About a year ago Sarah and I watched a special on PBS about the sea eagles of Mull. The story profiled a native of the island, Gordon Buchanan, who had returned home after making a name for himself as a world-famous wildlife photographer. He felt it was time to showcase Mull’s wildlife, and most of the hour-long program focused on the white-tailed sea eagles.
At the time I hadn’t visited Mull yet, but the gorgeous photography and massive eagles – these guys can weigh up to 17 lbs. with an 8+ ft. wingspan – put the island square on my radar. As I planned my trip around some of Scotland’s Inner Hebrides this past summer, the Sea Eagles of Mull PBS special was on mental repeat. Read more...
The Isle of Mull is ruled by its wildlife. Red deer, white-tailed sea eagles, golden eagles, Atlantic gray seals, otter, and a panoply of nesting, migrating, and just plain blown-off-course birds make their home on Mull and draw visitors from all over the United Kingdom and the world. The chance to see some of these animals in the wild largely drew me to Mull, and, though it’s depressing to think we’ve denuded so much of the world’s land of its wildlife, I knew a wildlife tour around Mull would be a much happier experience than visiting the local zoo.
There are several wildlife tour operators on Mull each with their own routes and specific focus. Read more...
Turus Mara means “excursion by sea” in the Gaelic language. It’s an apt name for the tour company that trolls the waters west of Mull, the Loch Na Keal National Scenic Area, taking in some of Scotland’s most geologically-interesting and wildlife-rich areas. A cadre of small islands including Staffa, Lunga, Gometra, and Iona pierce the waters between Mull and larger Tiree and Coll, many of them born of ancient lava flows. Gaelic-speakers of the past once inhabited these austere isles, but these days they’re left to the wiles of Atlantic Grey Seals, Puffins, Razorbills, and Guillemots. It’s the presence of this wildlife that’s made cruise tours around Mull big business.
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The Isle of Arran’s Brodick Castle has borne witness to the ebb and flow of mankind for 15 centuries. That’s a pretty epic achievement for a little castle on a little island off the coast of a little country. I have a bit of history with the castle, too, though it only stretches back five years. Sarah and I visited it for the first time in 2006, and I remembered it as one of my favorite castles on that trip. When I returned to the stout, red castle in the woods across the bay from Brodick town, little had changed. After all, what’s five years in the context of 1,500?
It’s safe to say that the Brodick Castle of today wasn’t around in the fifth century when Gaels from Northern Island landed on Arran intent on expanding their kingdom of Dál Riata. Read more...
Natural beauty is freakishly common in Scotland, but there are some places that put the others to shame. The entire western side of the Cairngorms National Park is a riot of untouched mountains, forests, and lochs. Just a short drive south of Nethy Bridge, practically next door to Scotland’s adventure capital of Aviemore, stands Rothiemurchus, one of Britain’s largest tracts of natural forest.
Rothiemurchus sits snugly along the B970, a gorgeous road that technically ends at Coylumbridge but that actually continues east past the glittering shores of Loch Morlich and up to the peak of Cairn Gorm itself. Read more...
A hunter, oft-stubbled and bleary-eyed, driven by an insatiable hunger for exploration and experience - and perhaps a chance to thin the herd of caffeinated and alcoholic beverages. From the highlands and islands to Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Borders, I explore Scotland with a pen in hand and a fire in the belly (which could be partly from the whisky). 
