Berneray Webcam – East Beach and Bays Loch, Outer Hebrides

The Berneray Webcam watches the East Beach from the north-eastern tip of Berneray, a small island in the Sound of Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. It is a moving camera, so the view changes from time to time. One framing looks across a bay with a seaweed-strewn shore to a low green headland, where grazing sheep show up as white specks beside a large stone building. Another looks over sand flats laced with shallow channels, a long sandbar and marram-covered dunes, with a grassy point to one side and hills on the horizon. Three Coralbox Gift Shop cameras in the tabs watch Bays Loch, the tidal bay that holds the island’s main fishing harbour.

About Berneray

Berneray covers 10.1 square kilometers (3.9 square miles) of the Sound of Harris, with North Uist to the south and Harris to the north, and the 2022 census counted 142 residents. Its highest point, Beinn Shleibhe, reaches just 93 meters (305 feet), so most of the island is low dune, machair and croft land inside the South Lewis, Harris and North Uist National Scenic Area. A causeway to North Uist was formally opened by Prince Charles in April 1999, twelve years after he spent time on Berneray working on a croft, and a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry links the island with Leverburgh on Harris.

The cameras come from two separate operators. The East Beach camera, the main view here, is run by East Beach Berneray as a non-profit hobby, and its site placed it at the most north-eastern tip of the island, looking south toward Uist. It is a pan-tilt-zoom unit, so the framing can change from one visit to the next. It streams around the clock over 4G, and its operator notes that dropouts and frequent power cuts can interrupt it.

The three tabs belong to Coralbox Gift Shop, a small independent shop on Berneray that owns and manages them. They look onto Bays Loch, home to a seal colony and the island’s main fishing harbour, though their exact positions on the shore are not published. The PTZ tab pans around the bay from dawn to dusk, then parks at a fixed position overnight. The Shore tab looks out across the sea past rocks and orange-brown wrack to a long breakwater with a light post at its end, and its date stamp wrongly reads 1970. The 180 tab is a wide panorama of the bay and sky.

Weather and Climate on Berneray

Long-term Met Office averages for these islands come from the South Uist Range station, farther down the chain. Over 1981 to 2010, January days averaged 7.7 C (46 F) and nights 3.1 C (38 F), while July and August highs reached only 16.1 C (61 F) with nights near 11.5 C (53 F). About 1,194 mm (47 inches) of rain falls in a typical year. The East Beach operator describes the site as very exposed, so expect choppy water whenever the wind gets up.

Spring warms slowly, with May highs around 12.9 C (55 F), and October still averages 12.2 C (54 F). Around the June solstice the sun is up for about 18 hours, so the cameras show daylight from early morning until late evening. By December that drops to about six and a half hours. Long winter nights suit the 180-degree tab: Coralbox says that on a clear winter night there is a good chance of catching a glimpse of the Northern Lights. Cloud and solar activity decide it, so treat that as a chance, not a promise.

Things to Do Near Berneray

Traigh Iar, the West Beach, is the island’s best-known sight: about 5 kilometers (3 miles) of wide white sand backed by dunes and machair, and often deserted. The waymarked Berneray Walk starts at the community center at Borve and climbs Beinn a’ Claidh to the standing stone at Cladh Maolrithe. A shorter walk from the road end at Bearsdaire leads up Beinn Ghainche for views over the east side of the island and the Sound of Harris.

The Berneray Historical Society runs exhibitions and a genealogy archive from the Nurse’s Cottage, open in the summer months. A cairn 2.36 meters (7 feet 9 inches) tall, unveiled in 1992, marks the birthplace of Angus MacAskill, born on Berneray in 1825 and the tallest Scotsman on record, and it matches his height exactly. The Gatliff Hebridean Hostels Trust runs a hostel in two restored blackhouses at the edge of the sea, and the CalMac ferry to Leverburgh makes a day trip to Harris easy.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

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• Bass Rock Webcam
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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Berneray located?

Berneray is in the Sound of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, between North Uist, which it is joined to by a causeway, and Harris, reached by ferry. Coralbox places it in the middle of the 140-mile (225-kilometer) chain of islands that make up the Outer Hebrides.

What can you see on the Berneray Webcam?

The main camera sits at the north-eastern tip of the island and moves between views of the East Beach area, from a bay and grassy headland to sand flats, a sandbar and dunes, with hills on the horizon. Three Coralbox tabs cover Bays Loch: a camera that pans the bay by day, a fixed shoreline view across the sea and a 180-degree panorama of the bay and sky.

What is the weather like on Berneray?

Mild, wet and often windy. Met Office averages from the South Uist Range give January highs of 7.7 C (46 F) and summer highs of 16.1 C (61 F), with about 1,194 mm (47 inches) of rain a year.

Can you see seals on the Berneray webcams?

Sometimes. Coralbox says the tidal Bays Loch is home to a seal colony and that seals and otters are occasionally spotted playing in the water. The PTZ tab, which pans around the bay during the day, covers the most water.

Can you see the Northern Lights from Berneray?

Possibly. Coralbox says that on a clear winter night there is a good chance of catching a glimpse of them, and its 180-degree camera takes in a wide sweep of sky over the bay. A display needs both solar activity and a break in the cloud.

How do you get to Berneray?

By road from North Uist across the causeway, which opened in 1999, or on the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry from Leverburgh on Harris.

Who runs the Berneray webcams?

Two separate operators. The East Beach camera is run by East Beach Berneray as a non-profit hobby, and the three Bays Loch cameras are owned and managed by Coralbox Gift Shop, a small independent gift shop on the island.

Why is the Berneray Webcam not showing anything right now?

The East Beach camera streams 24 hours a day over 4G, and its operator notes that it sometimes disconnects and that island power cuts are frequent. The feed returns once the camera reconnects. After dark all four views are naturally dim.

Source: East Beach Berneray and Coralbox Gift Shop