A Week on the Isle of Mull

As promised here is our Mull trip report for last week. I have just finished going through my 1200 photos and am trying to decide what to include in this post, it's a tough one.

We had some amazing wildlife sightings during the week, Otters galore (at least one every day!), White Tailed Eagles, Golden Eagles, Corncrake, Adder, Short Eared Owl, Hen Harriers, Divers, Waders, Seals, Deer, Hare...........  Sadly despite all those photos no Corncrake pic, he dived back under cover before I could get a shot and the Eagle photo's are mainly record shots as none of them got that close. Anyway more of that later, so where do I start, chronologically I suppose, so here goes............

We had a fabulous drive over from Edinburgh in glorious weather, over Glencoe and then taking the longer route using the Corran and Lochaline ferries rather than the more expensive Oban Ferry, it adds about an hour to the journey but saves a bucket load of money! We arrived at the cottage on Lochdon about 4:30 on the Saturday and unpacked, then settled down with a cuppa to watch the wildlife go by and wait for our partners in crime (Jo & Jimmy) to arrive, they were travelling up from Cheshire and where about 90 minutes behind us.

It's great to sit in a comfy chair, relax with drinks on tap and let the wildlife come to you for a change. The river at the end of the Loch is in front of the lounge window, with great views over the Loch and surrounding hills.

The usual small garden birds were in abundance, but it was great to watch Goosander and Merganser sailing by the window, with Common Sandpiper flitting about, Oystercatchers calling and Curlew wading.

Does it get better than that? (Yes it does..!!)

Sunday 28/04
Tina and myself decide to visit Loch Ba as there had been reports of Slavonian Grebe on there, however the weather decided to take a turn for the worse and in our 2 hour walk (getting drenched in the process) down to the Loch and along the edge, we saw very little. (Sandpiper, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, RB Merganser was about it)

We stopped for a coffee (of course!) by the Mussel Farm in a brief spell of sunshine and were pleased to hear a Cuckoo behind us, quite close, but despite scanning the trees we couldn't find him. Then just before we packed up he flew out of  a tree some way above us and headed away back to the woods at the end of the Loch, so a brief sighting, but a sighting and our first Cuckoo of the year. As we returned to the car a Song Thrush paid us a visit:

We drove back down to Salen, Carignure and on to Pennyghael to find the Stores just to get the lie of the land as we were going out on a Guided Wildlife tour with Wild About Mull on Tuesday and just wanted to see how long it would take to drive down. The real reason though was to try and find the Short Eared Owls on Glen More.
After finding the Stores we turned around and headed back to the Glen, stopping to admire a posing Buzzard:

then had a look at the river to see if anything was about, when 2 male Hen Harriers popped out of nowhere and flew off in opposite directions, we tracked the one in the distance but lost him in the murk as the weather turned yet again! We carried on up the Glen and entered a Blizzard! This didn't last though and the sun came out again and so did a Shortie!

We watched him for a while until he disappeared over the ridge, so back for tea and a Rainbow!

Monday 29/04
Whilst we were doing our own thing yesterday Jo & Jimmy had driven up to Tobermory where they told us about a great Otter sighting, so we decided to go up and take a look, then drive around the coast and do a circuit back to Lochdon.

We were delayed at Salen for a while due to roadworks, but luckily were stopped by a cottage that had a number of avian visitors:

On arriving at Tobermory, we wandered around the Harbour for a while with no luck, until we arrived at the far end near the Ferry, then the first of our many Otter sightings:

You looking at me!

Checking out the RNLI boat!

I think I took half of my 1200 photos here, he was so obliging. After about an hour he decided that he'd had enough and came out on the beach and disappeared into a water outlet, amazing!
After Tobermory we headed north and around the coast, via Dervaig and Calgary, the scenery along here is stunning and we even picked up some Black-Tailed Godwits at Dervaig.

We then headed 'home' over Glen More, with 3 Shorties obliging again.

Back at the ranch this Gull took a keen interest in Jo & Jimmy's car!

