Scottish eagles

merv98710

We're planning a trip to Scotland in July, its my daughters dream to see a golden eagle in the wild. Can anyone tell which island would be best to stay on, I'm thinking either Mull or Islay, and can anyone recommend a tour we could go on to increase our chance? Or is there somewhere we could go, cheaper than a tour, that would give us a good chance of seeing eagles, sea eagles would be great if not a golden eagle.

daveyjp

We have visited Skye, Mull and Islay and seen eagles on all three. All three have wildlife tours you can book.

We prefer Islay as its much quieter and a challenge to get to, the whisky is also a bonus and you can hop to Jura for some deer spotting.

Skye is only an island in name, the bridge now means it is full of day trippers. The cheaper ferry fares and short trip has resulted in Mull becoming very busy, a pain as most of the roads are single track and many visitors dont have a clue about the rules when using them.

Skye and Mull both have Sea Eagle spotting opportunities. Skye was a boat trip from Portree as the birds nest on Raasay, they also wait for the boats as they get fed.

On Mull the RSPB set up each year depending where the eagles are nesting.

You can then walk through the forest and hopefully spot them. If they have nested they should be hatching any time soon, by July the youngsters will be close to fledging.

http://ww2.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/events-dates-and-inspiration/dates-with-nature/146979-mull-eagle-watch

We have seen Golden Eagles whilst driving around the islands. On Islay the Oa in the south west is home to the Goldens.

On Mull we saw them around the cliffs between Balevulin and Balnahard on B8035.

merv98710

Thanks thats a huge help. :-) I think Skye sounds good, but as we've already got a 10 hour drive that might be a bit too much further, but I like the sound of the less busy Islay, I'll do my research around there.
Thanks

daveyjp

If you want somewhere different to stay I can recommend Islay pods:

http://islay-pods.co.uk

Located on the sea shore where you can watch otters having breakfast while you do!