Isle of Islay - Birding Days 3 and 4

Birding Day 3!

These 2 days are days where we didn't see much, so I have merged them together to make one post. Anyway, enough of the waffling, let me tell you about our days!

On the 5th, we started off at Duich Lots, a place not far from where we stayed. We were looking for a reported Red Grouse but we didn't see that. We did see a ringtail Hen Harrier though which was nice...

For the rest of the day we headed round to the other side of the Island around Port Charlotte area. It was a miserable day in terms of weather so the only other birds of note during this day was a Peregrine and a couple of Chough which is still better than nothing.

Birding Day 4

Birding Day 4 was a lot more successful than the previous day in terms of birds and whether, so here goes...

We went down to Laggan Point in the morning which is a lovely rocky area good for sea birds...

 We got some cracking Black Guillemots, including a close one on a rock!

We also got a nice family of Ringed Plover here too...

We also got a Shag...

And a very obliging Dunlin...

On the way out the fields were filled with Sand Martins, and a few Hooded Crows...

In the afternoon, we headed out to Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Claggain Bay. We came across a fantastic sight which was a pair of Golden Eagles flying really close to the road. How cool is that!

We got to Claggain Bay and found a summer plumaged Red-throated Diver, Small Copper and 4 Eider. Great stuff!

2014 Year List Total - 205

Happy Birding!

Isle of Mull - Day 5

Target Bird - Crossbill

On the Wednesday, it was something that we always do when we come up to Mull, and that is have a guided tour with Bryan Rains - Wild About Mull. This is a fantastic day out, were Bryan takes you around the south of the island looking at Mull's birds and wildlife. There fantastic!

Before we even got on the tour, we had an Otter swim past our hotel, which was fantastic. This was our first Otter for Mull this year.

Bryan picked us up, and then the other guests. We got the Sea Eagle on the nest, then we got another Otter.

We then got another White-tailed Eagle, which soared right over us.

We then got to the Golden Eagles nest, and we were treated to both birds sitting on the top of the hill. Here's 1!

At Carsaig, we picked up a Wood Warbler.

We then moved to the stores, to get lunch, picking up a pair of Hen Harrier on the way. We got to the stores, and we picked up at least one Crosssbill to go onto the year list, where it was chipping away in the trees. We'd already seen Razorbill, Cuckoo, G-N Diver, Common Tern, Stonechat and Whinchat and Eider..... the list gets longer and longer! 

We got to Fidden, where we got Whimbrel, Linnet and Mountain Hare. The, I plunged onto a Tree Sparrow in a stony area. Not great photo's, but still Awesome!!

Here's the Whimbrel and Linnet.

Happy Birding!

Isle of Mull - Day 5

Like Bryans tour trip, we also go to a little Island in the south west of Mull called Iona. Some of you keen birders like me may of heard about the Glaucous Gull hanging about on the Island, so this is where we came. We hadn't really looked at where the Gull was on the Island, so we were just hoping for some Twitchers looking at this bird with Telescopes and Binoculars when we got there.

On the way to Fionnanphort - where you get the ferry - all the regular species were showing well, like Curlew, Hoodies, Wheatear, Stonechat and Willow Warbler. Also, going past both Eagle viewpoints meant that Golden and White-tailed Eagles were present. A really nice site though was outside where we were staying, which was a Ringed Plover. More explained further on......

Ringed Plover outside where we were staying - Pennyghael

Eider Duck at Bunessan

Great-Northern Diver also at Pennyghael

Arriving on the Ferry across to Iona, plenty of  Kittiwake, Shag, and Oystercatchers were flying from place to place if it was along the Ross, or on the land. 

On the Island, unfortunately no Twitchers were about, so no chance of finding, it, but what we came here for, was the Corncrake! The Fire Station was the first stopping point for us, then further along the road with some advice given before hand. No singing birds at the fire station, but the chipper song of Snipe alert me of a present one nearby. Moving towards the bird - which I couldn't see - I flushed it up out of some short grass, which I should have seen before hand. About an hour later still no luck. After being along the road, only a distant bird was singing, but none nearby, until we got back to the Fire Station. About 4 singing birds were in the Iris beds singing away, but not showing. 5 minutes later, my Dad spotted one flying briefly over the Iris beds close-ish, but it was good enough to confirm one. The bird we came for was complete, and now I don't have to worry about seeing one an more!