September

I'm catching up with things eventually. A selection of photographs from throughout the month.

Bar-tailed Godwit is an annual bird on Mull but we don't get many.

 Black-tailed Godwit is much commoner.

 Curlew.

 Some nice views of Red Deer through the month.

 Golden Eagle with a full crop.

 Golden Eagle on the hunt.

 Grey Heron sunbathing.

 Great Northern Diver with a flattie.

 Greenshank on it's own.

 Greenshank in triplicate.

 Hooded Crow is a popular bird.

 Otter.

 Raven having lunch.

 Skylark - look at the plumage on that!

 Sparrowhawk - just stunning.

 A migrant Whinchat.

 There had to a White-tailed Eagle too.

October

This post has been a long time coming as all the photos were from the first two days in October. A trip out with Doc produced a couple of migrant birds. We saw a couple of House Martin and a single Whinchat.

We watched an immature Golden Eagle being mobbed by Ravens. They eventually forced the youngster to land and then left it alone.

One of the WT Eagles that we saw gave a good performance as it circled overhead...

...and, of course, there were plenty of Buzzards to see. Doc had to take this photo for me as it was on the wrong side of the car for me to take the shot.

The following day was just as good for raptors. A couple of WT Eagle were seen from a distance at our first stop but we changed location and watched the two young birds interacting as they drifted over us.

A few Common Teal were seen through the day so there were some of the winter migrants coming in but there are still very few GN Diver around. The lack of winter birds is probably due to the good weather. There were plenty of sightings to keep us going through the day but Golden Eagle was proving difficult to connect with. After a few failed attempts I decided to head back to one of the locations and connected with a bird at close quarters.

It was a great sighting but the biggest surprise was when the bird headed out over the water and carried on to the other side of the loch!

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!

Hard to get

The final tour before a trip to Newcastle was a real raptor showcase. We started the day with all the gulls going up in a panic as a Peregrine came charging through. We got decent views of an Otter that was moving away from us and couldn't relocate it when we moved to a closer position. A couple of RT Diver were on the loch in the same location. There was no sign of the juv WT Eagle but Sparrowhawk, Whinchat, Stonechat and Hen Harrier filled the gap nicely.

An adult WT Eagle played hard to get before circling overhead.

A couple of Golden Eagle played hard to get as well but with a bit of patience we had one bird cruise over us.

We'd had another couple of Hen Harrier and nice views of a Northern Wheatear before we came across a Kestrel hunting. By the time the camera was out it had settled on a post.

A couple of Curlew were resting up and preening quite close to the road.

A Black-tailed Godwit was a nice find as we viewed a Mountain Hare. A couple of Adders showed well as they sheltered from a stiff breeze.

We came across another Whinchat that posed for us on the fence - superb!

We paid another visit to see the juv WT Eagle and managed to find it this time. As we stood watching one of the adult bird came flying in with food and, for once, it was a case of 'right place, right time'.

A bit fishy

A cracking bird to start the day was this migrant Whinchat.

The swallows at the house have left already but there are still birds feeding young in the nest and others that are almost ready to make that epic journey to Africa.

We had a real treat while looking for the WT Eagles. A young bird was seen to fly off while another two birds circled over the ridge and when we just about to go an adult bird put in an appearance delivering a fish to it's youngster - awesome!

With all the sprats in the shallows the Grey Herons are having a field day.

A particularly tatty WT Eagle was frightening the life out of the gulls - no surprise when you see the size of that bird.

Plenty of other stuff to see through the day. Hen Harrier and Adder spring to mind but this Common Frog was a bit of a bonus.

Catch of the day had to go to the Heron that speared this flatfish. You could hear the splat as it caught the fish then it flew down to some deeper water for a bit of lubrication.