Small earthquake recorded in Scottish Highlands

The earthquake registered 2.9 on the Richter Scale and caused the ground to tremor in the Fort William and its surrounding areas

A small earthquake registering 2.9 on the Richter scale has been recorded in Fort William in the Scottish Highlands.

The quake happened on Thursday evening at around 18.30 GMT, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS).

The tremors from the earthquake were also felt in a number of other areas surrounding Fort William including Glencoe, Oban and Lochaber.

Despite being relatively low on the Richter scale, residents in the affected areas did report shaking houses and some heard loud bangs in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Twitter user TeresaKennedy11 posted: “Just had an earthquake or tremor here in Fort William. There was a big bang and the ground shuddered under my feet, Scary!!”, while @KyleFarningham posted “Not 100% sure but think there might have been a small #eathquake in Fort William.”

The earthquake in the Fort William area is the first one in Scotland since two equally small earthquakes hit the the Scottish Highlands last May, in Gairloch and Acharacle.

The largest earthquake ever to be recorded in the British Isles was the Dogger Bank earthquake in 1931, which registered at 6.1 on the Richter Scale.