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.

I'm back

It's been a long time but I lost the will to live with blogger due to the internet problems. It took seven months to get it fixed - Facebook was easier to upload to so that has been a big help. I'm jut dabbling at the moment so here are few photos from earlier in the year - March to June in no particular order...

Buff-tip

 Common Sandpiper

 Golden Eagle

 Golden Plover

 Golden-ringed Dragonfly

 Male Hen Harrier

 Female Hen Harrier

 Montain Hare

 Otter

 Puffin

 Razorbill

 Redshank

 Common Seal

 Skylark

 Common Snipe

 Stonechat

 Treecreeper

 Whinchat

 White-tailed Eagle

 Yellowhammer

Stormy

The weather over the last few days has been stormy to say the least. It does nothing for the amount of sightings that you get unless there is a hard weather movement - there hasn't been! It has pushed some of the commoner birds into the open though. Redshank feeding at the side of the road...

...Little Grebe feeding in the shallows near the road...

...Meadow Pipits can be difficult to find in the winter months as they stay in cover.

Stonechats have been hard to come by since the wind picked up but four birds in the same area just shows that they are sticking together.

Reed Buntings are usually easy to find in hard conditions but I can't find any at the moment but there does seem to be a few Skylarks on show.

I got a fleeting view of a Snow Bunting on the side of the road but I couldn't relocate it after getting out of the motor - the Red Deer were keen to see what I was doing though!

Different stuff

The guests on this tour were not that interested in the big stuff but more interested in what else was around. We started off with both pipits, Lapwing and Skylark.

A flock of 300 Eider were quite impressive as they were spread along the loch and the guests were pleased to see a Golden Eagle at low level instead of their usual high flying sights.

We picked up Hen Harrier, WT Eagle, Little Grebe but it was the Stonechat that took pride of place.

A heavy shower slowed us down a bit but a pair of Slavonian Grebe were found as we drove along.

Another WT Eagle was seen and a Peregrine caused some havoc as it tried to take a Redshank. So it was nice to concentrate on the small stuff for a change and get a few photographs of different birds like this Wren.

Stunners

I'm seeing the Common Crossbills every day at the moment but they usually disappear before anyone turns up for the tours. We get them on the tours fairly regularly but most of them are just flying over.

Golden Plover, Lapwing, Dunlin and single Knot gave us a good start to the day. Cracking views of a Common Buzzard perched up at the side of the loch.

A few Greenshank were sleeping on the shore at high tide.

A Yellowhammer performed well as we stopped to look at a couple of Meadow Pipit. A Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk were having a bit of a tussle over the forestry and a Northern Wheatear was seen bounding down the road before perching up on an overhead wire. A Golden Eagle put on a superb display before drifting off.

An adult WT Eagle was seen heading out to a skerry where it perched up while a pod of about 8 Porpoise were feeding offshore. A juvenile WT Eagle gave us some closer views as it circled overhead.

Another couple of Wheatear were seen...

...while a few Mountain Hare were seen keeping an eye on Buzzard that appeared to be feeding on beetles.

There were plenty of Skylark giving superb views as they ran around close by.