Wildlife

Treshnish, Mull, self-catering, wildlife, yellow rattle

We are very proud of the variety of wildlife that surrounds our Isle of Mull cottages here on the farm

Each cottage has advice written by Prasad, to guide you to where you might see certain species – like the White Tailed Sea Eagle, an Otter, Hen Harrier or Golden Eagle.

We don’t organise structured guided tours on the farm, but are happy to share our knowledge of the bio-diversity here with you, and to talk about how the wildlife is encouraged here through our complicated grazing management!

There is nothing more special than discovering a rare plant or watching a Golden Eagle soaring on the northerly wind over the Treshnish woodland.

In addition to the general tourist information in each cottage, there is additional information about Mull wildlife and more specifically records of the wildlife you might see here on the farm.

In the Phone Room, we have a library of wildlife reference books with information on Mull wildlife as well as more general Hebridean and Scottish books. There are also spare binoculars (in case you forget yours), local books and maps guests are welcome to borrow.

We are also very lucky to have Prasad living here. He has been recording the wildlife here since 2006. Prasad’s blog is online for anyone to look at, and we have printed a book of his bird sightings and general wildlife records for our guests to enjoy.

Birds

159 species of Birds recorded on the farm. Prasad’s full Treshnish and North Mull bird lists are available on his blog, and we have his book in the Reference/Phone Room.

Moths and butterflies

256 macro-moths (high effort), 95 micro-moths (with minimum effort) and 18 butterflies recorded on the farm.

Moths of special interest include:
Bleached Pug (NSb), Scotch Annulet (NSb), Great Brocade (NSa), several large colonies of Transparent Burnet (Nsa) and The Grey (RD3).

Moth status key
NSb = Nationally Scarce b, recorded in 31-100 10x10km squares NSa = Nationally Scarce a, recorded in 16-30 10x10km squares. RD3 = Red Data Book 3, recorded in 15 or fewer 10x10km squares

Plants

373+ species of Flowering Plant species recorded on the farm.
Arable plants include: Corn Spurrey (V), Welsh Poppy (NS) and White Ramping-fumitory, a rare plant on Mull.
15 species of orchids:
Heath Spotted-orchid and Heath Fragrant Orchid are abundant throughout the farm.
Common Spotted-orchid, Northern Marsh-orchid, Greater Butterfly-orchid, Early-purple Orchid, Common Twayblade are abundant in the late mown in-by meadows.
Rare orchids in the meadows include Frog Orchid (NS, V, BAP), Small-white Orchid (V, BAP).
The upland areas hold high numbers of Bog Orchid (NS) and small numbers of Lesser Twayblade and Early Marsh Orchid.
Treshnish wood holds the rare Narrow-leaved Helleborine (NS, V, BAP), Bird’s-nest Orchid (NT) and Broad-leaved Helleborine, a rare Mull orchid. Common Twayblade is also common in the wood.
Treshnish in-by fields hold several threatened flowering plant species:
Field Gentian (V, BAP) and Wood Bitter-vetch (NT, NS).

Lichens and fungus

Treshnish probably holds the highest concentrations of Hazel Gloves fungus in Britain (and Europe).
Treshnish hazelwoods are also the home to several extremely rare lichens, including: Arthonia excipienda (NT, NR), Arthothelium macounii (V, NR, BAP, IR), Pseudocyphellaria norvegica (NS, BAP, IR), Pseudocyphellaria intricata (NT, NS, IR)