A Week on the Isle of Mull - The Birds!

 Apart from the Otters we had a great week birding in between the rain! 66 Species in all, you'll be glad to know not too many photos, due to the weather mainly. But I'll start with one of my favourites from the week. A Snipe on a post, in the rain of course.

The sun did come out from time to time, helping to show off this Lapwing a bit.

Back in the murk, Great Northern Divers.

Oystercatchers

A White-tailed Eagle on approach,

landing near it's mate.

A friendly Buzzard, usually as soon as you stop they fly off, I can only guess this one was a bit soggy and couldn't be bothered.

Oystercatcher and chick...

We do love a Curlew,

Siskin in the garden at Lochdon,

White tailed Eagle.

Self explanatory!

Finally a Golden Eagle being bothered by a Raven.

A Week on the Isle of Mull - Otters

 We returned last weekend from a fantastic week on the Isle of Mull, we had a great time despite the weather. We had great sightings of Otters, Dolphins, Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Hen Harrier and much more.

Actually we had 8 separate Otter sightings during the week, three of which were from the living room window of our cottage at Lochdon. Awesome.

This is the chap: The photos are a bit dull as it was early evening on a rainy day.

Another one on Loch Na Keal. Believe it or not that's an otter on a rock!

Then a sesond one just a few hundred yards away, that obligingly got out, but quickly hid behind the rocks!

We did get an Otter on a reasonably sunny day though, on our last day, this one was on Loch Spelve.

Birding in Lesvos 2026 - 2nd Week

 So The start of the second week was difficult as we were both unwell for a few days, not leaving the room on the Monday! We found out on the last day that we weren't the only ones!!

Anyway, so once we felt able we had a more gentle day and went to Achlideri on the search for Krüpers Nuthatch.... and failed! We had a nice day though and added a lifer to our bird list a Woodlark in the forest.

On the way though we had a peek at the Long-eared Owl youngsters by Kerami School:

Around the hedge rows near the Salt Pans a Black-headed Bunting showed well,

We also had a brief but distant view of a Marsh Harrier,

and a couple of Dalmatian Pelicans in Kalloni Bay.

Next day after some further advice we tried Achlideri Forest again and were lucky this time, finding two pairs of Krüpers Nuthatch.

as well as Masked Shrike,

and a Lizard!

I missed out a nice Flamingo from earlier, so here it is.

Back to the forest we also found plenty of Short-toed Treecreeper this time, our first for the trip.

Next day we drove to Eressos, to start the mountain track down to Meladia Valley and on to Sigri.

Again plenty of birds seen and heard but proving very difficult to photograph. But a few did oblige.

Rock Nuthatch,

Stonechat,

Cretzschmar's Bunting,

and Spotted Flycatcher, (we saw tons this time!)

Next day we tried the Makara Valley again, this time the resident Little Owl put in an appearance, but he was hiding on a telegraph pole some distance away.

There are always Lizards posing on the rocks heading into the valley.

Otherwise it was very quiet down there.

Our last day with car we drove towards Molyvos before taking the northern coast track to Skala Sikiminias for a much anticipated late fish lunch.

We stopped at Kavaki Bay on the way and managed Blue Rock Thrush again, plus some great Peregrine action. A pair with a hidden cliff nest were busy keeping the Yellow-legged Gulls away.

Not to mention a lovely Short-toed Eagle,

Then a Sardinian Warbler put in an appearance. Magic.

So that's about it, despite being ill, we had a great time, so I'll just sign off with some Bee-eaters.