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.

Survival

We often see the Common Crossbills in the trees near the shop and you can get good views at times but there is nothing better than seeing them coming down to drink. I heard a few birds calling and we watched as one bird went down to the shore and another landed on a telegraph pole. When this bird dropped to the shore I expected to find them drinking but I was most surprised to find them feeding on the strandline!

It not an easy life living in the wild so only the strong will survive. I mentioned the young Otter that looked to be a bit of a runt - I had a trip out to look for the family and found no sign of them and the following day I found the female with just one cub.

It's not definite but the runt may have been abandoned which will give the remaining cub a better chance of survival - harsh but necessary. I watched these two for a couple of hours where the female fished for herself and never fed the cub and I never seen it catch anything either. The female is not struggling to find food...

...the Hooded Crows are ready to pick up any scraps left over...

...but the remaining cub looks healthy enough, a good swimmer and capable of catching it's own food.

While watching another Otter a Hen Harrier gave a good show.

When I arrived home the feeders were quite busy and a Coal Tit was busy working it's way through a peanut.

Splash

A quick trip out produced a few sightings. This drake RB Merg doesn't look too impressed as the female bird causes a bit of a splash.

This bird was fishing in the shallows - you can see there is a thin film of water covering the bird before it even dives...

...and you could be excused for mistaking this for an Otter.

No mistaking the Shag when it shows well though.

There was an Otter fishing a bit further out but it never came any closer.

A flock of Curlews were feeding in a field and it was nice to see the whole bill disappear as they dug for worms.

Not a great deal of variety on the feeders at home but it does give you a chance to get a bit closer to some birds - Great Tit...

...and the stunning Coal Tit are two good examples.

2014

Here we go again with another year and another Patchwork Challenge. The weather is not the best but I still managed to get a few birds on the list to start the list off - 35 species on the 1st. Highlights were Otter, WT Eagle, Golden Eagle, Black Guillemot, GN Diver, BT Diver and quite a few Kittiwake. No chance of any photos in the dull conditions but I did take a few snaps through the window of the visitors to the feeders. There were Blackbirds and Redwing in the field next to the house and three Dunnocks were on my side of the fence.

A couple of Coal Tits were the most frequent visitors to the feeder...

...and a single Robin was spending most of it's time skulking at the bottom of the Willow tree.

The weather was a bit calmer today and, strangely, most of the birds had cleared off! A superb view of a Greenshank was had...

...and four Otters were seen too.

PWC - 43 species.

Snow

Come November, come the snow - just a dusting though and it was gone the next day!

The slightly colder conditions brought a few Redwing into range of the camera.

A sunny day had me out looking to see if the Adder was about - no surprise to see it really.

A visit to the garage was quite productive as I had a wander round. A Coal Tit that was a bit shy...

...and plenty of Fieldfare that you couldn't get near.

The Redwing were a bit more approachable but all the close shots were blurred...

...and a Wren that posed for all of a second!

Other stuff that didn't get close enough included a couple of WT Eagle, a Golden Eagle, 31 WF Geese, 140 Golden Plover and a couple of female Hen Harrier.

Bad light.

Three quick trips out to try and avoid the weather were as good as could be expected. The first trip out started in good weather but soon deteriorated as a hail shower passed through and the light never improved. A Kestrel posed quite nicely...

...but a flock of 30 Fieldfare were not as obliging. A couple of Dunnock were flicking about on the Bracken but the light wasn't good enough for a photo. A change of location to see if the weather was going to improve didn't lift the spirits but a Golden Eagle put in a brief appearance. I was just about to head for home when six birds flew in and landed in a tree a couple of hundred yards up the road - WAXWINGS! The birds may have been obliging but the light was terrible.

I thought it was nice to see these six birds together (the other two are just out of shot)...

...when another 50+ birds did a fly past before disappearing!

No sign of the Waxers the following day but five WT Eagles made up for that. The first WT Eagle was fairly close and looks like a 2010 bird coming into it's third year. The bill is almost full yellow and the tail is wedge shaped.

Another of the five was the same age, sporting yellow wing tags, and is from the East Coast project.

A single Golden Eagle was trying to see the bigger birds off but it kept it's distance.

An Otter was difficult to keep track of in choppy water. The Common Seals were as curious as ever - who's watching who?

Not much left to look at but the birds on the feeders - there are more Coal Tits than anything else.

Still no change in the light conditions apart from the odd bright spell when you aren't looking. Finally managed to get a photo of a juvenile Great Northern Diver - notice the scaly back and could that be a small bump on the forehead?! 

Nice views of a Cormorant as the diver moved offshore.

Three different Otters seen on the way back home but I just grabbed a few snaps.

A bit chilly in places so it's no surprise to see snow on the Ben when the cloud clears off the tops.