Wildlife Workshops

Welcome to wildlife wonderland.  We spend most of our time on land in Morvern as it tends to have higher populations of our main species and no people to compete with. Described by the BBC Natural History Unit as “The best kept secret in Scotland”. It is one of the last true wilderness in the UK and still relatively undiscovered.

We spend at least one day on the boat in search of White Tailed Sea Eagles. We have worked hard to get a large number of birds used to our boat so we have options in many weathers and a huge array of backdrops. Equally as it is a fast cabin RIB, we can get between sites quickly, maximising the number of eagles we visit and the dives the birds make. While this trip happens all year, we can only visit the Puffins from April to the end of July as they head out to sea from then. We switch into Basking Shark and Shearwater mode from the beginning of August. 

Otters are a huge highlight of Morvern and Mull. Mostly we stick to Morvern for otters due to the high popuation and lack of other visitors, especially in the Summer months. This means that we can try to get you close to the animals without disturbance. A huge amount of what we teach you in this part of the workshop is the fieldcraft necessary to take good otter photographs.

Due to being located on the Peninsulas, we have a healthy Red Squirrel Population and the UKs densest Pine Marten population. We have a number of sites where we can watch and photograph these animals and good relations with a hide just off the Peninsula for Pine Martens year round.

October to March sample itinerary

Day 1: Arrive in Lochaline in the early afternoon and check into Lochaline Hotel or Highland Basecamp. If you are at the hotel, have a look down on the beach as otters are often about at any tide and you may see Ringed Plovers, Common Sandpipers, Shag, Oystercatchers, Curlew and even a White Tailed Eagle.

Day 2: Our first full day will see us head out looking for Otters. We are likely to stick to Morvern by car and by foot. Any walking will be limited to flat routes and a maximum of 1km. We will visit 2-6 otter territories to learn fieldcraft and how to get closer to the animals without disturbance. As part of this, we will make our way through the home ranges of Golden Eagles, Peregrines, Hen Harriers, Merlins & Kestrel and always see a wide range of Red Deer. Later in the day, we will have a workshop on images taken and how we can go about improving them on the next day. 

Day 3: After breakfast, we will head to one of the Red Squirrel sites for a 2 hour stint photographing Red Squirrels. In the afternoon, we will have a briefing on bird photography and then use the boat to take close up photographs of White Tailed Eagles. This will be a 2-3 hour trip visiting up to 6 pairs of Eagles. We will then review photos taken and advise on processing.

Day 4: Our second Otter day will take in what we have learned about fieldcraft, camera settings and composition to try and take our reference otter images as well as taking any opportunities that come along. There will be an optional evening trip to the Pine Marten site.

Day 5: This is always a flexible day based on what we have been able to see in the week. We often do a bit of landscape work and take in Mull and Ardnamurchan towards the end of the week. As with every other day, you are the boss 🙂 

Day 6: Optional morning Squirrel workshop and time to head home.