The Western Isles missed out on being part of the UK’s third sunniest January on record.

Persistent rain and clouds ensured the islands were the least sunny spot in the entire United Kingdom.

While some parts received more than 50% more hours of sunshine than usual, the Western Isles and most of the Highlands shivered their way through a predictably dull January thanks to almost continuous rain and cloud moving in from the Atlantic.

According to Met Office statistics, an average of 63.1 hours of sunshine were recorded across the UK last month, making it the third sunniest January after 1959 (69.7 hours) and 2001 (66.5 hours).

Though there were extra hours of sunshine, the mean UK temperature for January was 4.4C, just 0.4C above the long-term average.