Success Stories

Isle of Mull Wildlife Expeditions
Wildlife in a truly wild setting.....

"If you’ve always wanted to see a Golden Eagle, there is an excellent chance that your wish will come true on a visit to the Isle of Mull."

David Woodhouse
Isle of Mull Wildlife Expeditions

This business based on the Isle of Mull has been running for nearly twenty-five years. The company, one of the longest running wildlife tour operators in Scotland, is run and owned by David Woodhouse. All tours are on land by Land Rover and the focus of the business is watching wildlife in its native local habitat including otters, seals, white tailed sea eagles, golden eagles, and hen harriers. The business has recently built new premises to provide accommodation with dinner and breakfast.

David considers Scotland to be one of the finest ecotourism destinations in the world and runs his business on that basis. He believes that there is a growing demand amongst domestic and international tourists alike for a green nature-based product. He works his business around providing a product to meet that demand.

David’s motivation to start a nature based green business was based on an obvious demand for such a product from visitors to the Isle of Mull. He initially ran a hotel on the island, and found that he would be taking visitors out to look at wildlife in his spare time. The natural progression was towards a full-time wildlife viewing business.

David’s philosophy is that the ‘green’ aspect of his business is naturally present in Scotland. His job is to interpret those surroundings for visitors to the island and to ensure that they see the very best nature that the Isle of Mull can offer. His approach to viewing animals is low impact. He will alert visitors to particular types of signals coming from birds or animals which suggest that they may be distressed by their presence. In such cases they back off and leave the animals to carry on without disturbance. Importantly, however, these are lessons that visitors take home with them when they watch wildlife on their own.

He likes to include a human element in his tours to promote a link between wildlife and human well-being. For example he will relate the lifespan of a porpoise or eagle to our human lifetime and focus on aspects of animal life that people can readily relate to.

When touring he takes people by LandRover to well known viewing spots. He does not drive offroad to prevent impact to the landscape. Some visitors express an interest in driving off-road but he explains that to see wildlife it simply isn’t necessary as everything can be accessed by road.

 The house that David recently built has incorporated local and/or Scottish products wherever possible. One of the more innovative design features is the sheep’s wool insulation. He used a Yorkshire based company but specified that he would like to use Scottish wool, preferably Isle of Mull wool. While the company wasn’t able to specifically supply Isle of Mull wool they were able to provide Scottish wool.

David co-operates with visitors who choose not to arrive in Mull by car by agreeing to pick them up from the ferry and sometimes from their accommodation.

  David is a founding member of an organisation called Holiday Mull of which his business is also a member. The aim of the organisation is to bring businesses together to market Mull as a tourism destination. It was established 26 years ago and was one of the first local tourism marketing groups established in Scotland.

Through Holiday Mull, David and others in the group have initiated a visitor treeplanting scheme. Planting will take place during the busy Easter season and will give visitors the opportunity to plant a native tree on Mull. Pamphlets will be distributed on the ferry explaining to people how they can participate.

Another great green idea that David and Holiday Mull developed is the Children’s Quest. Families can arrange to pick up brochures which sets down the quest. It is also available via the website on www.tobermory.co.uk/quest/. The marketing of the quest includes lots of old world images, maps and text to excite the imagination of children visiting Mull. To complete the quest children are invited to complete several nature and culture-based challenges all over the island, such as collecting a bag of rubbish from the beach or spotting the difference between a sea eagle and a golden eagle. Upon completing the challenge children are presented with Mull’s magical stone in aleather pouch.

Providing incentives to visit Mull, such as the children’s quest, is good for all of the businesses operating on the island. Developing green based family activities gives out a message to tourists that businesses and the community of Mull are committed to green issues.

Businesses like Isle of Mull Wildlife Expeditions are aware that a demand for green tourism products is already there and it is a matter of tuning in to the needs of these visitors. As one of the oldest wildlife viewing businesses in Scotland it would seem they are on the right track!

Further Information:
David Woodhouse
Isle of Mull Landrover Wildlife Expeditions
Ulva Ferry
Argyll

Tel: 01688 500121
Email: info@scotlandwildlife.com
Website: www.holidaymull.org/members/wildlife.html

last updated on 26th March 2004

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