Echtra Pick

Turus Mara

Treshnish Isles & Staffa Wildlife Tour

Turus Mara have been visiting Staffa and the Treshnish Isles for over fifty years — a family business that knows these waters as well as anyone.

Treshnish Isles & Staffa Wildlife Tour

Own photography — Turus Mara

Duration Full day — approximately 7 hours
Group size Varied — family run boat, comfortable capacity
Meeting point Ulva Ferry, Isle of Mull, Scotland
Availability April to end of July · Daily departures
Why Echtra Echtra features this

Turus Mara have been visiting Staffa and the Treshnish Isles for over fifty years — a family business that knows these waters as well as anyone. Lunga in May and June is one of the most extraordinary wildlife experiences in Britain. The puffins nest in burrows in the clifftop grass and come within a metre of you without flying away.

Lunga is the largest of the Treshnish Isles — uninhabited, wild, and in spring and early summer home to one of the most accessible puffin colonies in Scotland.

The puffins nest in burrows in the grassy clifftop. They are remarkably confiding — you can sit within a metre of them as they go about landing, shuffling into their burrows, and launching themselves off the clifftop into the Atlantic wind. They seem entirely unbothered by the presence of people.

Guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars, shags and great skuas also nest here in significant numbers. Atlantic grey seals haul out on the lower rocks.

From Lunga the boat crosses the short distance to Staffa — the volcanic island of hexagonal basalt columns that so astonished Felix Mendelssohn in 1829 that he wrote the Hebrides Overture. Fingal’s Cave cuts into the south face of the island — the sea inside is extraordinary, the acoustics remarkable.

Turus Mara also offer a Staffa-only tour, a Big Bird Trip on specific days in May to July, and tours departing from Oban for those not staying on Mull.

Family business since 1973

Over fifty years visiting Staffa and the Treshnish Isles

Puffins at eye level

Lunga's puffin colony allows remarkable close encounters on the clifftops

Fingal's Cave

The basalt sea cave that inspired Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture

  • Full day boat tour from Ulva Ferry
  • Landing on Lunga — approximately 2 hours ashore
  • Landing on Staffa and Fingal's Cave
  • Knowledgeable local crew throughout
  • Wildlife commentary — puffins, guillemots, razorbills, seals
  • Transport to Ulva Ferry
  • Food and refreshments (bring a packed lunch)
  • Landing guarantee — weather dependent

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This is an editorial listing. Your contract is with Turus Mara directly.

From

£65

From £65 per person

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turusmara.com