Author: keith@finnett.net

The big day – our wildlife tour. Spoiler – we saw golden eagles. And other stuff. It’s worth noting that a lot of what we saw today was a very, very long way away. Our guide was quite keen we got nowhere near the wildlife (fine) and was very good at spotting birds which we couldn’t see with the naked eye – some several miles away! So picture quality isn’t always great in this post!

Breakfast in the hotel (not a great hotel by all accounts, but that’s the luck of the draw) and we headed off to meet our guide, Andrew, 20 minutes from Tobermory in a village called Salen. We arrived on time, he didn’t, and the two other guests (Belgian) were even later, but the sunrise this morning had been amazing and once on the road we went to Loch Na Keal to revisit the site of the white tailed eagles we found yesterday.

The eagles weren’t in the trees, instead on the shoreline where Andrew said they’d been all night – about 1km from where we were. We stayed there a while, and saw a lone otter feeding.

We then headed back to the top of the loch, and around towards where the eagles were – a much better view from here!

From here we went around the other side of the loch, saw deer, more white tailed eagles and otters (which were in the act of making babies, apparently). And a small hydro power station.

We kept moving, our guide taking us to each potential site in turn, stopping, checking, and moving on if nothing could be seen. He knew all the eagle nest sites along the route, which made finding them easier. With otters every mile (that’s the size of a female’s territory, the males being around 7-8 miles where he ‘has control over ‘services’ therefore 7-8 females) they were pretty easy to spot in the calm waters. We found numerous more white tailed eagles before lunch, for us that was day 2 of M&S picnic lunch. Somehow our guide also spotted a juvenile white tailed eagle on top of a hill drying its wings.

Then onto “raptor alley”, apparently our best chance of seeing more eagles. We hit the jackpot here – we saw a pair of golden eagles soaring above us, then we think another (female) golden eagle, plus more white tailed eagles. The area we stopped in was geologically interesting too, with the hillside and valley bottom covered in drumlins. A bit further on we came across a herd of red deer, with a massive stag in its midst.

WordPress decided the golden eagle image above was the least interesting – this is the picture. Note the lack of feathers on the wing-tip. The other in the pair has feathers missing on the opposing wing-tip.

On the way back to our start point we saw numerous other birds – including more eagles and their nests. A good haul for the day.

Worth adding, our guide (Andrew) has lived on Mull for 30 years and has been a guide for 8 years. Before this he worked in the salmon farms, having studied ecology at Edinburgh University. He told us about the process of fishing – the sea bed under the cages is pretty much dead, but every 18 months they shut the site down, remove the cages, and fully clean the cages and equipment before returning them once the sea bed recovers. Also, the sea bed just 50m from the cages is unaffected, so the temporary damage is quite localised. Most of the fisheries in the Western Isles supply M&S – the supplied weight of fish he quoted was ridiculous – something like 30,000 tons per year. And it’s all died red/pink using a natural extract supplied by Roche, which is sourced from the crustaceans the salmon eat in the wild – this costs 20% of the final cost of producing the salmon, making it the most expensive feed given to farmed animals.

Back in Tobermory we had a wander in the evening sun, then takeaway for tea. The moon made an appearance in a cloudless sky – this could be the last for a few days as bad weather is coming….

Breakfast – The Tobermory Hotel
Lunch – picnic by M&S
Dinner – Hook’d, Tobermory
Hotel – The Tobermory Hotel

After breakfast in a local place, we stocked up on lunch for the next 2 days at the Oban M&S Simply Food, then headed to the port for our next ferry – to the Isle of Mull. We had a little time spare in the harbour, so watched some of the ships coming and going.

The ferry was apparently a smaller stand-in as the “real” ferry was being maintained, but fortunately another very calm crossing so we didn’t have any issues with being on a smaller ship. Plenty to look at, but little wildlife (otters in the distance, mostly).

Once docked, we headed on our extended route to Tobermory. First stop – Loch Na Keal. Fortunately there were half a dozen cars parked alongside the Loch, some looking through spotting scopes, others binoculars, at the tree line. A pair of white tailed eagles had been spotted – you’d stand no chance seeing it with the naked eye, even binoculars were a stretch. Fortunately our camera with a long lens and extender allowed us to take pictures, and binoculars to see it from about 200m, maybe 300m away. There was quite a lot of other stuff, some apparently interesting – great northern diving something, heron, cormorant and a common loon (surely some of those names are made up).

From here we moved on a little further, before finding a couple looking at the shoreline. We stopped, to find a family of 4 otters – mother and 3 youngsters – playing in the seaweed and on some rocks. Unfortunately we didn’t see that we’d parked by a sign, purporting to be a police “do not park here” notice, because it was facing the water. The residents of the house we’d parked outside came out, turned the sign round, then went back in. I suspect the use of a home printer and laminator had been present here….however the otters were very cool and no police showed up….

Then we moved on a little further, to see a raptor fly to a tree near the road – this time we just stopped on the singletrack road and took pictures.

