Wild Mull : a natural history of the island and its people

"High above the mountaintops on the Isle of Mull, a huge bird is soaring. Its all-encompassing gaze records people in its Hebridean territory far below, but they are of no interest. The eagle is about its business: concentrating on the deer and fidgety hares out grazing in the morning sun, the urgent push of thermals beneath its wings, a threatening weather front way out at sea, and the restless chick back in its eyrie. This is Mull in its glory. This is what the excited, watching people have travelled so far to witness. They train their binoculars and admire, perhaps envy, the eagle with its vast freedom, knowing that such a self-willed being is part of another world - almost. This book guides the reader through that world. With superb illustrations and illuminating text, we are led to the wild side of Mull. Every facet of the island's natural history is considered, its diverse species and many stories - past, present and future. Along the way we are reminded that wildness is not somehow separate from the human world but influenced, and shared, by nature and people together. Here is the tale of a precious and unique place, a seaborne landscape that displays an uncommon biodiversity and rare wildlife experiences, although today it also faces its greatest challenges. Most of all, this book is testimony to the power of wild places and the duty we have to learn from and protect them"--Publisher's description Wild Mull: A Natural History of the Island and its People Cover Page Half Title Page Title Page Copyright Contents Dedication Foreword Introduction ONE: The Fairest of the Isles The Mull ‘national anthem’ The nature of nature Wild Mull A celebrity isle The evolving landscape Mull’s ‘magnets’ Back to the future TWO: The Land that Holds the Life Seeing the past in colour A commitment to understanding A fondness for rocks? Reading the landscape The bedrock of life The objective view Starting to come together As old as time Mull’s magnetic personality Anyone can be a ‘Mull’ geologist Mull under the ice Life after the ice Final pieces of the jigsaw THREE: People and the Shaping of Mull The epic begins Leaving the Garden The loss of innocence Accident or design? The strandloopers A natural urge The winds of change Natural history’s ‘Dark Age’ Cultivation and husbandry Into the ‘modern’ world Slashing and burning The sublime to the ridiculous Farming arable in adversity The impact of poverty Bracken... blight... Bracken Black cattle and white sheep FOUR: Invasions, Extinctions and Mull’s Own ‘Gene Genie’ The ebb and flow of life Degrees of ‘naturalness’ Comings and goings A warm welcome! How to make a deer... ... and more deer The fox and the rabbit Hare today? The march of the mustelids The Pine Marten paradox Oversexed and over here A phantom species More than just the animals Beauty and the beast When domestic meets wild... All change A ‘wild’ biodiversity? FIVE: Fangs, Fins and Fur Making some connections Small is beautiful Our largest beast Too much of a good thing? Fire-fanged demons, and handsome interlopers Otters – the Mull Badgers Matters of life and death When the going gets tough... the tough get going A passing phase The person of the mud and other beasts Galleon goats? The missing millions Mammals in the air Care and consideration – the world of reptiles and amphibians Colonising the lochs Running the rivers Watery worlds SIX: Raptors of Eagle Island The hunters of Mull Lords of the Isle ‘The eagle with the sunlit eye’ The eagle has landed Rubbing along together Golden Eagle – ‘the true bird’ The white hawk Best supporting actor Sparrowhawk ‘An owl is mostly air’ Long-eared Owl Short-eared Owl Barn Owl Tawny Owl SEVEN: In Their Element – the Seabirds Behind the shipping forecast At one with the sea... Treshnish and the open seas The ‘tubenoses’ Humans – and lack of humans An honorary pelagic Underwater-flying auks The gangsters in the north We don’t know what we don’t know Simply ducks The loonatic fringe ... and so to gulls EIGHT: Extraordinary Landbirds Flights of fancy Less is more The rarity paradox When is a bird not a bird? Roding in the gloaming Standing out from the crowd What’s going on? The bird in a burn Mistaken identity? Prized pies The ‘Bread-and-butter Bird’ The Highland game Beachcombing And so to Crex NINE: The Kingdom of the Celtic Rainforest Woodlands’ ancient magic The ‘other’ rainforest The conservation obligation Lichen, lichen, everywhere... Two’s company, three’s a lichen Beauties and the beasts The woodland wizards The short life of a paddock-stool A fungal identity parade The fungi/food quandary Bryophytes TEN: Plants of Place and Purpose A culture of flowers Creating an identity Immigrants and settlers Expansion and domination Too much of a good thing A confusion of orchids Ferns form places Down to the sea Making the most of machair Grassland to moorland Getting wetter Higher and higher The national flower ELEVEN: Life Beyond the Strandline Look into the sea The intertidal Foraging and farming The romance of the creel Murder most foul Why conservation? The Puffing Pig’s burden Who’s watching whom? Life, death and discovery Identity parade Really common? Warming, cooling and capture TWELVE: Beautiful Beasties Our beating heart Feeling the buzz An unknown quantity There’s money in dung (beetles) Mythical creatures Rare and gentle things As if from nowhere... Moths to the flame Can’t fly? Take the boat Cops and robbers Enter the dragons Damsels in distress? Not on Mull Give blood for biodiversity POSTSCRIPT: The Forever Future An island without people The new normal The old normal An island in harmony No island is an island All change Indescribable intoxication Wildlife and people: a perfect symbiosis? A challenge is laid down Where the wild is Weaving the final threads Isle of Mull, Scotland Acknowledgements and Photographers’ Credits Bibliography Historical texts consulted Other useful texts Useful Contacts for Further Information Watching and Photographing Wildlife on Mull Species Referred to in the Text Index Back Cover