Residents shaken and stirred as 6am quake hits quiet Highland village

The quake, which measured 3.5 on the Richter scale, struck Glenuig, an isolated village of around 30 residents in Moidart, west Lochaber, in the early hours.

Tremors could be felt as far away as Fort William, Skye and Inverness.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the quake was classed as minor and was unlikely to cause any damage.

It is the largest earthquake recorded in the area since January 2008, when a tremor of the same magnitude was recorded near Glenfinnan.

It comes two weeks after residents in the North Yorkshire town of Ripon experienced a similar-sized quake on 4 January - while on Boxing Day, another earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale shook parts of Dumfries and Galloway.

Many people were still in their beds yesterday when the latest tremors began shortly before 6am.

However, Stewart Duncan, 45, of Victoria Road, Fort William, said he had just got up when he heard a loud rumbling sound.

"It was a big, constant, grumbling noise," he said.

"My wife was still in bed and she thought I had put the washing machine on."

He added: "About 6:30am I heard an RAF helicopter go past and I thought it must have been that that I had heard. But then the kids came home in the afternoon and told me there had been an earthquake."

Ken Bowker, of Glenuig, said: "I was in bed when it happened. It sounded like thunder and the house shook. This is an old house and a lot of it stands on rock.

"A lot of people heard it, but I don't think anybody else's house shook. Things rattled, bits of pots and things that were next to each other. It went on for about ten seconds - but it wasn't Pompei."

Eoghan Carmichael, also of Glenuig and also in bed when the quake struck, said: "I heard a rumble, but I thought it was water in the tank."

Steve Macfarlane, manager at the historic Glenuig Inn, said: "I was lying in my bed having a dream, then the next thing I heard a noise and a shake which I couldn't quite place - I had no idea what it was until I saw a news alert on my phone and realised it was the earthquake which had woken me up.The dog wasn't too impressed, either."

He said that customers in the supermarket in Mallaig had been talking about the event.

"Everyone was comparing notes - some had woken up and some had slept through the entire thing," he said.

"Some people said they heard it and started panicking because they thought something was sliding off the roof."

He added: "Soldiers tried to burn the roof here at the inn in 1746, and the place survived that. Now it's survived an earthquake."

Another resident, who slept through the event, said: "This has been one of the most exciting things to happen here for a while, and I missed the whole thing. Gutting."

Seismologist Davie Galloway said the UK tended to experience such earthquakes on average about once a year.

He said: "This quake was recorded on our instruments in Wales and in Shetland, but it was actually felt by people in Inverness.

"We had a few calls from people who said they felt a vibration in their beds, and also from people who said their cats were going mad."

Mr Galloway said the quake originated ten miles below the ground.

He added: "Britain is criss-crossed by many geological faults, but fortunately we are some distance away from the plate edges where most activity is experienced."

Brian Baptie, also a seismologist at the BGS, said: "Because of the time it happened, an earthquake of this size could have shaken beds and woken people up. It would have caused pictures to wobble, and doors to swing and objects to rattle."

He added that the organisation had received a number of e-mails from people who experienced the quake.