Isle Of Lewis (July 2025)
24th November 2025
A Winter Of Two Halves
15th April 2026
What seems like a lifetime ago, I spent a week on the Isle Of Mull for a holiday, dragging my dad along with me, and we stayed in Pennyghael, in the cottage that is now a very useful local convenience store, overlooking Loch Scridain.
It was the start of a journey that led me to moving to the island about a decade later, and my love the island remains as strong as ever, despite me having relocated to Inverness. So when a friend suggested we spend a week there for a holiday, I jumped at the chance. Almost all of my recent trips to Mull have been for work, running workshops for clients to see and photograph the wildlife there.
We managed to book a stunning cottage just along the road from where dad and I used to stay, so we had the same glorious views across the loch, and over to Ben More. Unlike the old cottage, this one has floor to ceiling windows, to frame the views perfectly. And plenty of space and comfort for us, for the stay.
Otters were the main wildlife subject we were hoping to see. While I spent over two years living on Mull, this week was a good reminder of what the island is like in late autumn, and helps me prepare for my November-based Mull Otter Photography Tours later this year (2026).
The first day we were treated to some bright weather, and spotted a lone otter bringing ashore a flat fish. We got into a gap in the rocks, and waited. The light was harsh at times, so I tried to take images when the sun was behind a cloud, or the otter had dried off a little. Wet otters and sunshine do not mix!
As is fairly typical for Mull in the autumn, the sunshine soon gave way to showers, but we continued to watch the otter.
As the wet weather began to set in, the breeze picked up, and began to swirl a little, which allowed the otter to detect our scent. It looked around a fair bit, craning its neck up high, but we remained still and it eventually just swam off along the shore, to an area inaccessible to us.
Not a bad first day.
We awoke to rain, so headed further afield for a look around other favoured haunts on the island. It wasn't long before we noticed an otter swimming along close to the shore, and we were able to get close, to see what it was doing...
... and that was flirting or fighting with another otter.
Terrible photography conditions, but great to watch!
Unfortunately, we weren't blessed by the weather. I guess we sort of got what one of us had hoped for: typical autumnal West Coast weather, and it was... wet.
Still, we watched otters every day. Sometimes it was simply too gloomy to bother with the cameras, and on one of the better days, we headed south and over to Iona instead, to lose time searching the beach for cowrie shells. More empty gin bottles needing to be filled...
With the wet conditions, golden eagles were hard to come by, but we saw them when the rain stopped. The white-tailed eagles seem less bothered by it, and we had some great sightings of those, with a particular favourite in the glens, where an adult flew over the road in front of us, and then perched in a tree nearby.
As is always the case with holidays, they fly by far too quickly, and we found ourselves with a final day offering some brighter weather at last. And as with the other days, we also managed to find otters.
Risking slipping over, we climbed into a spot well hidden from the otters, and also the road, and waited. A family of three, mum and her two cubs were out in the loch hunting, nearby.
Then one of her cubs decided it was time for a rest, and headed ashore, right beside where we were hiding.
After the cub had settled, the mum and sibling joined it, and we were treated to a very close view of the family relaxing on the rocks beside the loch.
After such an awesome encounter with the otter family, we decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the northern side of Mull, and because the clouds had lifted, the golden eagles were clearly keen to get out and about.
Despite living on Mull, I've never seen so many in such a short period of time. In just over an hour, we saw twelve different eagles, and all but two were golden. Amazing!
Too far off to bother photographing, but just standing watching them soaring and interacting high over our heads was wonderful.
While we hadn't had the best weather, we loved the week on Mull. We saw so much wildlife, including an otter and a pod of dolphins (not at the same time!) from the cottage.
As usual Mull had delivered a memorable experience, and if anyone is considering the November Otter Photography Tour with me, then this is a good idea of what might be seen... though hopefully with less rain!
