Ruth Daniel
Well-known member
Magical Mull.
Hi everyone,
I know you're all probably sick of hearing all about the Isle of Mull so.........I'm going to tell you anyway!! lol!!
We crossed Loch Linnhe via the Corran ferry to Ardgour and then had a "quick" 30 mile drive to Lochaline where we were due to catch the Mull ferry to Fishnish....easily done in the 40 minutes we had before sailing!!!!!!....which would have been true had the road not turned into a "single track with passing places" at Loch Sunart....Howard put his foot down and we made the precarious dash with a few minutes to spare (Colin McRea would have been proud of him!! lol)
We boarded the ferry and climbed up onto the deck for our first proper glimpse of the island,the Sound of Mull was like glass with the early morning sunshine twinkling on the surface of it's calm waters which reflected the beautiful blue of the cloud free skies.(see pic 1)
Arriving at Fishnish we drove off towards Tobermory,we'd reached Salen when a group of people with scopes and bins drew our attention.We stopped and before we'd even got out of the car we could see what they were all watching....a Dog Otter in the bay,feeding and swimming beneath the seaweed!!! He was huge,so much bigger than the female with cubs that we'd been lucky enough to have seen on the mainland the week before.Common Seals were basking in the sunshine on some rocks a bit further out and Oystercatchers and Common Sandpipers were around in abundance.
We carried on and arrived soon in Tobermory a wonderful little place with charming coloured houses all along the sea front.(pic 2) We had a little retail therapy here and with some wonderfully tasty local Haddock and chips beside us set off back in the search of bigger "fish" in the shape of Eagles!!
We left the "main" road again at Salen and headed west on the B8035 soon reaching the coast and some of the most stunning cliffs I've ever seen.(pic 3) The road here was tortuous to say the least and some of the steep drops at the side didn't bare thinking about!!!!! lol! We parked up and walked onto the beach and just listened....silence,marvellous.Then a Cuckoo pierced the silence with it's echoey monotonous calling soon followed by the almost inevitable sound of the Oystercatchers.
We drove on and soon turned inland surrounded by the most amazing mountains towering all around us.(pic 4) Suddenly I saw what I thought was a Buzzard being mobbed by a Crow....but NO it was too big and it's wings were huge...we followed it for quite a while but couldn't stop as we had "white van man" up our tail!!
We eventually pulled into a lay-by and leapt out with bins as the bird was quickly disappearing out of view but we saw it long enough to see that it was in fact a Golden Eagle being mobbed by a Raven!!!!!!! A couple with scopes in the same lay-by confirmed our sighting and informed us that if we'd been 5 minutes earlier we'd have seen a White Tailed Sea Eagle pass through too!!!!! But we were ecstatic enough at just having seen the Golden Eagle......I couldn't believe the wingspan of it and how fast it could fly....amazing!!! We stayed a while but there was no sign of it returning so we carried on with our tour,stopping at every lochside and seeing Curlews,more Common Sandpipers,Red Breasted Mergansers and lots of Oystercatchers.
Heading for the ferry home now and whilst queuing saw Black Guillemots and Eiders in the sea the males looking splendid with their wonderful colours shing in the sunshine.
The whole day had gone by too quickly,we both left the island (pic 5) promising to return for a much longer stay on magical majestic Mull!
Hi everyone,
I know you're all probably sick of hearing all about the Isle of Mull so.........I'm going to tell you anyway!! lol!!
We crossed Loch Linnhe via the Corran ferry to Ardgour and then had a "quick" 30 mile drive to Lochaline where we were due to catch the Mull ferry to Fishnish....easily done in the 40 minutes we had before sailing!!!!!!....which would have been true had the road not turned into a "single track with passing places" at Loch Sunart....Howard put his foot down and we made the precarious dash with a few minutes to spare (Colin McRea would have been proud of him!! lol)
We boarded the ferry and climbed up onto the deck for our first proper glimpse of the island,the Sound of Mull was like glass with the early morning sunshine twinkling on the surface of it's calm waters which reflected the beautiful blue of the cloud free skies.(see pic 1)
Arriving at Fishnish we drove off towards Tobermory,we'd reached Salen when a group of people with scopes and bins drew our attention.We stopped and before we'd even got out of the car we could see what they were all watching....a Dog Otter in the bay,feeding and swimming beneath the seaweed!!! He was huge,so much bigger than the female with cubs that we'd been lucky enough to have seen on the mainland the week before.Common Seals were basking in the sunshine on some rocks a bit further out and Oystercatchers and Common Sandpipers were around in abundance.
We carried on and arrived soon in Tobermory a wonderful little place with charming coloured houses all along the sea front.(pic 2) We had a little retail therapy here and with some wonderfully tasty local Haddock and chips beside us set off back in the search of bigger "fish" in the shape of Eagles!!
We left the "main" road again at Salen and headed west on the B8035 soon reaching the coast and some of the most stunning cliffs I've ever seen.(pic 3) The road here was tortuous to say the least and some of the steep drops at the side didn't bare thinking about!!!!! lol! We parked up and walked onto the beach and just listened....silence,marvellous.Then a Cuckoo pierced the silence with it's echoey monotonous calling soon followed by the almost inevitable sound of the Oystercatchers.
We drove on and soon turned inland surrounded by the most amazing mountains towering all around us.(pic 4) Suddenly I saw what I thought was a Buzzard being mobbed by a Crow....but NO it was too big and it's wings were huge...we followed it for quite a while but couldn't stop as we had "white van man" up our tail!!
We eventually pulled into a lay-by and leapt out with bins as the bird was quickly disappearing out of view but we saw it long enough to see that it was in fact a Golden Eagle being mobbed by a Raven!!!!!!! A couple with scopes in the same lay-by confirmed our sighting and informed us that if we'd been 5 minutes earlier we'd have seen a White Tailed Sea Eagle pass through too!!!!! But we were ecstatic enough at just having seen the Golden Eagle......I couldn't believe the wingspan of it and how fast it could fly....amazing!!! We stayed a while but there was no sign of it returning so we carried on with our tour,stopping at every lochside and seeing Curlews,more Common Sandpipers,Red Breasted Mergansers and lots of Oystercatchers.
Heading for the ferry home now and whilst queuing saw Black Guillemots and Eiders in the sea the males looking splendid with their wonderful colours shing in the sunshine.
The whole day had gone by too quickly,we both left the island (pic 5) promising to return for a much longer stay on magical majestic Mull!
