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A small group of puffins stands scattered across a grassy clifftop, wildflowers growing between the tussocks.
Argyll and Bute

Treshnish Isles

A line of uninhabited islands west of Mull, landmarks since the Vikings, where boat trips land on Lunga among puffins, razorbills and great crowded seabird cliffs.

Welcome

West of Mull, strung out in a line like a fleet of warships steaming through the Hebrides, lie the Treshnish Isles: eight main islands and a scatter of rocks, stretching eleven kilometres across the sea.

Visited and photographed by Simon Hird

Nobody lives on them now; there are ruins, among them a medieval castle, but today they belong to the seabirds.

The boats land on Lunga, the largest. From mid April until early August its clifftop turf is full of puffins, standing among the sea pinks, so close you hardly need binoculars. Along the shore, cliffs and stacks are crowded with nesting birds, and the stack of Dun Cruit, the Harp Rock, holds more than six thousand guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars and shags.

Most trips pair Lunga with Staffa and Fingal's Cave, and leave from Ulva Ferry on Mull or from Oban, Tobermory, Fionnphort and Iona.

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The Daily for 30 October, from Scotland with love. Aerial view of a teal-coloured lochan cupped in a forested hollow, a scree slope rising on one side and autumn-tinged pines ringing the shore.
Before you go

The islands can only be reached by boat.

Trips land on Lunga from spring to summer, from Ulva Ferry on Mull and from Oban, Tobermory, Fionnphort and Iona; the puffins are there from mid April until early August. Book ahead, and go prepared for the weather at sea.

Getting there
By boat trip only, landing on Lunga.
Puffins
Mid April to early August.

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Did you know

Two puffins fly together against a plain sky, their wings angled and orange feet trailing behind.
Did you know

An hour with the puffins.

Iain Morrison, who began the Turus Mara trips, called an hour among Lunga's puffins puffin therapy.

A razorbill with a black hooked bill marked by a thin white line stands in dry grass, its white breast catching the light.
Did you know

Six thousand birds.

The Harp Rock stack, Dun Cruit, is home to more than 6,000 seabirds.

A shag stands among ferns on a rocky ledge, its dark iridescent feathers and hooked bill catching the light.
Did you know

Viking names.

Some of the islands' names come from the Vikings, who once ruled the Hebrides.

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Where it is

West of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, 3km off the coast at their nearest; boat trips leave from Ulva Ferry, Oban, Tobermory, Fionnphort and Iona.

Close byThe Inner Hebrides.
  1. Close-up of a puffin's face, showing red-rimmed eye and orange beak markingsIsle of LungaThe largest of the islands, where the boats land.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Calgary BayCalgary BayThe largest and most accessible beach in north Mull, a long sweep of white shell sand backed by flowering machair, west of Dervaig.3 miles 7 min by road
  3. Soup, bread and a daffodil on a table by the window at the café at Calgary.Calgary Bay CoA small café by Calgary Bay in north-west Mull, run by Lou and Ben, with lunches, baking and Pilates classes.3 miles 7 min by road
  4. Calgary Art in NatureCalgary Art in NatureA free woodland sculpture walk through the beech woods above Calgary Bay, begun in 1999, with a café beside the start.3 miles 7 min by road
  5. Inside Am Birlinn: tables under a high timber ceiling, big windows onto the trees.Am BirlinnA family-friendly restaurant in a light, airy timber building near Dervaig, cooking the freshest local food.5 miles 11 min by road
  6. The white Boathouse by the landing on Ulva, people at picnic tables in the sun.Isle of UlvaThe community island by the boats' Mull harbour.11 miles 23 min by road
Directions
The pale timber building of Croft 3 on the croft, the sea and hills behind.RestaurantsCroft 36.6 miles
Lip na Cloiche's garden in flower, a small white greenhouse among dense beds of plants.AttractionsLip na Cloiche Garden7.6 miles

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