The final part from Mull…

 …and personally, I think I have saved the best till last. Mull is brilliant, fantastic and any other superlative you can come up with for wildlife. It’s always a privilege to be there and photograph White-tailed Eagle, Hen Harrier, Otters etc. and I have watched and photographed Otters on a number of occasions while on Mull but this encounter I had with a mother and two cubs is one of the best wildlife experience’s I have ever had. It was an honour to be in the presence of these Otters and have them to be so at ease that they felt they could come so close to us and not feel threatened at all was wonderful. However, I find sometimes with experience’s like this the images you get don’t do it justice, you just have to be there.

Otters, Kingfisher & Mandarin

 A brief glimpse of two (possibly three) Otters, an even briefer glimpse of a male Kingfisher (which would have been even briefer if a Sparrowhawk had had its way) and great views of a female Mandarin Duck over two different days the 7th and the 9th.  Also on show were a Snipe (7th) which never moved and an alone and always distant female Wigeon (9th).   

Isle of Mull part 9

You will be pleased to hear that this is the last and finale part from our holiday on Mull (I think I can hear the cheering). I thought I would finish with another of my favourite encounters. It was on a wet (the first real rain we had) Thursday afternoon during our second week. We were driving along the shore of Loch Spelve when we saw four photographers on the shore. They were obviously taking photos of something and when I abandoned the car, I could see what it was. An Otter was feeding just a few yards away and did not bother about the photographers being there at all. I parked the car correctly and joined them on the shore and for around two hours, we followed the Otter along the shore, only moving when the Otter went into the loch to catch something. It was a great end to our holiday on Mull.

As you can see, it knew we were watching it but it was not bothered.

It liked a good scratched and did it quite a lot.

It’s weird but it did not seem to like the feel of the Crab in its mouth.

However, it did eat it.