By Dave Sexton, RSPB Mull Officer
Me, admiring the view with my dog, Cally by my side! Credit Olivia Sexton
It’s hard to believe now but I first set foot on Mull in 1978. I was on a geography/biology O-Level field trip. A minibus full of kids from south London in a decidedly unfamiliar habitat. But something else happened during that week. Whilst we were being taught about Mull’s fascinating world class geology and glacial landforms, I was watching the skies through my new ‘Boots Admiral’ 8x30 binoculars. I persuaded myself that pretty much every distant buzzard I glimpsed soaring over the mountains was really a golden eagle. Maybe I did see an actual golden eagle as well but, whatever, the Mull seed had been set.
I had to wait another two years to save up enough for a return visit, this time a holiday. The excitement of travelling overnight on the much-missed ‘Motorail’, arriving in Stirling in the misty early morning and then driving west to the Oban ferry are memories I’ll never forget. It was on that trip in May 1980 that it happened.
The wonderful white-tailed eagle
A white-tailed eagle, huge and majestic in flight. Credit Iain Erskine
Late one afternoon we were heading back to our B&B in Tobermory and driving along the shore of Loch Spelve when I uttered the words “What’s that big bird flying over the loch?”. We screeched to a halt and leapt out as the biggest bird I’d ever seen lifted-up overhead, closely pursued by a dozen hooded crows, circled once or twice and then slipped over the ridge and out of sight. As it circled, there was the white tail. There were the massive broad plank-like wings. I’d just seen my first white-tailed eagle and I can see that bird in my mind’s eye as I write. Their reintroduction on the Isle of Rum to the north was working and at that moment, another Mull seed was sown.
Pioneering work
With my colleague, Mike Madders watching the first white-tailed eagle nest on Mull in 1984. Credit Roger Broad
I was lucky beyond words to get one of the RSPB Species Protection jobs in 1984 to watch and protect the first pioneering pairs of sea eagles trying to breed here. And then, a year later with my RSPB friends and colleagues Mike Madders, Keith Morton and Roger Broad to witness the first chick to fledge from a Scottish nest for over 70 years. An epic moment in UK conservation history.
Other jobs and places followed but I think I always knew that the magnetic pull of Mull would one day draw me back for good. And it did, in 2003 when, with my young family, we left Edinburgh for our new life and my new job as ‘Mull Officer’. I’ve never looked back.
Thanks to all our partners, Mull is now the ‘go to’ place for sensational wildlife watching and it welcomes thousands of visitors a year helping to support the local economy. The eagles are back thanks to many agencies and individuals and are more than paying their way.
A special partnership with the Watches
I鈥檝e welcomed many naturalist presenters to the island over the years, including Chris Packham 鈥� we鈥檙e both looking a little younger here! Credit Iain Erskine
I’m proud too to have been a small part of the ‘Watches’ family for the last 16 years since our famous sea eagles ‘Skye’ and ‘Frisa’ were beamed live into people’s living rooms on the first ever Springwatch in May 2005. Over the years, many faces of the Watches have made the pilgrimage to Mull including Bill, Kate, Simon, Martin, Iolo and of course Chris. And now we’re thrilled to welcome Megan to Mull for her first visit!
I write this looking out over a very autumnal Salen Bay. Some harbour seals are loafing on the rocks, a red deer stag is still roaring from the hills, the first redwings are stripping my rowan tree of its berries. I know that at any moment one of this year’s young sea eagles could soar over and I’ll still get that same old familiar thrill. It’ll never leave me. The magic of Mull - still working its natural wonders.