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Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones

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The factor that brings me back to Mull are the moments of sheer ecstasy when the weather and the light combine to illuminate this gem of an island and wondrous diversity of wildlife that visit and inhabit the area. My passion for the highlands of Scotland has lasted since my childhood, but my love affair with the islands is like the siren that beckons you on to the rocks.

In real terms Mull is the fourth largest island off the coast of Great Britain, with a coastline of 300 miles and a population of just 2,200. The island is accessed by three ferries, with the most popular being the Oban to Craignure ferry (45-minute passage) and the Lochaline to Fishnish (15-minute passage).

The habitats of the island are varied: from the highest mountain (Ben More) at 3,169 feet, the moorlands, sea lochs and hill lochans, the marshes and through to the sandy beaches. The island supports a wide range of resident and migrant birds and many passage birds call in to re-fuel en route. Raptors include the golden eagle and white-tailed sea eagle, hen harrier, peregrine falcon, kestrel, merlin, sparrow hawk and buzzard. Amongst the owls, barn owl, long-eared owl and tawny are resident and short-eared owls visit to breed.

The 300-mile coastline and the tidal lochs are attractive to many waders and the birds of passage which stop to feed en route to their summer and winter feeding grounds. All three divers (great northern, black throated and red throated can be seen at different times of the year and Slavonian grebe can be seen on the sea lochs in the winter.

All the sea lochs on Mull hold otters and, with the coastal roads, the otters are relatively easy to spot.

The Treshnish Isles are a short boat journey from the harbour at Ulva and in the summer you can get close to the nesting birds, puffin, shag, kittiwake, guillemot and razorbill. In the autumn the atlantic grey seals come ashore to breed and give unrivalled views of the new-born, white seal pups.

Mull has a great number of red deer giving opportunities to photograph the rut in early October. The easiest location for the rut is at Grass Point. Wild deer are particularly easy to spook and Grass Point also gives the opportunity to photograph from the car.

There are two herds of fallow deer (Gruline and Loch Buie) which contain all the fallow deer variations of colour.

There are no badgers, foxes or squirrels on the island.

Photographing Otters

If ever a branch of photography required fieldcraft it is capturing images of otters. Otters are equipped with an amazing sense of smell and although their eyesight is reportedly poor they see well enough to detect a careless photographer.

To photograph otters you need to get down and get dirty; unfortunately anyone who wants to stand up and use a tripod will need to find another subject. In order to capture a decent image you need to get close to an otter and usually the best compromise on a focal length for the lens is a reasonably fast, 500mm prime lens. That is not to say that a smaller zoom or an 800mm lens would not suffice but if the subject stands off and more importantly if an otter lands at your feet, you need a compromise between the two ends of the scale. Other equipment of note would be an extra-large beanbag, Neoprene camo covers for your lens (more for protection) and a rain cover for the whole outfit.

To remain undetected by an otter you will need to be downwind and more importantly you will need to search for otters when they are in the water. They are a lot like cats, they like to feed, sleep, groom and play. An otter will generally feed close to the shore line and will dive on a frequent basis in order to hunt for food. They will feed on fish and crustaceans and when they capture something of any size they will bring it to the shore to eat.

It is this process of diving and eating that enables the photographer to get near to the otter. Having found one hunting along the shoreline, you will need to position yourself with camera and an extra-large bean bag, some way off the otter, downwind and wait for it to dive. When the otter dives run like hell in the direction of the otter counting to 10, having reached '10' drop down to the ground and keep still, waiting for the otter to dive again only to repeat the process. Unless they are preoccupied with a particular area otters will usually drift along a shoreline and it is important to try to gauge which direction they are going to move and be in position, within lens range when they come up on to the shoreline.

Having run, dropped and slid over rocks for what will seem like an eternity you will arrive at a point when you will see that the otter has popped up with either a large fish or crab in its mouth and is approaching the shore. If you have calculated correctly you will be half buried in seaweed with your camera resting on a bean bag waiting for the otter to come out, eat its lunch and then groom itself for 15 minutes followed up by a nice sleep with its fur drying and fluffing up for the following 20 minutes.

