willing to let us use while we all sat and waited. Exercise a wee bit of patience and you could also be lucky enough to spot one at the Kylerhea Otter Hide.

However, if looking for a slightly ‘closer’ encounter with an Otter, the Sea-Life Aquarium at Loch Lomond has a resident population of three otters that can be visited any day of the week for a fairly good price - I also indulged here and got to spend an awesome hour watching them gambol about - try and get there for 11 am for their feeding time as they get highly animated and playful.

Any questions, fire away down below!