Mull Musings concluded

Atlantic Puffin - Lunga, Treshnish Isles

As I referred to last week, our 2015 visit to Lunga didn’t include the Staffa part of the package. Essentially we were on a private charter that utilised the public boat to get us out to Lunga with the return trip on a chartered rib. So it was a welcome addition to be able to visit Staffa on Turus Mara’s Big Birding trip. We opted not to disembark and were able to see the unique rock formations that make up the island from the boat, all the time being entertained by a pod of dolphins.

Moving on to Lunga, a journey of a little over half an hour, the tide was low when we arrived there, which made the disembarking process more difficult. It involves the boat tying up to a pontoon, which is moored offshore. The pontoon is then slipped from its mooring and driven ashore by the boat, Leaving the boat and walking along the pontoon is fine, but you then reach the rocks and have to make your way across them to dry land. It’s tricky at high tide, but at low water the rocks initially are wet and slippery and anyone with reduced mobility is bound to struggle.

Once on the island, there is a short, but steep, climb up the cliff. However, as soon as you reach the flat ground at the top, there are the Puffins you’ve come to photograph. It’s a beautiful setting with the obligatory Sea Pinks there to enable the capture of that iconic shot. It’s entirely possible to spend all of your time on the island just shooting these adorable birds at this location and many people do. Interestingly the number of birds on show is directly related to the number of people there, the more people, the more birds.

Even the normal public boat trips allow for two hours ashore, which does allow time to explore the island further if you can drag yourself away from the Puffins. There is another short, steep path up from where the Puffins are first encountered and then a narrow, winding path undulates around the edge of the island. There are more Puffins along this stretch, but this is where the Fulmars and Shags can be found, before you arrive at the area colonised by hundreds of Razorbills and Guillemots.

On this occasion, the four hours ashore afforded by the Birding trip was quite acceptable, but always accompanied by passengers from other boats. In 2015, when all the public boats had departed we had the best opportunities, even though the weather was tending to be inclement. Sadly it seems that a charter is no longer possible, unless you are part of a workshop run by one of the long established pro photographers who visit the island annually.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, although the harsh light was quite challenging, but had we stuck with the Tuesday, it would have been too inclement. In fact I’m not even sure the boat went out that day.

With the Lunga trip over, it just left one full day on the island and the chance to catch up with some of the elusive species such as Hen Harriers, Short-eared Owls and of course the Otters. We decided to cover the Western and Southern parts of the island as we had earlier in the week. We knew there were Otters in Loch Na Keal, we’d seen one earlier in the week. We’d seen Hen Harriers and Short-eared Owls near the north-eastern shore of Loch Beg in 2015. This time we drew a blank and unsurprisingly found ourselves back at Loch Spelve, which had been one of the most productive sites during the week. A distant pair of Eiders and a confiding Lapwing were there for us, but not what we were looking for. A disappointing day to say the least.

So that was our 2018 Mull visit over. It’s a great place and we really like it there, even if it’s getting busy and the wildlife can be elusive. None of this has put us off and a return in 2019 is already planned and booked, albeit slightly later than this year. For a number of reasons, I can’t wait.