Kylerhea is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Skye, in the Scottish Highlands

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

, overlooking Kyle Rhea, a strait

Strait

A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...

 splitting Skye from the Scottish mainland. A ferry service has linked Kylerhea with Glenelg

Glenelg, Scotland

-Geography:Glenelg is located by the Kyle Rhea narrows, where Skye is closest to the mainland. Road access is by the 339m Bealach Ratagain from Shiel Bridge, on the main Inverness to Skye road....

 on the mainland for centuries. The first car ferry was introduced in 1935, with a turntable

Turntablism

Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...

 located on the boat. Despite the existence of the now toll-free Skye Bridge

Skye Bridge

The Skye Bridge is a road bridge over Loch Alsh, connecting mainland Highland with the Isle of Skye, Scotland. It forms part of the A87. The bridge is located at around , with one pillar standing on the island of Eilean Bàn....

, this ferry service still runs during the summer months, due to its popularity as the more scenic and traditional route between Skye and the mainland.

This service is now community owned but used to be run by one Murdo Mackenzie for almost twenty years.

Kylerhea is well-known for its otter sanctuary. Cars can be parked on top of the hill and then a gentle stroll taken through the pine

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

 woods to the viewing hide, located in a good position overlooking the Kyle, the beach and the large white lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

. The otter

European Otter

The European Otter , also known as the Eurasian otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter and Old World otter, is a European and Asian member of the Lutrinae or otter subfamily, and is typical of freshwater otters....

s are difficult to spot as they are more secretive than the grey

Grey Seal

The grey seal is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large seal of the family Phocidae or "true seals". It is the only species classified in the genus Halichoerus...

 and common seals that can easily be seen basking on the shore. Other birds seen around the bay are cormorant

Great Cormorant

The Great Cormorant , known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds...

s, herring gulls and great black-backed gull

Great Black-backed Gull

The Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world, which breeds on the European and North American coasts and islands of the North Atlantic...

s. In the forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

 and moorland

Moorland

Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...

 higher up on the hill smaller birds are very common. Stonechats, willow warbler

Willow Warbler

The Willow Warbler is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and Asia, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia...

s and wood warbler

Wood Warbler

The Wood Warbler is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asia in the southern Ural Mountains...

s sing from perches just off the path but the robin

European Robin

The European Robin , most commonly known in Anglophone Europe simply as the Robin, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family , but is now considered to be an Old World flycatcher...

s and chaffinch

Chaffinch

The Chaffinch , also called by a wide variety of other names, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.- Description :...

es are far bolder and will hop around the path just two feet away from human visitors.