In reality you will learn that spending time alone with otters will lead to a one-sided conversation which usually goes something like this: "Alright, you have eaten enough now and it is time you came ashore near me now!!"

"Oh come on, you cannot be serious you have already swum two miles, what is wrong with the fish over here."

"That's it baby just bring that crab over here and eat it on this rock, what! nooo don't go that way you need to eat it here."

Frequently the otter will see or smell the photographer, and dive, unseen, ending the session. However, the photographer usually remains in the dark until it slowly dawns on them that the otter is absent. "Okay you have been underwater for five minutes now, the game's up, show me where you are."

"Look there is another otter a mile away, come up and have a look - damn that is you; Ok it's your loss I could have made you famous." Needless to say, time spent on your own with otters plays tricks on your mind.

After three years of mediocre results, however, the technique that I had now been teaching everyone suddenly came together, with four main criteria in place:

1. Fantastic light, 06:30am in June.
2. No people around to spook the otter.
3. Launched breathless into a good photographic viewpoint.
4. An otter landing at about seven yards away, with a big crab.

On this occasion, having watched the otter for about 30 minutes, I saw him dive. I ran into what I thought was an ambitious position and attempted to merge into the rocks. Up he came with a big crab and started swimming ashore in my direction. "Wow this good," I thought, and started clicking away, thinking that any moment he would see me and slope off somewhere else. "Bloody hell," I thought he is getting closer but will see me soon and disappear. "Oh my God" he is actually coming ashore in front of me, better keep clicking because he will see me soon and go. "Okay calm down" I thought as he sat down to eat the crab seven yards away, in perfect sunshine. "Okay check the live view to make sure you have not knocked the settings off." Having checked everything was OK I carried on clicking until the otter finished his meal and looked up at me as if to say "I hope you got my good side" and then he went back to catching crabs. Left speechless and with my hands shaking I went back to the car and drove the 30 minutes back to the cottage. I am not prone to emotional outbursts, but I have to say that while I was uploading the photos I might have shed the odd tear. My long-suffering wife, on the other hand, might have described me as a bit of a wreck waiting to see if the pictures were okay. They were and two external hard drives and two USB sticks later, I felt safe enough to gloat, whoop and holler.

Photographing White-tailed Sea Eagles

The white-tailed sea eagle is the fourth largest eagle in the world, they have a wing span of nearly three metres and weighing approximately six kilos, the longest of their talons grow up to 4.6 cm.

The white-tailed sea eagle was reintroduced in 1975 and it is now 25 years since Mull's first successfully fledged a chick. Mull holds approximately a quarter of all the United Kingdom's white-tailed eagles and although the island holds a large population of golden eagles, the best opportunity to capture an image of an eagle is with the white-tailed variety.

The white-tailed eagle accounts for a quarter of all visitors to the island and with 110 jobs supported by the £5M of tourist spend on an annual basis; you can imagine that the bird is well protected and woe betide anyone who tries to get too close to a nest.

There are opportunities to photograph the white-tailed eagle on the land but your best chance of capturing a credible image is from a boat. Martin Keivers (www.mullcharters.com ) has now skippered a boat for a couple of years, giving close views of the white tailed eagle coming to the boat to take fish off the surface. In the not too distant past the only chance of capturing an image of a white-tailed eagle was to hand over a couple of thousand pounds and trip off to a fjord in Norway. During the high season, and weather permitting, Mull Charters will run two trips a day out to the region of a white tailed eagle nest site and, if you are lucky, you can get three to four visits by the bird, to the boat, per trip.

There are numerous factors to take into consideration when photographing from a boat, not least that you cannot use any means of support because the platform that you are photographing from is moving up and down. Ideally therefore it is best to keep the lens as short as possible, the 300mm lens is probably the best compromise.

The boat will go to either of two locations (Loch Na Keal or a coastal location) and after locating the birds the skipper Martin will wait for the eagle to come out to the boat before throwing out the fish for the bird to come down and take the fish from the surface. The birds will generally circle the boat before locating the fish and descending at high speed to take the bait. This is where the fun begins, the boat is moving up and down and the birds can circle the boat for up to five minutes without you knowing when they will dive.

