Just returned form a wet and wild time up in Scotland, primarily on Mull with a couple of days either side in the Newton Stewart area of Dumfries and Galloway.
We spent the first day at the red kite feeding station at Laurieston where we got great view of 50+ kites along with attendant crows, gulls and a nice kestrel which took to hovering right in front of us. The weather was rather grey and wet.
The next day we drove to Mull via Oban, stopping en route from Craignure for our first sighting of a probable Golden Eagle (the lighting was very dull but shape and structure looked right and some other ladies were already watching it and said it was a GE. Still a bit hesitant to count it, so early in the trip with the light being the way it was, although Ian was also convinced that was what it was. Later we settled in to our accommodation- the Sheiling at Ardrioch farm run by Pam and Arthur Brown, who really made us feel welcome. Arthur puts out lots of food for the birds and the garden is full of Siskins and chaffinches with the odd Yellowhammer and Bullfinch thrown in.
Unfortunately we really picked a bad week weather-wise, with heavy rain showers with more persistent rain and windy conditions most days.
Despite this, on Sunday we took the Discover Mull tour which was a fantastic way to start the week. Arthur found us all the stars of Mull, starting with hen harriers, then White Tailed Eagle - two pairs, one which we got some shots of. We stopped to look for Golden Eagle and after spotting some movement I managed to pick up a very distant bird perched on a crag. So distant in fact that it took me several minutes to convince everyone else that it was there in the scope! Eventually most people picked up on it. Arthur also got us onto a nice otter at Loch Na Keal along with red and fallow deer, red throated diver, merlin, and a few distant seabirds. On the way back we stopped at a site known for SEO and I managed to spot one. Of waders we saw Snipe, Oystercatcher, Curlew and common sandpiper- adding Lapwing later in the trip.
That night we sampled the local pub in Dervaig which does fantastic food- try the platters if you ever go- pricey but worth it! We also met Em who works for Turus Mara who run the trips to Staffa and Lunga to see the puffins. She immediately stood us a round of drinks and was really nice to us. An enjoyable evening later, we took a wander back to our lodgings on the way adding Tawny Owl.
We were due to do the Turus Mara trip on Monday, but when I called them I was told that it had been called off due to the poor weather. So we decided to revisit some of the sites for eagles and otters instead. The rain showers were quite persistent but we were able to find the otter we had seen the day before along with the White tailed and Golden Eagles (distant views of the latter). We also added red-breasted Merganser to our trip list.
Tuesday we were booked in for our eight hour whale watch explorer with Sealife Surveys. It started badly when Ian realised he had forgotten to transfer the payments over for our car insurance and almost missed the boat when he was on the phone to the insurers trying to sort it out. Sadly all we saw on the whale watching trip were a few seabirds, a couple of harbour porpoises (new for Ian) and common and grey seals. The sea was rough, the rain was pelting down and to make matters worse a lady fell off her seat and hurt her arm- so given these conditions it was decided to end the trip early. We did have the pleasure of an otter in the bay at Tobermory when we arrived back in and to be fair to Sealife Surveys, they really tried their best to give everyone a good time despite the weather and we were given a partial refund of £30.
Wednesday we were told the puffin trip was on, despite the dubious looking weather. The trip to the Treshnish Isles and Staffa was also very wet with a few of the passengers chucking up by the time we landed on Staffa and with the rain really chucking it down by the time we landed on Lunga. I braved the weather and got good shots of puffins and razorbill, Ian stayed on the boat! Perhaps in hindsight they should really have cancelled the trip. We also had basking shark between Staffa and Lunga (lifer for us!!). Ian almost didn't make it on this trip when he realised belatedly that we needed to refuel the car- Em came to our rescue by calling the garage in Salen and asking them to stay open long enough for us to get back there!
Thursday was again showery but not as bad as the previous two days and we returned to Loch Na Keal to try and photograph the White tailed eagles. We also spent a bit of time in Tobermory.
On Friday, being our last full day, we decided to go further afield to look for otters and found one male and a female and two cubs at Croggan along with another distant golden eagle. We had hoped to try and get some closer shots of the female otter and her cubs but as we crept closer we saw two other people already watching them. One of which turned out to be some kind of professional photographer and we had inadvertently stumbled into his photo shoot!
Needless to say he wasn't best pleased, but to be fair, the otters didn't move away too far when they saw us so the damage was minimal. However, it was embarrassing enough for us not to want to risk getting any closer, which was a bit disappointing with this being our last chance to get any good shots, although we were still able to watch them playing for a while and I managed a few distant shots. Other birds seen included barn owl, black guillimot, manx shearwater, storm petrels, eider, rock pipit but nothing else spectacularly rare or unusual that we didn't expect to see.
Saturday we sadly left Mull and headed back to Newton Stewart for two days. Sunday we tried Kiroughtree for Red Squirrels- I had brief views of one (lifer!) then tried the Wood of Cree for Redstart, pied flycatcher and wood warbler- sadly I think we were a bit late in the season and we didn't see any of those. Only grey wagtails at the burns. Monday we returned to the red kite feeding station at Laurieston where the sun finally came out for a bit. Then we returned to Kirroughtree where I was able to locate the squirrel feeding table and managed to get a couple of shots of the squirrels! Yay!
Also had dipper and tree pipit, as well as a stoat at the Netherbarr Steading where we were staying.
A link to all my photos from this trip and a small selection below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/877360...57606072883695/