New to the delights of Mull (1 Viewer)

[waddojohn]

Hi Guys,

I have been told that a visit to Mull is a must for raptors, so this is going to be my very first visit from the 22-26th May. Can anyone give me any advice as to whereabouts on the Island or which boat trips to take to fill a four day visit, I will be staying in Tobermoray.

Thanking you for your time and any help

Cheers
John

 

[delia todd]

Hi John

Four days isn't long enough:-O you'll love it and will want to return again... and again and...8-P

Here's the Opus article which gives lots of hints and at the bottom is a link to the excellent Mullbirds website.

D

 

[Geoff Pain]

Try Mull Charter for Sea Eagle they have one coming to the boat regularly.
www.mullcharters.com/blog/
www.mullcharters.com

 

[waddojohn]

Thanks you Delia and Geoff,

Unfortunately I wish I could have stayed for longer, all the more reason for coming back.

Thank you for all the information

Best Regards

John

 

[JTweedie]

Mull's great, I went there with Discover the World (although looking back if I'd booked various parts of the trip separately I could have saved money).

No doubt much of this will be covered in the articles and websites mentioned above, but in addition to a land safari around the island on which we saw Short-eared Owl, Peregrine, White-tailed Eagle, Hen Harrier, Otter, and many other species, we did the whale watching trips with Sealife Surveys (their boat and skipper has been featured on a few BBC programmes over the years), and it was second to none.

They gave us almost a full day on each trip, and this included trips to the Treshnish Isles for numerous seabirds including Puffin, Manx Shearwater and Pomarine Skua on passage. Plenty of views of Minke Whales, Common Dolphins, Harbour Porpoises and if you get a chance to visit the Cairns of Coll take it, as they're some of the most peaceful locations you'll find in the UK.

The good thing about them is they're actively involved in research, counting and recording the cetaceans seen, so you can contribute to this too.

 

[waddojohn]

Yes you were Right

Hi Guys,
You were indeed right, i will have to come back and be better prepared, as my Bigma 50-500mm lens for my camera developed a fault and was difficult to focus (I dont use AF at all) so its now getting repaired. On our last day before going to get the ferry, we get some of the best ever views of the Goldie struggling with its prey, and my wife and myself were the only ones there to witness the event. The Goldie took about 20 mins of zig zag flying to get its prey to the nest with lots of stops on the way up. Its prey was a black faced Lamb, I have had to really over crop to get the image as the bird was a long way from my position, if you know the spot you know the difficulty.
Thank you again for all your help
Regards

John

 

[bitterntwisted]

John,

Glad you had such a great time on a beautiful island. Can I politely suggest you edit the above post so as not to disclose a breeding location of a schedule 1 species.

Thanks,
Graham