There are two techniques for capturing this sequence, some like to capture the moment when the bird takes the fish and some like to follow the bird down taking shots as it circles and descends. For the moment that the bird takes the fish you can remain pre-focused on the fish and wait for the bird to enter the viewfinder firing a burst off when it first appears or you can try and remain focused all the way down (not easy by the way).

My recommendations are firstly pray for good light, you need the fastest speed possible with about f8 to get a decent shot; secondly don't get hung up over pushing the ISO, the weather and conditions are rarely ideal and you will want at least to get an image that is not too soft. Be prepared to shoot a lot of images and buy the fastest high-capacity memory card you can afford. Take two cameras, set up with something like a 70-200mm lens and the other with a 300/400mm lens, you never know what is going to turn up and with gannets now becoming more prominent and dolphins popping up next to the boat you will need the smaller zoom to make the most of the trip. On one trip in 2011 we had a pair of white-tailed sea eagles circling above and five bottlenose dolphins off the stern.

Cetaceans are an entirely different subject on the Isle of Mull as there is a whole industry devoted to whale and dolphin watching on the island but it is worth noting that if you are afloat and are lucky enough to share some time with a pod of dolphins all sense and reason goes out the window when 'dolphin fever' sets in and the photographic version of hysteria takes over attempting to take images of one of the most exciting mammals on the planet.

Best Photographic locations and times of year

This is my personal list and by no means a fully comprehensive list

Otters. (All year round)

They are found in all the sea lochs but my favourite locations are Loch Na Keal, Loch Scridain, Loch Beg and a quiet location at the tiny village of Croggan found on Loch Spelve.

White tailed eagles. (Easter to October)

If you want to photograph them, get afloat, but failing that Loch Na Keal gives the best photographic possibilities. The RSPB hide at Loch Frisa gives good viewing chances is a little distant for photos.

Deer. (Autumn rut, stags lose their antlers from the spring onwards) The area around Grass Point is good during the rut in the autumn but Carsiag gives the best chances for a red deer stag. Gruline and Loch Buie are best for fallow deer.

Puffins, sea birds and grey seals.
The Treshnish Isles. Sea birds are best May to July.
The grey seals pup in October.
Minke whales and basking sharks peak in May to August.

Midges emerge in May and go by October. My experience is that in the summer months they either appear or they do not! Buy a head net and get some thin gloves just in case.

Mull information.

Getting around. Basically you cannot make the most of the island without a car; otters are best spotted from a vehicle and the distances you need to cover require the independence of a car.

Guides and tour operators.

My recommendation for your first visit to the island is to book in advance at least two separate trips on the Mull Charters Eagle boat (www.mullcharters.com 01680 300444) at the start and end of the week. During peak times it can get busy on this boat and the weather at any time of the year can be changeable. Booking a few days apart hedges your bets with the weather fronts moving in and out. If you can get together with three other photographers the skipper will run a bespoke photographic trip early morning or late evening. This would have to be in a settled spell of weather but the light at either end of the day is far more dramatic. Mull Charters regularly post on facebook which is a good source of info for the island.

There are also quite a few land-based, wildlife guided tours and whilst not all will be bespoke photographic trips, at the start of the week it will enable you to orient yourself to the island and its wildlife opportunities, (particularly otters) One of the best sources of information is the wildlife operator Wild about Mull (www.wildaboutmull.co.uk) who operates a blog on his latest sightings.

Accommodation.

There is a lot of accommodation on the island and probably the best source of info for self-catering is at www.islandholidaycottages.com. A good central point for the island is the village called Salen and the Mull Charters' skipper runs an excellent B&B, found at www.fascadail.co.uk Tel 01680 300444.

Mike Jones

Mike Jones is a wildlife and landscape photographer based in the North West. Mike lectures on the wildlife of the west coast of Scotland and runs private, guided tours out the Isle of Mull. Mike has an extensive following on his website which has a strong leaning towards Mull. This can be found at www.mikejones-wildlife.com



Updated 27/04/2026 16:44:22 Last Modified: Monday, 27 April 2026