A convocation of Eagles....

Wednesday was another fine day with an absolutely cracking start. I had to head round the loch to get some photos of the spectacle....

This is White 7 (female from East coast) and White 3 (male from West coast). Not bad you say....just to the right of these two was this....

...one of last years birds. Wow, eh? Moving right again....

...another two of last years birds (right hand bird is sporting a blue ring 80)- what's going on here!! Looking further right again....

...yet another of last years birds - six WT Eagles together, fabulous!!! The gulls that were flying around would spot them and launch an attack but the young giants didn't want to be moved. I did get a shot of this last bird as it came in to land...

After taking the photos I rallied the guests for the day and rushed back to find the birds still in position - what a way to start the day! We saw two Golden Eagles in flight as we were watching the other birds. We headed a bit further round the loch to view a GN Diver and as we were approaching the bird two of the WT Eagle were flying across the loch. One of the birds stooped towards the GN Diver which, naturally, dived. By this time we were standing at the side of the loch. The water was flat calm, there was no noise other than a few Curlew calling and then the Diver surfaced and gave it's melancholy call that echoed off the hills - what a magic moment. A Rock Pipit was gathering nesting material just beside us.

We headed off to see what other delights we could find. An Otter was soon on the list but while we were watching this 4 WT Eagles appeared over the trees behind us. It had to be the two birds we'd seen flying off plus two others. We lost the Otter but got a tip off about a pod of BN Dolphins - off we went. Luckily the Dolphins were still in the bay when we arrived so we watched them fishing for a while.

A trip back to the Otters gave us better views as they clambered over the rocks before heading back into the sea.

Another two Golden Eagle at lunchtime were a treat before we headed for the beach. I could hear two WT Eagles calling in unison and it wasn't long before we had them in our sights with another of the same species in the distance. A real treat was in store as we located a Magpie. It's a real rarity up here and a first for me on Mull.

We had a good finish to the day as we got stunning views of Lapwing and Golden Plover.

A small flock of Twite with a single Linnet amongst them didn't hang around for a photo but they were nice to see all the same. One of the Twite did pose in the sunshine as the others flew off.

More year ticks

Saturday was a cracking day but not a lot of birding done. I did step outside early doors to hear my first Willow Warbler of the year and after finishing the blog a quick look around produced a couple of WT Eagle flying over the ridge and 3 Greenshank feeding in the shallows.
Sunday the skies were blue and the temperature was well up - stunning! We had a decent start to the tour today with 3 Mountain Hare running about, my first Linnet of the year and some good views of Wheatear before we picked up a male Hen Harrier. Our next stop gave me an actual sighting of Willow Warbler but with plenty of these birds around today it was no surprise. Two juv WT Eagle cleared the ridge behind us as we looked for the warbler and gave a great display as a Kestrel tried to chase them off and a Buzzard kept it's distance from the big boys. Another sighting of WT Eagle at lunchtime was probably one of the birds we'd just viewed and a distant Golden Eagle was disappointing in the heat haze. This Adder was taking shelter from the heat under a vehicle - a nice surprise as I couldn't find any on the moor!

Just as I was packing away the lunch we finally got our views of Golden Eagle as one came gliding across in front of us then moved off to gain height. It was nice to see the bird against the forestry to see how much colour these bird have - not the best of photos but it shows the colour on the top of the wings.

A couple of Greenshank and an obliging Otter were next on the list before we found a cracking male Grey Wagtail. The Grey Wagtails seem to disappear off island for the winter and this was the first decent view I'd had of one this year. We finished the day off with the WT Eagle on the nest and some close stags that have lost their antlers.

Monday was a day of chores but cracking weather to go with it - sunrise was a bit like this...

I headed off round the loch for a meeting and along the way I saw a large bird disappear from view - you have to stop and look....

...White 3 and White 7 sitting together. Not a bad start. They were still there on my return an hour later but the heat haze was terrific not so for the photo of this Dog Violet though.

With the motor cleaned and polished I had to take the wee car for some petrol. I know that everyone is complaining about fuel prices hitting £1.20 but it's an extra 10p on top of that for us!! Anyway, along the way I bagged 100+ PF Goose heading North and also my first Chiffchaff of the year. Not bad for a busy day not birding.

Tuesday the cloud rolled in as a front passed over us and cooled things down a bit. Out on tour again and it was a difficult day. We managed to find a Mountain Hare early on with the regular additions of Golden Plover, Barn Swallow, Wheatear, Redshank and Skylark before we hit a blank spot. The best we managed was a WT Eagle calling but we couldn't see the bird. Lunchtime provided another year tick with a Cuckoo calling while sitting in the top of a conifer. Two WT Eagle soared in the distance and we finally connected with Golden Eagle as we were heading off. It took the rest of the day to find an Otter but it was worth it. The beast was asleep on a rock with the tide rising fast so waited for him to get moved on by the rising water. He slipped into the water eventually and swam along the shore before hauling out, rolling around and scratching. A great performance.

