Mike, Richard, James and the team - What a great production. Top quality video and amazing footage, sound and Mike is getting the hang of this presenter malarky. All aspects covered and very interesting. Very well put together. A pleasure to watch. Nice to see a different angle of diversification covering the amazing Isle of Arran, and its wildlife, and bringing attention to the life cycle and natural species which are indigenous to the Island. Glad to see Red squirrels and the pair of eagles. Thanks
Class. As I'm from Inishbofin off Galway, Ireland, and doing nature restoration on my family land, this is inspirational. I look forward to visiting there.
Been going to Arran regularly since before I was a year old, and I don't think I've ever seen an otter in the wild there. A wee bonus fact on the Scotland In Miniature point: the Highland Boundary fault, the very literal dividing line between the Highlands and the Lowlands, cuts through the middle of Arran with about the same ratio on each side as it does the whole rest of the country.
In 2011 I did an internship via an EU programm in Glasgow. On one weekend I decided to visit Arran. Without much in the way of mobility or planing. After visiting a castle next to the Ferry town I thought I just walk a bit higher up to have a better look around before going back to the ferry. And then I went up a bit higher, a bit higher and after quite some walking/climbing I even reached the top of Goatfell Mountain :) Which for me as a German from the very flat noth sea coast, was quite an achivement. Which totaly killed me for the rest of the weekend and much of the next week :)
Nice video of the wild life in Arran. The camera work was great, well done! The title and thumbnail are a bit misleading, I would have clicked earlier if it just said something like "amazing wildlife on Scottish island".
Great to see you advocating for native wildlife! Very surprised to see you take a positive endorsement of lynx and/or wolf reintroduction. Many landowners are against it and I hope you can inspire more support of the return of predators. Deer have decimated Scotland’s forests and lynx especially are forest hunters that would hunt deer who enter or get near forests
Hello, Canada here. Lynx are far too small and too light to take down a deer. They're the size of a large house-cat. Probably they eat voles, owls etc. I can look this up. But I won't. Because I'm from Canada ❤
@@jujitsujew23 Wolves would certainly be attracted by the smell of carp baits... And I certainly wouldn't want to be sat with my back to them, in the dark, looking like prey... With no way of defending myself, you can't even carry a hunting knife while fishing in the UK.
@@thebolsta you’re not listening, there has never been a recorded incident of a lynx attacking a human and a wolf attack a human once every 10 years or so. You’re FAR more likely to be stabbed by a family member or romantic partner than be attacked by a wolf, let alone a lynx attack…. Car accidents, slipping in the bathroom, falling down stairs…all much more common deaths than wolf attacks
@@NecroMorrius yes I’m aware, however in my belief “photography” has become an umbrella term in recent years that encompasses both. Modern cameras have become able to produce both brilliant photos and videos, so the line between a photographer and videographer has become thinner. Maybe you’ll disagree
Thank you so much Mike for such a lovely episode. This place is so beautiful and it's so great the work they're doing to protect it and the wildlife that lives there.😊
As a kid growing up on the Isle of Wight, I had no idea that there were grey squirrels, I thought they were all little red puffballs! We also have some cool birds of prey including red kites, buzzards and sea eagles. But we don’t have any deer (in the wild, there is a small farm) so we have some pretty impressive woodland too. We do have adders here too, but I’ve never been lucky enough to see one. We see quite a few slow worms though, beautiful legless lizards. And we have viviparous lizards, and Wall Lizards (although the latter is thought to be introduced).
In the early 1990s the people who created Arran distillery had to wait before they could build their buildings so that they didn't bother a couple of Golden Eagles (maybe during mating season or something, I don't remember all the details about the story); as the man in the video said, they live near Lochranza, where the distillery is. The distillery's logo has eagles on it in relation to that story. The whisky's great by the way ;)
In Cornwall I would often see adders, me leaving there 30 years ago. Now in the US I've seen garter snakes and the occasional black/rat/ black rat snake- I don't really know how long they 8-10 feet maybe. Those two are essentially non venomous but next door in Connecticut- and we're moving to the center of their holdout some day soon- there are timber rattlesnakes and maybe copperheads. Oh, I forgot to say, I hate snakes.
I was walking up Goatfell a couple of weeks ago wearing shorts. The heather has grown a lot since the last time I went up there. Had no idea there were snakes there! I'll be making an Arran episode for my channel soon too!
0-60 of a red squirrel? How much torque has snek got? Nice video. I live in North Wales, we've got a healthy population of red squirrels, we've got a load of adders too. There was talk of releasing a pair of golden eagles in Snowdonia too, don't know if they have though.
The human race have a lot to answer for, heaven forbid we are judged by a higher power for our past and current crimes against the animal kingdom alone. We would be given life in prison or even the death penalty. 😥
Just to let you know, they also have poisonous snakes adders in the island of White I know because when I was a kid I picked one up and got bit by it twice. I was in hospital for a week. I only let it go after the second bite it was on my hand it bit my little finger and my hand is swollen about four times it’s size and it was black underneath and the hospital had to give me injections
I loved this piece. i did not know much about scottish wildlife and was really insightful to have had just a look at them. Mike is right though, the seals really are just cute sea Doges
I will say that Scotland has impressive National Parks and Trusts, and the NTS - National Trust of Scotland ? - and wildlife management. We have same issue with red squirrels territory management, in Eastern Canada. We also re-introduced, into our national Parks, the wolf for the same reasons mentioned here. Contrary to popular opinion, Wolves do not take down ranched cattle in large numbers whatsoever. I would imagine tamed bears which eat human food or waste food are much more of a threat to wildlife management.
This might be quite niche but... Did anyone else see the thumbnail and assume it was about the Snake Island in the Black Sea and maybe it was a deep dive into the "Go f*** yourself Russian war ship" Just me?
I want James's Gin in Tasmania....there's an enormous amount, because you can use a basic spirit with botanicals and create a Gin (and our air and water is cleanest on the planet) so distilleries buy in the spirit, which is fine, add the botanicals, and legally as long as there's juniper and Coriander seeds, it can be called a Gin....Whiskey is different ....
introducing wolves and lynxes might be useful for over population but what about farms and the like? how would it effect them? not trying to spread hate or the like, just curious.
I foresee a day when "Ive Been Mike" is a MAJOR and highly sought after presenter of ALL manner of shows...perhaps the most famous presenter...in the world.
I was about to comment about there being a snake island in the Pacific Ocean, but when i looked it up to make sure i was remembering correctly i found out i was and that there are places called snaake island all around the planet. From Brazil to Ukraine to the seas directly around Asia on out into the Pacific Ocean.
as one of the few in Denmark to see a wolf after they got back in the country from Germany, please reintrocude them. they are gorgeous animals to behold (as no they wont eat youre babies) :D
