It’s been a good while since I last posted a blog but a recent trip to Mull, and devouring ‘The Eagles Way’ by a favourite nature writer of mine, Jim Crumley, has made me think about getting ‘something out there’(funnily enough another title of one of Crumley’s twenty five or so books!)
Mull has unashamedly become ‘eagle island’ but has a lot more to offer than just a growing population of the sea eagle and a stable population of the more human shy golden one of the species. Both are no longer difficult to see on the island, but always get the heart racing in a way no other inhabitant of Mull is quite capable of doing.
I know Mull, but only as a frequent visitor over the years, and would never claim to ‘know it well’ I know where to watch for the classics Mull has to offer and with patience they rarely let you down. I know the capricious nature of her weather, at any time of the year, and have experienced all four seasons in one week on the island.
But as ever it is through images that I see Mull. I’ll leave the wonderful words and evocative passages to the likes of Jim Crumley. Occasionally I’ll quote him and others in my work (I have a passion for books on natural history writing) but I experience a place through a lens (camera, binocular or telescope) It’s my creative outlet and window onto places that inspire and calm.
It’s perhaps worth quoting from an essay I wrote in the recent publication, Ghosts of the Restless Shore (Arts Edition North 2015)
‘Lastly and central to why I use a camera is the fact that without it I see less clearly. There is an argument that runs along the lines that the camera actually gets in the way of experiencing any given moment. It is seen as a filter that stops primary engagement; just experience the moment. For myself I see the camera more like a filter that clarifies and intensifies…’
So it’s images rather than words I give here and images over a number of years of visiting Mull.
Great images! Good to see renewed activity on your blog! More please!!
Thanks Tim, lovely to see your photographs again and thanks for taking me to Mull, such space, it must be a special place to walk with a camera
Thanks Andy and Stuart, yep Mull is a quite wonderful island and time spent there watching and waiting really fuels the spirit. Been in the North East for a few days, Kittiwakes and Terns and a light that is so different from that on the west coast!
Hi Tim,
Great to see more images again! Always inspiring to see how you interpret the landscape and it’s wild inhabitants in an ever-changing environment.
I’m hoping to be going up to Mull in October so this has well and truly wet my appetite for what this incredible place has to offer.
Hope you’re well :)
Tom
Hi Tim,
Good to see a new post from you. Mull looks fantastic. I also feel that my camera captures moments that I have missed with the naked eye and I am often amazed to see what I have captured when I see it on screen. I have to say that whenever I take a photograph of a bird in flight I recall your advice given to me many years ago now at Llanelli WWT. Thank you! My appreciation and mastery of that aspect of photography is all down to you. Wishing you well.
Hi Tom,
Good to hear from you. I’ve some good local knowledge of where to see wildlife on Mull, happy to share it with you. Hope all’s well.
Hi Joyce,
So nice to hear from you and thanks for your kind words. Hope the photography is still going well and that Ian and you are enjoying getting out and about. Say hello to Ian from me. May bump into each other again at Slimbridge in the Autumn! Take care both.
Hi Tim,
Any local knowledge would be fantastic thank you! :D
All the best
Nice to see some stuff on your site again , see you soon