Isle of Mull - Day 6

Once again, sorry about the wait. Just haven't had time to do anything towards this blog. I did though write about the distressing news of that White-throated Needletail though, which was an extraordinary shock.

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Target Bird: Redstart

A very early start at 5am sent Dad and I to Ardura Oak Woodland to try and crack the Redstarts. We got there and could here the local Wood Warbler, and then I heard a familiar sound. It was the Redstart. We had both Canon Cameras, and tried to locate it. When we did, it was a cracking male. We took tonnes of pictures, but they were all blurred!!

We went back to the hotel and woke up Mum (she was already awake actually - LOL) and headed back to Ardura with better light in our favour. We got there, and he was still singing. We even got better pics!

We also got the Wood Warbler.

We also got Spotted Flycatcher too.

We had already clocked Cuckoo, Tree Pipit, Stonechat, Whinchat, and Willow Warbler, when I looked up and saw 4 White-tailed Eagles together!

Here's 3!

We then got a Golden Eagle flying over too. We then went to Grasspoint again, and we got to the viewpoint. Someone pointed out 2 White-tailed Eagle sitting in the tree top which was a nice sight. I then had to check my hearing because I could hear a Grasshopper Warbler reeling from the long grass. I went ot have a look, and it flew out of the grass and onto the top of a heather for all of a bout 5 seconds. Cracking stuff. First for the year! We headed to the Golden Eagle nest back in Glen More, but the White-tailed Eagles we had seen from the car park at Grasspoint, we sitting right near the road!

We got to the Goldies nest, and a adult bird was on the nest.

I got a Crossbill flock flying over our heads chipping away, but I couldn't see them.

I've been in really bad form in terms of Golf these past 2 weeks, but I'm playing today, so hopefully that will change. 

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 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 2012 - Day 2

We headed for Croggan today, a small track running down by Loch Spelve in the south-east of the island. Target birds today were Wood Warbler and Redstart. Unfortunately, one of these birds was not seen by our human eyes, but one to show for us, and pictures were taken.

Normal sightings were Loch Scridain's White-tailed Eagle family, Stonechat, Common Sandpiper and 4 Golden Plover. Please enjoy watching and looking at the following pictures and more will be explained further along this blog post.

Stonechat on heather at Glen More 

Common Sandpiper near Croggan

And the unexpected ones too!

Moving on to some more exciting, but regular birds sightings on the island were Short-eared Owl, Hen Harrier, and Great-Northern Diver with Cuckoo's, Common Waders and Lesser Redpoll. Once again, enjoy!

White-tailed Eagle nest at Loch Scridain

Short-eared Owl hunting near Pennyghael

Turning right down the track signaled Croggan, Dad took the foot of the gas, and we started to dawdle through the old Oak Woodlands, ideal habitat for Wood Warbler and Redstart. Stopping and listening at every passing place, the spinning song of a male Wood Warbler echoed through the woodland. Even better than that, it didn't take long for us to locate it hopping from tree to tree, incredible. Unfortunately, only a very distant Redstart was singing on the other side of a field, but the pictures, I think are good enough to identify this as a Wood Warbler. 

Wood Warbler at Croggan

TOTAL OF BIRD SPECIES FOR 2012 = 179