Trip to Newcastle.

A trip to Newcastle gave me a chance to catch up with a few species that I haven't seen for a while.

Kestrel.

Little Owl - not seen one of these since Oct 2008.

Smew - not seen one of these since early 2008. I've never had a view this good though.

Splendid looking bird.

Good to see the bird stretch it's wings.

I hadn't seen Roe Deer since 2007.

It was good to get into a feeding station and see the likes of Great Spotted Woodpecker...

...Magpie...

...Nuthatch...

...and Stock Dove.

A quick trip to the coast produced Short-eared Owl...

...and Tree Sparrow.

A trip to Turkey followed this so that'll be the next post.

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.

Early start

An early start on an exclusive tour saw us heading out for particular targets. It was nice to see there were plenty of young Siskin around some feeders.

Otters were top of the list so we checked a few areas before picking up this one working it's way along the shore...

...and another a bit further along the road.

We managed to pick up another two Otters but both of those were busy getting their heads down for a sleep. Both types of eagle were seen well, a Peregrine had a go at a Golden Eagle and Northern Wheatears were everywhere.

We got good views of Common Crossbill flying around and we were lucky enough to get one perched at the top of a conifer.

The Great Spotted Woodpeckers are feeding young so there are regular sightings of them flying back to the nest and foraging.

Bright

With a day of sunshine it was nice to see things in good light for a change although this Great Spotted Woodpecker was in the woods where there wasn't that much light. Nice to see the pattern on the back of the head of the female bird.

It was pretty much a given that an Adder would be on show but there was only one to see - the same beast as the last time.

There were plenty of Pied Wagtails, a few Meadow Pipit, Lapwings, a Reed Bunting and a few Rooks down by the beach.

There will be quite a few photos of Lapwing over the next couple of months - stunning!

The views were spectacular...

...and a Golden eagle came over for a closer look.

Good and bad

The weather has been a bit changeable so I'll deal with the bad first! We had a bit of strong wind that brought with it a few flurries of snow and we had to go out in it. It was just after sunrise so there wasn't a great deal to be seen but all of the gulls were hogging the shore waiting for tasty items to be washed ashore. We had two superb sightings of Golden Eagle along the way though. They must have seen all of the gull activity and come for a closer look in case there was something to be had.

The following day was good weather as it was nice and bright with very little wind compared to the previous day. The Buzzard were out in force and a lot of them had full crops.

Most of the Robins that I saw were keen to get a bit closer in case there was food to be had.

A surprise find was two feral cats curled up in the sun. It's not very often you see them in the open like this.

Best find of the day was a male Great Spotted Woodpecker that stopped in a small stand of trees.

I spent some time watching a group of Redwing working their way across a field and got the occasional chance to get a few shots of them.