Lunch next, parked up overlooking the Loch, then onward to Calgary Bay (a beach) where we saw another raptor, then onto a bird hide (where we saw nothing due to the weather closing in). It’s worth noting most of the roads on the island are single track with passing places located frequently along the route – not an issue this time of year due to low volumes of traffic.

Finally, as the weather became really bad we arrived at our hotel in Tobermory. A drink in the bar to allow me to start processing 900+ photos, then dinner, then more photo processing!

Breakfast – Cuan Mor, Oban
Lunch – picnic by M&S
Dinner – Fish Café, Tobermory
Hotel – The Tobermory Hotel

We headed off from our accommodation in Ronachan around 10am to drive north towards Oban. Two stops planned, both in search of wildlife. The first was a bird hide at a nature reserve near Bellanoch. Apparently otters could be found here. We spent a little while in the hide, didn’t see a lot, then an otter appeared in the distance. It spent a while hunting, then disappeared, then reappeared on land.

We waited a bit longer, then the otter reappeared and spent a while fishing, but it wasn’t that close by so keeping track was difficult.

As we arrived back at the car, we saw another otter playing in the water just beside the road – far closer!

Next stop, lunch. After a bit of messing around trying to find somewhere open, we found a big but deserted hotel overlooking Loch Melfort. Some excellent soup for lunch, overlooking the loch and some bored looking Highland cattle (“coos” according to the locals).

The second stop of the day was the Kilchoan estate, for a walk to a high viewpoint in the hope of seeing some birds of prey. A 3-mile walk and we were in luck – a kestrel.

Onto Oban, we found our accommodation – a room in a guest house – and out for dinner at a very nice seafood restaurant, for wine, langoustines, lobster, cheese and a local whiskey!

Breakfast – self catering
Lunch – Loch Melfort Hotel, Arduaine
Dinner – Ee-usk, Oban
Hotel – Dalrigh House, Oban

We spent most of the day on the southernmost inhabited island of the Inner Hebrides, about 3 miles off the coast of the Kintyre peninsula – Gigha. About 5.4 square miles, it has just under 200 residents.

The ferry to Gigha is the smallest we’ve used so far – and the morning ferry contained 2 electricity company vans, the post van, a fire service van and 2 tourist cars. It was full. Another very calm crossing, but no wildlife of note this time. Once across, a short drive north we came across the first road block of the day.

Our first destination were the beaches to the north of the island, Palm Tree beach and the Eileen Garbh twin beaches. The wind was howling off the sea, but the views were incredible, with white sand beaches and turquoise and crystal clear water. There were plenty of signs of life – mink had clearly found crabs to eat, and animal prints covered the Palm Tree and surrounding beaches.

We then went slightly south, to the twin beaches – basically 2 beaches with a strip of land between, known as a Tombolo. The strip was just 20-30m wide, so eventually the two beaches will join and the piece of land off the island, Eileen Garbh, will become its own little island.

From here we headed back to the centre of the island, to the only place selling food – Gigha hotel. Unfortunately another road blockage, this time more significant. They wouldn’t move at all. Another car came from the other direction, and turned around (we later found out the driver was petrified of cows…or “coos” as the locals call them…so decided to give up getting through). There was also a young woman sat on the other side from us waiting and watching. Turns out she was also scared of them and didn’t want to try to get through. Jo solved that.

Once fed (curried parsnip soup) we headed on to our final stop, Achamore Gardens. Only recently (2002) did restoration begin of what would have been a big garden in the grounds of a very large house. With a walled garden and lots of unusual plants you could see the potential.

Back to the ferry for another uneventful, but slightly rougher and windier crossing, we headed north to Tarbert to collect another simple meal before heading back to Ronachan.

Breakfast – self catering
Lunch – Isle of Gigha Hotel
Dinner – self catering
Hotel – Ronachan guest house

The plan today was time on Arran, then ferry across to Kintyre on the mainland where we’d be staying for 2 nights. Breakfast wasn’t too bad (we also had poached egg and avocado on toast but forgot to take a picture) but then headed out for walk 1 of 3.

The first walk was a couple of hours from the hotel in Lamlash, along the coast. We saw plenty – birds and a couple of seals.

Back to the hotel, we headed south about 20 minutes to somewhere where apparently otters were known to be seen. Walk 2 contained no otters (not surprised as they’re a bit stealthy), but (many) more seals and (many) more birds. And sheeps.

Back to Brodick for lunch, where pizza was the choice – in fact this was our backup choice from last night. Excellent choice of ragu pizza with bechamel sauce instead of tomato.

Then onto Lochranza for walk 3. Here we set off for a 3.5 mile trip up into the hills to see if we could find golden eagles, as this was one of the best places on Arran to find them. We didn’t. But we did find (many) more birds.

Then onto the ferry across from Lochranza to Claonaig. Not many passengers, so very quick to board. Mostly (many) more birds on the way across, but we did see some porpoises in the distance. Very calm crossing though.

Once landed, a short drive to Ronachan to find our self-catering accommodation, where we’re staying for 2 days. A simple dinner and game of Azul to end the day.

Breakfast – Glenisle Hotel, Arran
Lunch – The Parlour, Arran
Dinner – self catering
Hotel – Ronachan guest house