October offerings.

October was a decent month with, mostly, warm and dry weather. The down side to the good weather was that the migrating birds seemed to pass us by.
Adders were on show for most of the month.

 The winter thrushes arrived at the end of the month but the best I could capture was a Blackbird.

 It was nice to get a few Common Buzzard shots on natural perches for a change.

 Lookinng good at the top of a conifer.

 Coal tits have been hoarding food.

 Field Gentian was visible for the whole month.

 Grey Heron having a walk around.

 Another Grey Heron on a grey day.

 Great Northern Diver stretching it's wings.

 This Great Spotted Woodpecker was a nice bird to see.

 A nice male Hen Harrier.

 This Little Egret was my first on Mull.

 There have been quite a few Merlin sightings in October.

 The Otters are always a big draw - one eating it's lunch.

 This one decided to have a close look at me!

 Mum and cub.

 Two cubs together.

 I managed to get a couple of shots of this Sparrowhawk just outside the shop.

 Stonechat - a showy bird.

 A panoramic shot outside the shop showing the passing shower complete with double rainbow.

 A couple of White-tailed Eagle passing the time.

 Young White-tailed Eagle flying past.

Newcastle

A trip to Newcastle had to include a bit of birding. It was nice to catch up with a few old faces (you know who you are). We don't have Moorhen and Coot on Mull so it was nice to catch up with them. Plenty of Tree Sparrow, Goldfinch, Stonechat, a couple of Common Whitethroat...

...and a nice Whinchat.

A flock of about 70 Lapwing had 25 Dunlin and a single Black-tailed Godwit sharing the space.

There were five Snipe close by while an Avocet fed in the shallows.

Little Egret is a regular sight in Northumberland now but it's been a while since I'd seen one.

These Swallows have already featured in Ipin's blog so it was nice to see that they were still there but definitely ready to go.

Just outside the hide we could see 7 Ruff but there was only one close bird and that was hard to see!

A Caspian Gull a bit further up the coast was a must see bird.

Eider ducks were plentiful in the harbour...

...as were the Starlings.

Plenty of other common birds were seen so it wasn't a bad haul for  a couple of hours in the field. Got to have an Oystercatcher in because it'd be rude not to.

The reason for the visit to Newcastle was my daughters wedding so the father of the bride has to be there!