Staffa and Lunga: A Tale of Two Islands

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I visited the islands of Staffa and Lunga which lie to the west of Mull. Staffa is of course famous for its fascinating geology, including Fingal's Cave which inspired Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. With its hexagonal basalt columns, it is supposedly the other end of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The light was fairly poor but I managed to get a few shots. What I wasn't prepared for was that the other passengers on our boat headed straight up the hill rather than to Fingal's Cave. As a result, my friend and I had the cave to ourselves for an unprecedented half an hour. To spend all that time in solitude in the cave was a real privilege and the boom of the swell will stay with me for a lifetime. I even managed to get my tripod up to get some slow exposures, although to be honest, the photography was secondary to the sensory experience.

Next stop was Lunga, one of the Treshnish Isles, and famous for its puffin colony. In a former life, my friend had been a wildlife photographer and film-maker and he has always espoused the theory that the key to successful wildlife photography is to get down low and let the wildlife come to you rather than you pursue the wildlife. And so I followed his advice, resisting the temptation to accompany him to a huge bird colony at Dun Cruit (Harp Rock) on the island. I sat near some burrows and let the puffins get used to me. After a remarkably short period of time, they did so and I was not only able to get some shots of them with my beloved 70-200mm f2.8 L series lens (I'd lent my less beloved 100-400mm f4 L series lens to my pal), but after a while they began flying in with food so that I was able to get some classic 'puffin with sand eels' shots.

As we checked out each other's photos on the boat, I asked my friend if he'd managed to get any puffin shots with sand eels. Shaking his head, he asked me if I'd had any success. Of course I answered 'yes', somewhat smugly. Needless to say, he had the last laugh by reminding me that it was by following his advice that I had achieved success. Furthermore, when I somewhat glibly commented that Mendelssohn had been something of a 'one hit wonder' with the Hebrides Overture, my pal (being very knowledgeable on classical music) rolled off a long list of other Mendelssohn works, including the Wedding March and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I really must learn to engage brain before mouth.

Here is a small selection of the puffin photos. I hope to include Staffa and Lunga on some of my workshops next spring and summer. Spending a couple of hours in one spot close to these charming birds was a fantastic experience, but I shall never, ever forget that half hour of solitude in Fingal's Cave.

We travelled to Staffa and Lunga with Iain Morrison and Turus Mara. Iain is a hugely experienced skipper and a great host to boot - you are guaranteed a brilliant combination of informative commentary and great craic. Iain's son, Colin, skippers the other Turus Mara boat, Island Lass. Highly recommended if you are up this way.