Isle of Mull Autumn Package led by Megan McCubbin & Indy Kiemel Greene

From the 27th - 31st of October, Mull had 8 new residents, 7 were our wonderful guests and the other was the one and only Megan McCubbin. Together we embarked on a week to remember, experiencing Mull's autumn wildlife at its very best.

On the Monday afternoon, we welcomed everyone at our beautiful accommodation in Tobermory with fantastic views down the Sound of Mull looking south-east with spectacular sunrises from the living room windows all week.

The tour began at 2pm, and we decided to immediately monopolize the very light winds, full sunshine and calm waters by heading down to what has been the recent hot spot for all the key highlight species on Mull. With everyone tucked together in the van we made our way south and within the first 3 hours before it got dark, we’d seen almost all the key species on Mull, White Tailed and Golden Eagles, Otters, male and female Hen Harrier, Common Dolphins, Common Seals, Red Deer as well as other highlights such as Red Throated and Great Northern Divers, Goosanders, Curlew, Oystercatcher and much more. On this high, we decided to end the tour there, end of blog…

Just kidding! Although we’d admittedly smashed it, the focus for the rest of the week was to see all these species again but enjoy them for longer and maybe getting closer views of some of them too. That evening (and every evening, plus breakfast and lunch) we had a fantastic meal by our phenomenal chef Jane who effortlessly catered for all of us with delicious and very filling meals every evening which had us ready and fuelled every day for another action packed day of wildlife watching.

Tuesday, a slightly windier day with strong westerlies saw us seeking shelter on the south-east side of the island and seeing 3 Otters on the loch as well as fantastic scope views of 2 adult Golden Eagles perched up on the hillside opposite. Two particularly epic sightings were a Golden Eagle pursuing a Buzzard over the loch at pace and a Buzzard catching and eating a vole just meters from the van next to the road.

Wednesday saw us out with Sea Life Mull, a big thank you to them for putting on a special trip just for our package after their season officially finished a week previous! But both parties were very happy for this to be their final outing of the year, as it quickly became an unforgettable trip. Common Dolphins bowriding on and off throughout the 5-hour voyage, Minke Whales feeding with Gannets, Kittiwakes and Guilliemots and best of all, a Humpback! An immature individual (by age, not character) who has spent the last month and half feeding between the Isle of Skye and the Ardnamurchan peninsula. For some guests, seeing a Minke Whale was a dream come true but to see a Humpback in Hebridean waters was a dream come true for everyone, which was evident by the tears and smiles shared by many of us.

Once we came back alongside in Tobermory, the one and only Proffessor Plankton ( Andy Tait ) showed us the results of his plankton trawl that morning, showing us why it's been such a good season for cetaceans on the West Coast. His knowledge of these microscopic creatures that are the base of the food chain in our oceans and a huge producer of our oxygen is outstanding. A very good day indeed, but it didn’t end there! The afternoon was spent in Aros Park, visiting the Upper Falls, which were in full force after recent rains. Following this, we all showed off our inner nerds and spent the final few hours of daylight rummaging through leaf litter looking for gall wasp eggs, leafminers and admiring the lichens and tree lungworts and other joys of the fantastic examples of temperate rainforest we have on Mull.

Thursday, the north loop! A day of Dippers, Hen Harriers and Golden Eagles, we made the most of the weather in the morning as the afternoon was forecast to be a bit miserable, but we had our backup plan. But during the day our moods were not dampened, we had lunch out of the wind at Eas Fors Waterfall being warmed by Jane's wonderful soup, paired focaccia bread (which Megs got very excited about). We also had fantastic views of some local waders feeding at low tide at the head of Loch Cuin, Snipe, Greenshank, Curlew and a large flock of Ringed Plover. By the time the rain set in, we retreated to the shelter of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust Centre on Tobermory High Street, staff member Troy very kindly opened the centre just for us and gave us a bit of background into the charity and showed us a great film detailing the work they do. A few early christmas gifts were bought and lots was learnt about the whales and dolphins we’d seen on our boat just the day before.

Friday, which was very sadly our final day, saw us meeting up with the legend that is Dave Sexton, the former RSPB Eagle Officer on Mull (if Kopparberg did job titles, it would be his). He guided us down the shores of Loch Ba, a freshwater loch home to at least 2 pairs of White Tailed Eagles. He shared superb stories from his time working in the industry, fantastic facts about the birds and their still very sadly real world conflicts with livestock and shooting interests. Many of the guests already knew who Dave was thanks to his previous media appearances, particularly the RSPB’s latest film ‘Return’, detailing the reintroduction efforts of White Tailed Eagles in the UK over the years, a very good watch indeed. Meeting up with Dave was the perfect way to bring our tour to a close. A tour which had been wall to wall with smiles and laughter from all, with the soundtrack of Megan sharing some staggering facts and information and very amusing anecdotes from her time in the outdoors.

It was also a huge privilege to share the week with such a sublime group of guests, by the end, it felt like a group of friends driving round Mull watching wildlife. We hope that those of you who joined us had a fantastic time, and we hope to see you again in the future. Keep an eye on our social media for more tours with myself and Megan in the future, we had far too much fun to not do it again, and I hope to see you there at the next one. :-)