Do you want to get out and see more of Scotland’s exciting wildlife? Let’s make June the time to do it! Here are some suggestions from us on what to look out for.

What to see in Scotland this month VI

If you’re a fan of outdoor swimming in Scotland even with our less than toasty climate – good for you! But if you’re not, this next sentence might not help you.

Did you know that the seas just off the Scottish coast are home to the second largest fish in the world? With a body the size of a bus and mouths large enough to hoover you up whole, basking sharks are a truly impressive sight. 

Basking shark, Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)

But fear not! Despite reaching lengths of up to 33ft these ‘gentle giants’ don’t actually have any teeth and only feed on plankton to fuel their colossal forms.

Summer is the best time to see basking sharks – particularly around the outer Firth of Clyde and in the waters around the Isle of Coll and the Isle of Tiree from the end of May or start of June. These secretive creatures spend most of their lives deep under water, out of sight, but during summer they’ll come to the surface to feed on plankton.

As well as the seas, you’ll want to keep your eyes on the skies this month too. Scotland gets a good number of summer migrants; birds which arrive here to breed before leaving our shores for warmer climes come autumn.

Swallows on a wire, David J Slater (rspb-images.com)

Swallows and martins, warblers, flycatchers, wheatears, whinchats, redstarts, nightingales, yellow wagtails, tree pipits, cuckoos, swifts, terns and Manx shearwaters are just some of the species to spend the summer here.

Swallows are a species a lot of us will be familiar with. They were originally cave-nesters before switching to man-made structures. It’s thought this probably happened as brick built houses became more prevalent. These little birds are remarkably versatile when it comes to choosing a nest site and have been reported in roof spaces, manholes, on beams and ledges, and one nest was even discovered attached to a paddle steamer.

Swallows are reasonably easy to identify – they have a deeply forked tail, long tail streamers, and are a sort of blue-black colour on top with a reddish brown face. Look out for them perched atop telephone wires – it’s one of their favourite places to sit!

Finally for this month comes machair. If you get a chance to see this beautiful and fragile habitat during June, or later in the summer, you should take it. 

Machair habitat, Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)

Machair is a Gaelic word meaning fertile low lying grassy plain. It’s a coastal habitat, rich in shell-sand soil that comes alive with a huge array of rare flowers in spring and summer. The combination is so unusual that it is confined to only a few places including north-west Scotland, many of the Inner Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland, and the Isle of Lewis.

Happy wildlife watching everyone and we’ll be back with a new blog next month.