Tuesday 30/04
Today we went out with Bryan Rains from Wild About Mull, the link to his blog is on the right hand side of this blog. It was a great day and well worth it, Bryan took us to some great spots for both of the Eagles and much more. I'm not going to say where as that wouldn't be fair to Bryan, but if you visit the island, then book on one of his trips. So I'm just going to put up a small selection of pics from the day.

Great Northern Diver with Lunch

WT Eagle being chased by a Buzzard

Otter

Grey Heron

Whimbrel

Swallow

Golden Eagle

Stonechat

Common Seals

Adder

White Wagtail

Redshank

Black Tailed Godwit

WT Eagle

Lapwing

Skylarks 'a courting'

After leaving Bryan we headed back over Glen More to Lochdon and more Shortie encounters!

Followed by a quick visit to Grasspoint, just in case the WT Eagles where about down there, but not today!
Some Red Deer though and the cutest Highland Cattle Calf!

Wednesday 01/05
The plan for today is to hop on the ferry to Iona and hunt for the elusive Corncrake. But first a quick visit to Grasspoint in case the WTEs are about and yes we did find them both!

But on to Iona..
From the ferry we saw our first Razorbill of the year:

We went straight from the ferry to the Fire Station where we saw the Corncrake last year and were immeadiatley rewarded with the call of 2 Corncrake at opposite ends of the field both well and truly hidden. After a short while I managed to spot the closest one then spent 15 minutes trying to get the others to see it!
It never stayed out long enough for me to get a shot, never mind next year!

We decided to stroll up to the north end of the island and have lunch up there. On the way there and back we saw plenty of Wheatear, Meadow Pipit, a field full of Golden Plover, some Black Tailed Godwit, Pied Wagtail and fishing off the beach, some Kittiwake.
The Beach:

Gosh, we must be enjoying ourselves!

Some of the Birds:

We then had a lovely cream tea at the Columba Hotel before a quick look for Corncrake, again heard but not seen. Then onto the ferry and back to Mull.

After the Ferry we dropped in at Fidden to see what was about, the highlight being the Golden Plover:

Two Oystercatchers also performed well:

And a 'Beach' Hare:

Some more Golden Plover:

and an out of focus Ringed Plover with some Dunlin:

Common Seal:

and finally a Lapwing:

We left Fidden and headed back to Lochdon, via a few points along the way which provided:

Willow Warbler

Young Adder

and a Short Eared Owl!

Another drop in to Grasspoint was called for, the sun was blinding, but managed a record shot of this distant White Tailed Eagle:

Can you spot him?

Thursday 02/05
Well the nice weather has gone a very 'iffy' day today, so not many photo opportunitues, a drive to Loch Scridain then Loch Buie via Loch Spelve was undertaken in the rain, just a few shots:

Red Breasted Merganser (Loch Scridain)

GN Diver (Loch Scridain)

Otter (Loch Scridain)

Black Guillemot (Loch Spelve)

GN Diver (Loch Spelve)

Friday 03/05
The weather forecast was a washout and it was spot on! It rained hard all day, so we went up to Tobermory and had lunch at the Fish Cafe on the Harbour (Brilliant food!), but not before our mate obliged yet again:

After Tobermory we headed back to Grasspoint as the rain had more or less stopped, just in case the WT Eagles were about, one finally showed up in the murk and gave me a silhouette on the skyline:

Then just before tea with the light fading an otter appeared on the shoreline opposite our cottage:

So that's it! A wonderful week 72 species of birds seen, plus Red Deer, Hare, Otter, Common Seal and an Adder or two!  We had a final look at our Sea Eagles before heading home on the Saturday morning (again it was raining!)  I will add all the photo's to the gallery over this week, so keep an eye out for the update!

Tina & Tom

Lochdon, Mull

Well here we are on Mull, since we stopped last year the cottage has had Wifi installed, so a quick post is called for.

We arrived at about 4.30 yesterday afternoon after a great scenic drive over Glencoe from Edinburgh.

