Day one
Mull is without doubt one of my favourite places to visit for bird and wildlife photography, but only if the heavens are kind enough to provide some calm weather. In the lead up to the trip we had spoken to a number of other birders and photographers who had made the decision to leave the island early due to horrendous storms. Indeed, local information and blogs both spoke of horrendous conditions, so it was with slight trepidation that we began the long journey north.
Rain accompanied us for most of the journey with the only sighting of any note being a Red Kite in southern Scotland. We arrived at the ferry terminal and someone upstairs flicked the sunny switch on! The clouds broke and the sea flattened and after checking out the Black Guillemots we were soon on our way to Craignure. From the ferry we were treated to lots of Manx Shearwaters and some Arctic Terns as well as some seals and a porpoise.
We headed straight to our cottage situated at the tip of Grasspoint with stunning views over Lochdon and across to the mainland. I joined a couple of birders in our garden (!) and we soon got onto a skua. After some debate to the species the bird banked and revealed a deep keel and tail ‘spoons’- a very smart Pomarine Skua. A couple of Porpoises wheeled by and a flock of five Twite twittered electrically in the seaweed and from our washing line.
I decided to investigate the ‘garden’ further and soon saw a couple of summer plumaged Great Northern Diver as well as some Oystercatchers. With the day drawing to a close we decided it was time for some nice red wine, and while I opened the bottle a Hen Harrier flew past the window – we really had come up trumps with our base. I went onto the patio to sup away and no sooner had I sat down than our first Otter of the trip brought a long his dinner (looked like a large dog otter) of a crunchy crab.
We watched the sun go down with high anticipation for the rest of the trip
Good report so far Marcus and congrats on the corncrake. I look forward to more of this thread.
Joanne