Over the years I have been asked many questions. When people hear my accent for the first time it usually has the same effect and triggers their inquisitive side ‘’where are you from?’’ or ‘’that’s not a Scottish accent’’ are the favourite comments. For some reason it shocks people to find a renegade Yorkshireman living on the island of Mull and running boat trips to see the White Tailed Eagles. And I suppose I can see why, so let me tell you. When I first visited Mull as a young man in his twenties the very first breeding attempts for the eagles were just being made following the reintroduction programme which had started in 1975. Hunting and persecution had slowly and inexorably forced the last few of these magnificent birds to the furthest outposts of our islands where they were followed and exterminated. Thankfully as we progressed through the 20th century we began to miss these iconic and once revered birds and a plan to bring them back to their native home was hatched. The rest as they say is history but when I first visited Mull they were still extremely rare and knowledge of their whereabouts was a closely guarded secret.