On the loch in front of the house aMale Goosander drifted quietly by so a great start and we hadn't even unpacked the car! After unpacking we sat with a well earned cuppa looking out over the loch as the tide came in, the result:

Goosander, Shelduck, Curlew, Common Sandpiper, Starling, House Sparrow, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Chaffinch, Robin, Hooded Crow, Blackbird, Great Tit.

Some divers that in the fading light were to far away to identify, a raptor flew through but the sighting was fleeting an possibly a Twite. So a good start.


Sorry no pics as I can't get them to my iPad.

Water of Leith

Well it's Friday and after finishing work, (working from our daughters flat in Edinburgh) we went for a walk along the Water of  Leith from Stockbridge to Leith.  The weather was mixed, ranging from sunshine, hail, to pouring rain, but my wooly Albion hat kept my bald spot warm!

So as this is a birding blog, I had better mention some birds!

It's quite surprising what you can find in the middle of a city. We even achieved a year tick, our first House Martins. The total list:

House Martin, Grey Heron,  Willow Warbler, Grey Wagtail, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock, Blackbird,  Song Thrush, Robin, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, House Sparrow, Lesser black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Goldfinch, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon & Moorhen.

So tomorrow we set out again heading for Mull, hopefully to bag some Eagles, Otters, Divers and much much more we hope. No Internet access where we are staying, so will write it up when we get back.

Attenborough Nature Reserve

On Saturday we had arranged to meet some friends that we met in Sri Lanka last year. The chosen venue was the Attenborough Nature Reserve (Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust). We had been trying to get together for ages and finally managed it.

It was great to see Wendy & Tim  again and have a proper catch up instead of swapping emails. With the added bonus of being on a nature reserve as well!

This was our first visit to the reserve, which is pretty extensive and has a good variety of habitats, so anything was on the cards. We really liked the layout with lots of good walks it also has a very good Visitor Centre with shop and cafe. The weather was glorious, but the only down side was that with the weather being great and being not far from Nottingham City Centre it was packed! People, Dogs and Bikes everywhere, this meant that the hides were very busy and quite noisy when one is used to the more sedate hides at Upton or most RSPB hides for that matter. So as a general bit of advice if you want to visit I would suggest avoiding the weekends. We elected to take a circular walk around the reserve, in our case we chose a 3 mile walk.

The start of the walk produced our first Willow Warbler for the year, followed quickly by a Chiffchaff, so a good start, a Dunnock in excellent voice gave me our first photo opportunity:

The lakes seemed to lack variety, but we picked up Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Teal Canada Geese, Coot, Moorhen and so many Great Crested Grebes they were impossible to count:

We did get our first Little Ringed Plover of the year, this is a distant record shot:

A Willow Warbler then posed:

followed by a Blackcap, who just wouldn't keep still for a photo. We saw many Blackcaps but I didn't manage a photo of any! Ah well, seeing is the main thing! I do put a lot of pressure on myself to get a decent photo, but as you all know birds don't know that and don't care!

As we continued the path led us between one of the lakes and the River Trent, this is where most of the Greylags were congregating, but we did spot a Common Sandpiper on the river bank, again a distant photo:

The reserve boasts a Heronry, that we didn't find, but did see plenty of Herons about as we walked. The next highlight was a Sparrowhawk whistling over our heads which was a bonus.

We eventually made it back to the Visitor Centre where we encountered what was for me the highlight of the day, 3 Red Crested Pochard, this was only our second ever sighting, the first being in Norfolk last year and at some distance, this was a little closer:

Prepare to dive:

So off to the Visitor Centre for a bite to eat and a cuppa!

Suitably refreshed we set out again for another slightly shorter walk past the sailing club, looping around back to the Trent, just after we set off, a Middle Eastern Surprise in the form of 2 Egyptian Geese:

Just after this we came across a couple of Arctic Tern skimming the sailing lake, another year tick. I didn't expect to pick those up until we go to the Farnes in June. So after that the only additional bird picked up on this loop was a Kestrel, but all in all a very nice walk.
We finally ended back at the Car Park (£1.50 all day and entrance to the reserve is free), found a bench and  had a a final cup of tea and a chat before heading home.