Three days old

First of all - nobody noticed that I got my days wrong in the last post but I've changed it now. I've not had a chance to update the blog until now due to tours through the day and social commitments in the evenings so I'll try to keep it short and let the pictures do the talking!

Wednesday was a bright enough day and a cracking start on the wildlife front. We picked up one of the young WT Eagles sitting in trees above a field full of sheep with lambs and then spotted this obliging Snipe sitting on a post at the side of the road.

A Greenshank showed well on the shore while a GN Diver was a bit more elusive as it was feeding just behind. The local WT Eagles were both present at the nest so it was nice to see the eggs being turned by the female and the male looking on. We had a cracking display of two male Wheatear displaying against each other oblivious to us. I managed an action shot of one of the birds leaping at the other.

We had three Otters that performed well before we got to lunch where the Golden Eagles performed well. We picked up the first bird as it appeared over the ridge in the distance and the second bird joined it before they gained height and then swooped down over the top of us and out of sight again. The other highlight of the afternoon was the discovery of the WF Geese again. Not sure where they are hiding but I'm not seeing them every day. Right at the end of the day I picked up another year tick, a Swallow flew down the road in front of the motor - stunning!

Thursday morning was overcast and it had rained overnight. First bird on the list was a Swallow which could have been the same bird as yesterday or, just as easily, it could be a different bird.

We picked up a couple of Greenshank and a GN Diver before we bagged our first Otter. The loch was flat calm so it wasn't hard to spot as it surfaced so we stopped to view it as the heavens opened. I checked a bit further up the loch to check on the weather and noticed a big area of ripples - bins up....3 Otters. We headed along the road for better views. We stood quietly at the side of the road and watched them fishing. They were close enough to hear the splash as they surfaced or dived, you could hear the crunch of the fish being eaten and the occasional blowing of water out of the nostrils - fantastic stuff. They came out eventually to go to dry off and have a kip.

The first Otter that we spotted caught up with these three and the female tussled with this squeaky beast as the youngsters slept on. It must have been one of the females youngsters from last year as the tussle didn't seem to have any animosity and it seemed more like 'you can't join in, your on your own now'. He headed off past us still squeaking.

With the WT Eagles in the bag we headed back past the Otters and I couldn't resist one last photo.

Lunchtime gave us the usual Golden Eagle pair who plainly haven't bothered with nesting this year. The bonus of the day was finding my first Slow Worm of the year.

As we headed for the beach in the afternoon we picked up a single Redwing (Shop Lady had 30 Redwing in the trees at the shop!)...

...and a couple of Wheatears along with my first Sand Martins of the year - I was starting to wonder which season we were in with that mix. A large raptor being harassed by a Raven turned out to be a WT Eagle that eventually flew over the top of us.

We did see the WF Geese again and a Mountain Hare before the day was done.

Friday it was still overcast but it cleared through the day. The morning was a bit chilly and quiet on the bird front with the highlights being a flock of 30 Golden Plover in summer plumage and a nicely posed Mountain Hare.

Lunchtime things kicked off with a vengeance. We'd seen an Adder and we were waiting for the Goldies to do their thing. We heard a very angry Raven 'ROP,ROP,ROP' about two seconds before a Golden Eagle appeared about 50 yards away with the two Ravens in pursuit - what a sight!! The black menaces tried their best to get the eagle to go to ground but gave up when they thought it was a safe distance away. The Goldie was a bit miffed and turned back towards the Ravens and disappeared from sight so we waited....and waited... and then they were back. The Ravens were giving it their all and managed to ground the big bird which sat with it's beak open and wings mantled. When the Ravens landed the eagle went for them. The mate of the first Goldie had to come to the rescue after that and draw the Ravens away - spectacular stuff.

We picked up our first Otter just after that but it gave us the slip as it disappeared behind an outcrop of rock. A bit further along the road we saw something disappear under water so we stopped to check it out hoping it was another Otter. It wasn't what we hoped but there was no disappointment as a cracking GN Diver surfaced right in front of us.

Another Golden Eagle was scoped in the distance before we picked another two Otters. We got stunning views of these two as we were on a high point looking down on them. The mother with two cubs was not too far up the road from here but not as close so we kept moving. While watching the WT Eagle on the nest we picked up two Common Crossbill, a juv and an adult male, another two White-tails in flight and yet another Goldie. Our last stop of the day produced a distant view of 5 WT Eagles high in the sky and a few nice Red Deer stags for a distraction.

Last night we went to a bird club meeting to see Roy Dennis give a talk about his book A life of Ospreys.

A superb talk and a cracking book.

Last of all another moth photo and a failed attempt to ID it - some sort of carpet moth was the best I could come up with but I could be wrong.