Emma's Safaris

The Isle of Mull is somewhere that I had always longed to visit due to its rich variety of wildlife and breathtaking landscape. Phil was also extremely keen to visit this lovely place so we chose this as our Summer holiday destination for 2024.

Our trip was organised by Not Just Travel. I highly recommend the Lacey’s for all your travel needs because they are just amazing. If you have a budget and a rough idea of what you want to do and where you want to go, all you have to do is sit back and watch the magic happen.  I cannot recommend them highly enough. We simply wouldn’t have been able to replicate this adventure under our own steam. This time they use a company called McKinley Kidd who planned our previous Scottish trip. They really do have an amazing assortment of adventures so I recommend checking them out as well.

This time they use a company called McKinley Kidd who planned our previous Scottish trip. They really do have an amazing assortment of adventures so I recommend checking them out as well.

This trip we had some of the best wildlife encounters. There is just too much to share in one blog post alone so I shall split this up into a couple and share with you some of the stories of our time in this magical place. Keep an eye out for another blog post coming up, but for now I shall share the start of our story.

One morning at a very civilised time of 10.00am we met our guide Klay at the carpark in Tobermory and got into the 8 seater camper along with 4 other guests. This was a pre-booked trip with  Nature Scotland.

Within minutes we were driving through the most outstanding beauty. Mull is composed of beautiful mountainous landscapes that give way to ice blue streams, tall waterfalls and endless trees and grassland that eventually cascade onto  the most amazing beaches and hidden bays.

There is a spectrum of green colours that merge together against the backdrop of the sea and even in fog, rain or drizzle it still is completely awe inspiring.

Standing in Mull and listening to the quietness of it pulls you into a level of calm I have never felt. Gone is the droning of traffic, the car horns and the cacophony of voices. These sounds are replaced by the breeze moving through the trees, the gentle trickle of a river and the call of Oystercatchers landing on the jagged rocks of the bays.

The bays are often adorned with long swathes of rich brown seaweed that spreads out from the rocks and attempts to meet the ocean. The smell of it, salty and fresh is intoxicating. It is this seaweed  that is the hiding place of an assortment of  other coastal bird species and on occasion, an elusive otter.

The otters apparently tend to frequent the land at low tide but more often than not they will be seen in the water of one of the numerous lochs.

We spent a lot of the morning in between spotting Eider Ducks and Great Northern Divers, searching for the tell tale tide marks made in the mirror smooth water that would indicate the presence of an otter.

In our quest for these seemingly invisible otters we did manage to catch sight of a pair of Hen Harriers dutifully tending to their nests. Birds of prey are in rich abundance on the island. It is home to Golden Eagles, Sea Eagles, Buzzards and many more. Every time you look up in the sky you have a chance of glimpsing these amazing birds. Hen Harriers actually nest on the ground so we were able to witness a mating pair flying back and forth to their carefully hidden nest.

In 2023 the RSPB published statistics to say that 653 pairs of Hen Harrier remain in the entirety of the United Kingdom. I never thought it would be possible to see these beautiful birds and here we were in a huge landscape looking essentially for a needle in a haystack and were blessed with two.

The group stood watching through a telescope set up by Klay as the male and female took it in turns to take flight. The female returned with two meals in the time it took us to eat our lunch and the Orange melt biscuits from Island Bakery that Klay had thoughtfully provided with some hot tea. A welcome addition to a damp and windy morning.

The female was dark brown and easily identifiable amongst the green of the grass. We watched her soaring periodically from rock to rock waiting for her mate to return.

The male,a dusky grey colour is almost impossible to spot against the greying clouds that had drifted into view but as he descended into the valley we were lucky enough to witness a “food pass”. This is when one bird will carry its prey and pass it to the other in mid flight. This was quite a sight to see!

After this encounter our eager group had an appetite for more birds of Prey and Klay obliged by taking us to a nearby White Tailed Eagle nest.

Known to many as “flying barn doors” these enormous birds have around an 8 foot wingspan in flight. Their nests can grow to be the size of a double bed. They are just absolutely immense. Even at quite some distance away her enormous beak could clearly be seen, her huge wings tucked elegantly against her body. The power of this bird was clearly visible.

Everyone on the tour was absolutely enthralled by this majestic beauty. People flock to the islands in vast numbers to see these amazing animals. I am happy to say this was not our first encounter of the trip so I will tell you more about the mighty Sea Eagle at a later time.

After viewing the female Sea Eagle we were parked up watching a pod of Common Dolphins leaping out of the water just off an island in the middle of the loch.  They were at a huge distance away but could still be seen with the naked eye with their gravity defying leaps from the water before crashing down once again sending a spray  shooting up into the air.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere a large dog (male) otter was seen along the waters edge with a large crab in his mouth. So large was his prey that he had created a tidal mark in the water behind him that Klay initially thought was created by a seal. But as quickly as he appeared and identified he had vanished behind the rocks below.

We were unsure where to focus our attention, on the leaping dolphins or on the water where the otter had disappeared moments before.

We all waited in silence for the otter to re appear but sadly he did not. Otters are as I mentioned elusive. One moment they are there and the next they have vanished. You could be walking up a footpath, glance in the opposite direction to the water and miss them entirely.

Klay was on a mission though and his mission was to locate otters. It was further down onto Loch na keal that we saw another otter drifting through the water carrying something un identifiable in his mouth.

We stood on the edge of the water listening to it lap against the shores waiting with hope that he would appear. This was the final bit of our tour, our last hope of seeing an otter.

Eventually after what seemed like hours triumphantly and with momentum he moved onto a nearby rock and started to consume his catch.

What I had not realised before this moment is exactly how lucky you have to be to see these animals. They are shy fast animals that can hide well if they want. Many people visit Mull with the sole intention of finding them and never do. We were hugely privileged to see tmhin even for just a short time.

The tour was technically over but Klay asked us if we wanted to stay a bit more. We all enthusiastically agreed that dinner could wait, we had an otter to watch.

Otters are a member of the Mustelidae family which describes carnivorous animals that have short skulls and legs and elongated bodies. This family also includes animals like Badgers and Weasels.

The otter munched his way through his catch and sat on a raised rock for a short while so I was able to take a few photos of him.

Despite being adapted to survive in the salty waters of the lochs, the Eurasian Otter cannot drink this water and so they require fresh water to drink and to bathe in. Bathing stops the salt water from crystallising on their fur. If you are ever searching for these animals, it is always a safe bet to find somewhere with a fresh source of water.

I could have stood and watched him all day but eventually he took to the water and swam back out into the Loch once again and we were left standing on the shore still completely spellbound by our experience.

Even in the rain with the inbound sudden chilly winds in July and the consistent worry of intermittent fog blocking our views I had a taste of Mull and I was fiercely in love with it.

We returned to Oban an hour later than scheduled absolutely alive with excitement from the day and keen to know what the rest of our trip would bring. There was definitely more to experience.

Do keep an eye out for another upcoming blog post about our amazing Mull adventure. I look forward to sharing it with you all.

In the meantime, thank you for reading and have a beautiful day everyone x