The last additions here was a solitary Gadwall gliding past, some Long Tailed Tit and a Song Thrush going through its full glorious repertoire! Our total count for the afternoon was 40 species, but this included 10 year ticks, so that was fabulous.

Finally thanks to Wendy & Tim for a great day out and looking forward to meeting up again.

Are You Local?

Sorry to repeat myself but another very busy week, we didn't do any birding the weekend for various reasons, but I did manage to get out at lunch time and take a walk to Warrens Hall along the canal.

Now I had high hopes following the Warrens Hall and Bumble Hole thread on Bird Forums as although nothing mega there sounds like there was plenty about.
The walk along the Canal resulted in what you would expect, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Canada Geese, plus Blackbird, House Sparrow, Dunnock and Crow in the hedges rows.

Once I arrived at Warrens Hall, first spot was a Grey Heron on the fishing pool:

I stopped for a Coffee at the Visitor Centre (A bargain at 60p!) then proceeded over the canal, suddenly everything disappeared! I hardly found a thing, A Chaffinch, more Blackbirds and a couple of Gulls:

I wandered around the reserve for a while, I heard a few birds and a call a didn't recognise (not surprising I'm pretty useless at calls, but this was one I hadn't heard before) it was only a few feet away, but I just couldn't find it! So frustrating!  It then went quiet, so I presume it had moved on.

Anyway just about to head off back to work, when I heard my first Chiffchaff of the year and even managed to track it down:

So that was it....

When Tina came home though we went for a walk around Haden Hill again plenty of Birdsong but very few sightings, the highlights being two Buzzards flying together over the trees and a pair of Nuthatches calling to each other, here's a poor shot of one of them:

That's all folks

TTFN

It's been a while

I haven't posted for over a week things have been a bit hectic with work so just haven't had time!

Last weekend we did a Saturday afternoon National Trust visit to Hanbury Hall not far from Upton. We had a coffee to set us up then wandered around the estate, highlight being a flock of Redwings down in a copse on the edge of the estate, didn't get any decent photos as they were well in the trees and in the shade, but very enjoyable none the less. Plenty of Blackbird, Blue & Great Tit, Chaffinch, Crows, Wood pigeons etc. A flight of 5 Teal flew over us heading towards the masts, so I guess they were on the way to Upton.

There were also some Pheasant wandering around, it was a very pleasant couple of hours. We walked on up the hill to the Church, first time we had done this in all the times we have been there, the views are brilliant, well worth it. The walk up there took us through the a field full of Sheep with Lambs, so an obligatory cute photo is required:

So back to the car, where we saw more Redwing and a Jay. So pleased with that. We hadn't left ourselves a lot of time, but we sneaked in 45 minutes at Upton the way home. We went to the Moors and chose the wrong hide as the sun was shining directly at us, didn't think, so only one photo of note: 'Makin BHGs':

So, the usual culprits:
Great Crested and Little Grebe, Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, mallard, Canada Goose, Cormorant, BHG, LBBG, Herring Gull, Snipe (just the one), Coot, Cormorant, Kestrel, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Long Tailed Tit.

The Garden has been more interesting this week, with rare visits for us of Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Long Tailed Tit and a first for the garden a very brief visit by a  Goldcrest. We also now have a pair of Magpie building a nest in the Leylandii at the bottom of the Garden, but sadly our 3 bird boxes, whilst being checked out are at the moment empty!

The pond has burst into life, its a frog orgy down there, it's rapidly filling up with frog spawn, so interesting times ahead!

Don't know yet what we are doing this weekend, depends on the weather!  But we do have a trip coming up to the Attenborough NR in Nottinghamshire to meet some friends and the at the end of the a month a long awaited return to Mull, cant wait to see the Eagles again and this time hopefully get some better views of Otters.

TTFN