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Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones - part 6 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Published 01/06/2012

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.

• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 1
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 2
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 3
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 4
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 5
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 6
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 7
  

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