A handsome beast.

Monday I was out on tour, once again on the hunt for Golden Eagles. The rain was just clearing as we set off so we thought it would be a good time to get the big birds up in the air. The first stop was fruitless but the second port of call gave us a surprise find...driving up a forest track, half way up the hill we came across three Otters! There were plenty of Buzzards and Red Deer around and a couple of Hen Harriers to keep the interest going. It looked like there was more weather coming in so we had a quick change of location and hit lucky with an adult and juvenile Golden Eagle. A stunning rainbow appeared as the eagles drifted from sight. We moved out of the rain and back into better weather to find our fourth Otter of the day.

The Otter was always moving away from us so we moved on to a spot for lunch. A quick look round produced another Otter for the tally and the last one for the day. After lunch we spent a bit of time watching and photographing a Dipper.

Scanning the ridges we located a large raptor in the distance so we headed a bit closer to be rewarded by closer views of two Golden Eagles. The wind was starting to pick up and the light was fading but we made the effort to attempt to find a Mountain Hare. We would have been happy with distant views in the conditions but our luck held and we got a close one - a handsome beast.

That could have been the last of the sightings but there was more to come. We found a spot to have an afternoon cuppa in the company of a few RB Mergs and an elusive Red-throated Diver. Just as we were packing things away I picked up two bird over an offshore island - Hen Harriers! We had good views of the male and female birds before they were joined by another male. You couldn't ask for a better way to finish a day.

Ice, Ice, baby!

We had a nice run out on Sunday that produced a couple of nice birds, wonderful scenery and a few photos too. I hadn't caught up with any of the white winged gulls last year and I didn't want to see another year out without one so first port of call was for an Iceland Gull. These birds can hide themselves away in a crowd of gulls but once they take flight they really do stand out.

I watched this bird fly past and land beside the Herring Gulls but when I turned to look the other way there was an Iceland Gull! I looked back towards the first bird but it was gone and I couldn't see it in flight - odd. I took some flight shots when the other? bird took flight.

As you can see they are completely different birds;-) Just to prove the presence of two birds here they are together - ice, ice, baby!

It was a bit chilly standing in the breeze coming off the loch so we did the same as these Curlew and headed for some shelter.

The scenery was taken in next as we had a bit of a walk scanning the snow capped tops and choppy waters. I couldn't resist a snap of a Slavonian Grebe. Too far away for a decent shot but a stunning bird to see and I just had to share!

A trio of Fallow Deer were grazing near the road but best of all they were all sporting a different colour variant - an all dark one, a mid brown and a regular pale one.

Time was cracking on so we started to head for home taking in some nice Redwing...

...and Fieldfare along the way.

Idle birds.

Thursday was a little bit breezy as you may have heard. The worst of the damage was an island wide power cut and everything is back to normal now.
Saturday I was out on tour doing an eagle special. A request to see a wild Golden Eagle by Dan and a new experience for Kevin seeing Mull in all it's winter glory. It couldn't have been a better day after the stormy weather we'd had. The landscape was covered in snow with pockets of mist in the glens and a Golden Eagle perched on a rock amongst the splendour.

The idle bird just sat there and viewed it's territory so we moved on. A Kestrel at the next stop was the best we could manage but as we stopped to take in another stunning view we picked up another Golden Eagle sitting on the ridge. Once again we waited to see if the bird would fly.  A WT Eagle appeared over the opposite ridge and landed in full view. No reaction from the Goldie as it just sat and looked across. Another WT Eagle took off from the hillside and disappeared before the first WT Eagle followed it.

What did the Golden Eagle do? It took off and dropped behind the ridge! It was a bit chilly standing outside watching these birds do their thing so when they left we headed off for a warming cup of tea. Next on the agenda was to try to locate an Otter. A good look around the loch gave us plenty of Shag, a few Red-breasted Merganser and a group of five Great Northern Divers. A group of 10 Crossbills flew across the conifers but, typically, landed out of sight. We decided to move on and got as far as the first corner and there was an Otter swimming along close to the shore. A quick bit of reversing and a scramble across the rocks gave us some stunning views of three Otters.

The Buzzards were out in force, a few in flight, but most of them were hunting from poles.

We were even lucky enough to see a few of them catch a vole. The rain started just as we were going to have lunch so we headed for a drier spot to eat. Once we found a nice spot beside a river and started lunch. There were a few Red Deer on one side, a nice male Wigeon and a young WT Eagle on the other. Once again the eagle was an idle bird that sat surveying it's surroundings. We had a bit of a laugh trying to photograph the eagle through the scope with Dans iphone. After lunch we found another eagle sitting in a tree in the distance. Our expectations were that this would be another WT Eagle but when we got into a better position it turned out to be a stunning Golden Eagle!

A superb experience of a winters day on Mull - job done!