I had the chance to see today a spectacular film made by BBC in 2005: Natural World: Eagle Island. Splendid shots of eagles in the nest, marine life and dramatic Scottish landscape. I am just speachless. I’ve seen before some pictures of different areas from Scotland, I have two good friends which visited this summer the north of Scotland and came back from there with hundreds of pictures of incredible places, I also have a very special person of my life living in Scotland so I have all the reasons to be charmed by this places. But after you’ll see this movie you’ll be charmed for ever too, trust me.
Expert cameraman and an extremely likeable presenter with a beautiful accent the presenter Gordon Buchanan returns to his homeland to rediscover its stunning wildlife and magnificent scenery. The Isle of Mull has the highest density of eagles in the United Kingdom, otters in every bay and even seals, whales, sharks and dolphins in the surrounding seas. Gordon’s specific mission was to find and film the Sea Eagle, the biggest bird of prey in Europe and one that has only recently returned to the Isle of Mull which has started breeding on Mull in recent years. Eagle Island gives Gordon some of his favourite wildlife moments to compare with anything he has seen in Africa, India or South America. „This is the best place in the world. To be back here is just the most fantastic opportunity.”
He manages to get close enough to see the eaglets and the food that their parents bring them, including, at one point, a lamb! Buchanan clear has to spend hours and hours in little more than a tent watching the birds, but his patience does pay off and his shots make up a fascinating part of the film. One section that Buchanan clearly particularly enjoyed was going out to sea on a friend’s boat and filming sharks and whales. By following the seagulls, they are able to guess at the most likely places to find sharks and whales and they are in luck. At one point, a minke whale teases the film crew by swimming underneath the boat that they are in.
The part that I enjoyed the most was Buchanan’s filming of an otter family in the end of the film. This was one of his aims during his year on the island, but it proved harder than he expected; the otters were just not very cooperative. When he finally manages to find a family of otters that were either oblivious to him or that just weren’t threatened, he got some terrific footage, particularly of the young otters. Apart from the wildlife, I loved watching the constantly changing weather. The weather on the west coast of Scotland can change at the drop of a hat; one minute sunny, the next stormy and overcast. This was shown by speeding up shots of a particular piece of scenery, which showed the effect of the weather on the amazing scenery of Mull – never-ending skies, wild moorland and angry seas.
What I regret is that 50 minutes is not enough to show the wealth of content that Buchanan must have filmed in a year on the island. On the whole, this was a very interesting film, full of information about the amazing wildlife that lives on Mull and beautifully filmed by someone who clearly has a big place in his heart for the island. Anyone who enjoys wildlife programmes and/or has an interest in the Western Isles will enjoy this. The Scottish background music finishes the film off to perfection.