The Boobrie
The boobrie
is a legendary creature inhabiting the lochs in the west coast of Scotland. It is
described as normally looking like a giant bird but sometimes looks like a water bull. A shape shifting entity. . It
can also manifest as a water horse .
It tends to be aggressive preying on livestock being
transported across the lochs and also eats otters. Sometimes in the summer it
appears as a giant insect sucking the blood of horses
The folklorist John Campbell of Islay, wrote an account of the
size of the boobrie provided by a witness
.It is claimed to be "larger than seventeen of the biggest eagles put
together".It has a strong black beak about 11 inches wide and 17 inches in length, the final 5 inches of which taper like that of an eagle. The
creature's neck is almost 3 feet long
with a girth of a little under 2 feet . Short black powerful legs lead to
webbed feet with gigantic claws.”
A footprint
of a boobrie's foot fond in some mud by
a loch was said to equal "the span
of a large wide-spreading pair of red deer's horns".
He also wrote
that it bellowed loudly when angry.
The West coast sea lochs are its preferred home.
The great auk,now extinct, is thought by some to be the source
of a number of boobrie sightings due to its large size and similar colour.
I am surprised it hasn’t been cited as an explanation
for Nessie. Its probably the only thing that hasn’t !
Campbell, John
Francis (1860), Popular Tales of the West Highlands, vol. I, Edmonston and Douglas
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