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 - Final Day

The Final Day on the Island, and with all the birds seen on the holiday already, what an earth should we go looking for. We all had a vote of the bird we wanted to see, and the answer was the Dipper. Researching the best places to see them was a bit of a struggle, but the River Aros, and Loch Ba seemed to be the places that stuck out the most. Looking at the map, it seemed that these places were in the north-ish part of the Island, and we were based in the south, so we had to allow about an hour and a half's journey to get there. So we got cracking straight away. 

With today being like all the other days (sunny), Wheatears, Pipits, Hoodys, Ravens, Buzzards, Eiders and the Hen Harriers were all visible, along with the Shorties from Pennyghael. 

We arrived along the River Aros, but with only passing places in sight. We couldn't see a Car Park, so we parked in one of the passing places - naughty naughty. We walked down the river about 50 yards, and with a pair of Grey Wagtails hopping about on the rocks, but no Dippers yet. We got to the point where we thought we should move the car, so Dad went back to move the car while Mum and I stayed to look out for the Dippers. 2 minutes later, I said with excitement "Dipper!" Mum soon found it after I described it and we got great views.

Newly fledged Dipper on Rivers edge

Obviously wants to get good shots of itself!

Loch Ba didn't produce very much at all, only a Red-breasted Merganser, Willow Warblers and Siskins, with a Cuckoo too, but a Toad was an interesting find, clumsily moving about in the damp leaves...

A brief sighting on the way back was 3 Otters running across the road right in front of the car, incredible. This sighting was actually on Day 5, I just forgot to put it on there.

Some of you may have noticed the Nightjar picture on the left hand side of this blog under Rarity Pictures, and that will be my next post, including a rare garden visitor, and also, another patch visit, with some good sightings. Speak to you soon.