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 2

Today, our target bird was Wood Warbler, and Ardura Oak Woodland near Croggan was the place.We started with about 4 Great Northern Diver on Loch Scridain.

A nice flock of Razorbill were on the loch, obviously in from the sea. Still plenty of Hoody's and Willow Warblers about, and about 3 Common Terns were fishing. 3 Tree Pipit shew well, as did both Eagle species at the respected sites. 

White-tailed Eagle

A House Martin was collecting mud...

A Hoody was also about

We got to Ardura, and we could already here the trilling of Wood Warbler. It wasn't long before we located it.

Wood Warbler

We then got Spotted Flycatcher onto the year list...

Driving along side Loch Spelve, we got good views of inshore Black Guillemot and Gannet.

Black Guillemot

Gannet

A Wheatear also shew well in a roadside field

We then went down to Loch Buie, and that produced up to 5 Red-throated Divers, a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers and 5 Eider. Also, a very tame Chaffinch was walking right past your feet!!!

Happy Birding!

Isle of Mull - Day 4

Every year we have come to the Isle of Mull, we have always gone on Bryan's Wild About Mull tour, (see link http://begbits.blogspot.com) and his tours have never failed us with a good day of birdwatching, and once again, it didn't this time. 7 of us went on his tour, and while collecting the rest of the visitors, Siskin, Buzzard and the regular White-tailed Eagle chicks were all visible. We started actually waiting for one of the adult Eagles to come into the nest with some food for their young, and after an hour of waiting, we were rewarded. Another good bird at a regular stopping point were Golden Eagle, showing well in the mountainside hills. All of the commoner species were available, like Stonechat, Wheatear, Hooded Crows and Wader species. Being close to Pennyghael - where we stayed - were regular points to view the Short-eared Owls, with also the occasional Hen Harrier. 

Plenty of "Hoodies" were sitting on rocks and posts.

Also, Short-eared Owls were on the hunt during the morning

Getting towards lunch time, we headed to Beak. With all the great sightings we'd seen, it was time to view a reptile which is not easy to locate in some parts of the UK, the Adder. Bryan and I had our sandwiches, and he knows where their bathing areas are amongst the heather, and I had a rough idea where they were from the previous years, so we went looking. Only steping into the heather about 10 meters, already a couple of Adders were slithering out from under my shoes, incredible. After everyone finished eating, we grouped everyone up to show them, and with some luck everyone saw them, but not as close as they may have liked to of been. Well, walking out of the heather, you couldn't get much closer than this.....

This is actually a younger Adder, but if you look closely to the bottom left, you may be able to see that it is eating a newt, fantastic.

Going back to some of the birds at Beak, about 3 Hen Harriers were flying about, a Golden Eagle, and a couple of Cuckoos. Driving out of Beak, this caught the corner of Bryans eye..... 

An adult Adder

Another incredible day, only one thing left to find for this week is an Otter!