Gruesome!

First of an update on the bird list for January - I ended up with 95 species for the month with 81 of those on Mull, the other 14 were in Speyside.
Sunday was a very pleasant day where I didn't do a great deal bird wise. We had a trip round the loch to visit friends so didn't see a great deal. A Grey Heron posed nicely...

...before we bumped into a cracking juv WT Eagle.

It was too close to get out and digiscope so we just sat and watched until it flew off.
Monday was a bit of a change in the weather with showers pushing through after a clear morning. It was a tough day but we had a cracking start with RB Mergs, Redshank, Greenshank, Teal, GN Diver etc. A bit of excitement at the next stop as we picked up 3 Otters on the shore. We watched then roll around to clean themselves up before they headed back out into the water away from us - we followed them up. When we relocated them there was four Otters in the water! It was certainly three cubs with one adult female. One of the cubs peeled off from the group and hauled out, squeaking away....

....while the other 3 fished together.

We waited patiently until they'd had their fill and headed for land again for a clean up....

...and a bit of rough and tumble for the youngsters.

A tremendous sight to see and they soon moved off. We'd noticed there were a few Herons just behind the Otters and a better look revealed 29 birds sitting around! A few Red Deer stags were nice to see and the usual fantastic views before catching up with a couple of confiding GN Diver. Naturally one decided to dive just as I took the photo.

The weather really closed in after this and added a bit of drama to the landscape before we got a tip-off from the local farmer as to the location of a couple of WT Eagle. Thanks to him we got cracking views of two adult birds. A group of Fallow Deer stags in a field with 3 Red Deer were nice to see and on the other side of the road a sizable flock of Greylag Goose with a single Pink-footed Goose amongst them. It was another good day in the field with cracking views of Buzzard drying it's wings, Common Seals swimming close - never a dull moment!

This morning the weather cleared away to leave beautiful blue skies so I headed off to see if I could dig out the local Golden Eagles. It was real quiet to start with with a few Raven, Hooded Crow and a couple of Kestrel. I got a tantalising glimpse of a Golden Eagle before it disappeared against the hillside and then it rose again before dropping out of sight again. Another quick glimpse of the bird had me heading off in pursuit and finally getting onto the bird properly - you might wish I hadn't!

Pretty gruesome but it's what these birds do. A couple of attendant Hoodies and Raven kept this young Goldie alert. Just like buses, I'd found this bird and another two birds were soaring not too far away. The youngster finally had his fill and moved off the carcass to let the corvids in.

Not bad for a quick hour away from the chores!