Eagles, and Otter and a Load of Other Stuff!

 I can't believe that I haven't posted for over a month, we have been so busy, a couple of  weeks away, decorating and getting on with life. Our first week away was down in Staffordshire and family time so very little birding, just a few things from a visit to Chatsworth House:

Our other week away was on the Isle of Mull, this was our third time of trying to get to the island, we had originally booked for spring last year, but we all know what happened then! Then we had re-booked for last autumn, but then lock down hit again. So the only time we could fit in was the last week in June, not ideal, as there were very few sea birds about, but we still clocked up 60 species on the island, plus another couple on our travels there and back.

So I won't go into any great detail but here are some highlights:

I'll start with our only Otter sighting, we hadn't quite given up, but we had to wait until our last day! No apologies for all the photos, I did take loads!

So lets see some Eagles!

Unlike the Otter above they didn't get so close, also although we did see Golden Eagles all the photos are of White-tailed Eagles, the Goldie photos were rubbish as they were too high!

These were at Loch Na Keal,

Now on Ulva,

and one at Grasspoint.

We saw at least one Eagle every day, the most was four!

Now for some Tourist Eagles, or more usually known as the Buzzard 😂 Starting with a Buzzard chick on the nest at Loch Na Keal,

then various sightings out and about.

Staying on the raptor theme, we saw plenty of Kestrels, but didn't get any photos, but this Sparrowhawk cam to inspect the bird feeders outside our digs dining room window:

Then of course we saw may Hen Harriers, although very elusive on the photo front, they were all quite distant or I wasn't ready for a photo before they disappeared, this is the best I managed of a Male on Ulva:

Talking of the feeders they were very busy with loads of Siskin, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Feral Pigeon, Collared Dove, the occasional Coal Tit, one sighting of as Lesser Redpoll and Rabbits.

Siskin

Siskin & Chaffinch

Siskin

Rabbit

Chaffinch

Elsewhere, we saw Linnet, Whitethroat, Lapwing, Common Sandpiper, Common Tern, Eider, Heron, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Oystercatchers, Red Breasted Merganser, a Cuckoo being chased by a Kestrel, Stonechat, Pied Wagtail galore, a couple of Grey Wagtail and of course the Corvids: Hooded Crow, Rook and Jackdaw.

Pied Wagtail

Jellyfish

Linnet

Ulva Ferry

Chaffinch & Great Tit

Grey Heron

Oystercatcher

North Beach, Iona

Skylark

Meadow Pipit

Starling

House Sparrow

Female Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Lapwing

Common Sandpiper

Common Tern

So this has ended up a bit longer than I planned, but never mind, it was fun doing it!

Ladywalk NR

As I've mentioned previously we have recently joined the West Midland Bird Club, so yesterday took us an another trip of exploration and we visited Ladywalk NR, one of a number of reserves in the Tame Valley Wetlands. We had a fabulous afternoon, once we mastered the combination lock to the car park, that took us a while! We went on the circular walk talking in all the hides, the weather was great if a little blowy, but the sun stayed out for the most part.

We had some great sightings, especially of a couple of cuckoos that we of course heard before we found them. But I'll start at the beginning or the imaginatively called 'Hide A'. At this hide there were a number of feeders attracting Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Blue and Great Tits and this wonderful pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers:

We walked from Hide A to the Rudd hide, hearing Cuckoo's along the way and catching a brief glimpse in a large Oak Tree behind the hide. But as we left and headed for the River Walk Hide, one flew past a couple of hundred yards away, and landed behind a bush. We could see it, but it was partially obscured by the bush, I took a few photo's trying to get a focus through the foliage, but to no avail, then a big gust of wind swung the leaves out the way and I managed a couple of shots, one not completely out of focus or obscured:

As we walked on there were butterflies and dragonflies everywhere, absolutely fantatstic, I managed a few photos, that I'll share:
This could be a female Red-eyed Damselfly, but then it might not!!

 On safer ground this is a Comma Butterfly,

 a Gatekeeper Butterfly,

 the Comma again,

 a Red Admiral, if anyone wants to identify the insect flying in feel free!

 A Small White Butterfly,

and a Peacock.

We were having a great time with all the activity, we also saw Grey Wagtail along the river and a pair of Linnet on the pebbles:

The River Walk hide was fantastic with great views over the reserve, we added Green Sandpiper again only visible when the wind blew the reeds out the way. Little Egret, Black-tailed Godwit, a female Mandarin (on the left), sitting alongside a couple of Grey Heron;

There were Cormorants eveywhere;

a few female Teal were about, at least one female Gadwall, Grebes, House Martins skimming through, Lapwing, Moorhen, Coot, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, the list goes on!

We finally carried on to the Bittern hide where we had a very late lunch.We carried on to Hide B then back to the car, with of course a few more photos in between.
Little Egret,

 a Small Tortoiseshell Buuterfly,

 another Little Egret and

 a nice view of a Great Crested Grebe.

We loved it!
In the past we have always gone to the RSPB reserve (Middleton) just a few miles along the river, but this was much more enjoyable, so unless something 'special' turns up at Middleton, Ladywalk is the place that we will be visiting in the future.