There are two species of
seal on the island; these are The Common Seal,
which is
not so common (!!), and The Atlantic or Grey Seal, which
is much more common. The best way to decide which Seal
is which, is to study the head, as The Common Seal has a
much more doglike shape i.e. forehead and nose, whereas
The Atlantic Seal has a very flat head. Common Seals
also have very dark young, which they have in early
Summer, whereas Atlantic Seals have white young in
Autumn. A golden rule when seal spotting on Mull, is
that if you see seals basking on rocky islands just
offshore, they are usually The Common Seal. If you are
a few miles offshore and see the same, it is usually The
Atlantic Seal.
Otters are mythical creatures to some and many people
including so called 'experts', have never seen an Otter.
However, they have often seen their signs, i.e. their
spraint or droppings. It may be that in England and the
rest of Europe, you have to be content with seeing their
signs and that is because they are usually nocturnal in
those places. Here on Mull, the Otter hunts during the
day and he is more governed by the state of the tide,
than whether it is morning or night. Otters are only
occasionally seen in fresh water here, and it is just
offshore near seaweed covered rocks where you will most
likely see one. Purchase a Tide Table and study the
tides, because The Otter is much more likely to be seen
on an incoming tide, than at any other time. As it
comes toward high tide, the Otter usually heads for its
holt, which is its home and rest area. It is also where
they rear their young.
The resident Otter of Tobermory Bay
It is very easy to miss an Otter, despite the fact that
they are quite large, the Dog Otter being around four
feet from nose to tail. Most people miss an Otter
because they are simply not looking!! I saw my last
Otter this afternoon and he was about a quarter of a
mile away and silhouetted on top of a small rocky Islet.
They can be very close indeed when they bring a fish
ashore and proceed to eat it - perhaps as close as
twenty feet away - and as they are so used to visitors
simply cruising on by them, they accept cars passing
their territories quite readily. However they can
sometimes be very obvious, particularly on a quiet and
calm day, as they feed on Butterfish, perhaps thirty
feet offshore. If you catch sight of one in this
situation, make sure you pretend that you haven't,
because if you stop very close to an Otter, he will dive
and disappear!! Always continue past, and park perhaps a
hundred metres away from the Otter. If you then get out
quietly and walk back toward it, using what vegetation
there is as concealment, you can enjoy long term
sightings of a really interesting and rare creature.
