The very first trip I wanted to make following my retirement was a return visit to the Isle of Mull. Situated just off the western coast of Scotland Mull is generally considered to be one of the best wildlife sites in Europe. It is often referred to as Eagle Island due to the high numbers of Golden and White-tailed eagles that breed very successfully here.
In addition to a chance to photograph these wonderful birds I also wanted to investigate the possibility of buying or building a holiday / retirement home on the island. Both my wife and daughter came with me to maintain a sense of balance.
We stayed in three separate villages, Dervaig, Salen and Tobermory, all the northern part of the island. The photo above is of the main centre, Tobermory, with it’s lovely pastel painted waterside properties. We took a couple of boat trips from here with Staffa Tours and
I’ve added a few photos from both trips to the gallery on the left. Click on any one to see a slide show.
The basking sharks appeared particularly early this year at around Easter but we sadly didn’t manage to catch up with them. We did see a few very brief glimpses of minke whales but too quick to get any photos.
We had a very enjoyable visit to Fingal’s Cave and to Lunga where we caught up with the ever friendly puffins. They were still nest building and had no chicks at the time so we were unable to get any ‘beaks full of fish’ images.As mentioned one reason for going to Mull was to spend some time looking at the property for sale. We looked at quite a few plots, houses and building development opportunities and I have to say a number were very exciting. The old slaughter house in the centre of Tobermory was open to bids and I was very tempted to put in an offer. Several plots also looked appealing especially those at Dervaig where a new shop had given a real ‘shot in the arm’ for this delightful village. In the end sense prevailed as we are in no hurry and will look forward to be able to spend more time on the island by bring the motorhome next time.
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