Enjoying Mull

The ferry to Mull crossed the flat calm waters to Craignure.  There was hardly a cloud in the sky, it was going to be another hot and sunny day.  There are two landmarks, one on either side of the ferry that must be among the most photographed in the Scotland if not the World.  On the outward voyage, to starboard is Lismore Lighthouse.

Lismore Lighthouse

The other landmark on the port side is Duart Castle.  Unfortunately at the moment it is shrouded in scaffolding and is not photogenic so here is an image I have taken off their web site.

Duart Castle

My sister, Chris had booked a guided tour of the wildlife of Mull with a company called 'Enjoy Mull'  We were picked up from the ferry terminal in their minibus

Having the minibus is of course good advertising for the business but it has its down side.  More or less wherever it stopped so did other people on the basis that 'if a wildlife tour operator has stopped there must be something to see'.

Jacqui, the co-owner, driver and guide knew her stuff.  Thew first stop was to see an eagle at the Craignure golf course.  Jacqui had heard all the jokes like 'Are we going to see an albatross next'.  It was a White-tailed Eagles perched in the top of a pine. Too far away for a photo.  For some time it did nothing and we started to watch the other birds around the shore. Canada Geese and Greylag Geese

Canada Geese

Greylag Geese and Goslings

Suddenly the eagle took off and headed out to see.  It seemed, given the direct purposeful nature of its flight that it was headed across the Sound of Mull to Morven on the main land.

White-tailed Eagle over Craignure Golf Course

Halfway across the Sound it suddenly changed direction and dived into the sea to rise up again with a fish it had caught.  All this was seen through binoculars and even then the type of fish could not be identified, just guessed at, some sort of eel we think.  It flew back not to its tree but to the nearby nest.  The directness of its flight out to sea gave the impression that this was no opportunist catch.  The bird must have known the meal was there flown directly to it.  Definitely 'Eagle Eyed'.

Chris and I were not the only tourists on the bus.  James was the son of one of Jacqui's neighbours up from London was with us from the start.  We went back to the ferry terminal to pick up a couple from Hong Kong to complete the party.  They had flown into Edinburgh the day before, gone to Glasgow the stay the night because they were up to catch a 5.20am train to Oban that connected to the ferry that got into Craignure at 10.40. It was 30 C and raining in Hong Kong when the left.  It was 27.5C and sunny on Mull.

Mull was a Cloudless Cuckoo land.  We saw our first Cuckoo at the golf course.  During the day we saw another four and heard others.

The weather that had brought out the Cuckoos seemed to have kept in other birds.  Jacqui was fining it difficult to find birds for us to see.  Golden Eagles Hen Harriers and Short-eared Owls were not in their usual haunts and were keeping well out of sight at their nest sights.  We did manage to see another distant White-tailed Eagle and out of the blue whilst scanning the mountian tops for Golden Eagles a White-tailed Eagle flew right over our heads giving the best view of this magnificent bird that day.

There were other birds around.  We saw a Great Northern Diver, Buzzards and Grey Herons.  Were saw a variety of smaller birds such as Wheatear, Common Sandpiper, Skylarks, Stonechat and Meadow Pipits.  Most surprising was a bid bird and there were four of them in full display mode.

Peacock

They were not wild birds so I couldn't count it as a tick.

We found and watched an otter fishing, we saw Red Deer, close up.....

  .....and way up in the mountains.

There are three Red Deer in this photo

The hospitality side of the tour was good as well.  Tea, coffee and other drinks,  homemade biscuits and cake, home made soup and sandwiched for lunch and a lot of information about the island, its history, culture and folklore, you couldn't ask for more.

Any gripes? Just a couple.  The windows in the back of the minibus were tinted and fixed so taking photos from the back seats was problematical.  Some of the above shots were through the window.  I would have liked a bit of walking off the road to have been on the agenda.  I find that no matter how slowly you drive you can see more on foot.  That said would I go again .  Yes I would.

Just to finish this blog a few non wildlife photos from the day.

The Three Lochs

Our first ferry

Dunollie Castle, Oban

...and finally another picture of the Lismore Lighthouse, in the late afternoon sun.

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