Merry Christmas!!

Another selection of pictures from November and December to see you over the festive season.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - enjoy!

Mum and cub heading for the holt.

Goldcrest flitting through the gorse.

A nice view over Loch Beg.

A Redwing that was fresh in from Iceland in November.

It looks like the Raven is on the back of the sheep but it's actually on a rock just behind.

Goosander - a nervous bird up here.

Robin - I had to put one in here!

Good views of Kestrel over the last couple of months.

A passing shower with Ben More in the background - this image was shown on the BBC weather forecast.

Whooper Swans continuing their journey south. They left in the half light early in the morning.

The ever playful Otters.

Nothing more exciting than a male Hen Harrier in a blue sky.

White-tailed Eagle doing the same!

Size comparison between White-tailed Eagle and Hooded Crow.

Common Buzzard making a kill.

A pale morph Common Buzzard.

Immature Golden Eagle - very impressive bird.

A direct comparison between the two eagle species - Golden Eagle on the right.

Redwing.

Otter rolling in the seaweed.

I like this shot of Hooded Crow landing.

It was nice to see the moon a few times in December - it's been a bit wet.

Greenshank.

All the best for 2016.

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.

Facebook

You may have noticed a lack of posting going on. I'm not giving it up, just slowing it down a bit and using Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/WildAboutMull) . There will be different photos on each one so you may want to keep up with both. The Facebook page will be more 'as it happens' while the blog might get a weekly update.Well, we'll see how it goes.
I'm guessing that it's bad luck on my part but I don't seem to be seeing that many GN Divers close to shore - hopefully that'll change as they come into summer plumage!

I watched this Otter come along the shore,make it's way towards the road before going through a culvert and then up into the forestry. It didn't even look in my direction despite being just a few yards away as it went under the road.

It's difficult not to see the Otters at the moment so just enjoy them while you can!

The Crossbills are a daily feature at the shop but the numbers can vary. I had a party of six the other day one of which was this years juvenile - too far for a decent shot but I did put one on facebook.

A sign of things warming up and day length extending is the frogs reappearing - good food for the Otters, Buzzards and Grey Herons.

Here is one that is easy to overlook - a young WT Eagle on the seaweed.

A pair of Dippers were seen together on the shore - one disappeared upstream calling as it went. I watched the other bird for a while until it flew off...and then flew back in a bit closer. There was a cow between me and the bird so I didn't pass that one up - result!

I've seen the WT Eagle taking grass to their nest to use as lining but it took a few seconds to figure out what this Raven was carrying - wool.

Could an eagle look more imperious than this - just awesome!!

Contrast

Not the best of days for this tour as we had poor visibility for the whole day. Seeing a WT Eagle at our first stop settled everyone into the idea that we could have a good day.

It was never going to be easy but 4 Otters, Hen Harrier, Red Deer, Lapwing, Snipe and Gannet all helped. We also found a family party of Whooper Swan that had stopped for a rest on their journey south from Iceland.

The following day the weather had cleared and there was a lot more landscape to see. The Lapwings were a treat to see as they flew around.

Plenty of WT Eagles were seen on the day including this one that was doing a good impression of the caped crusader!

We only managed to see one Otter on this tour but one is better than none.

A Golden Eagle showed off it colours as it flew around at low level. It certainly looks a different bird when the light catches the underside.

When we tried to relocate that bird all we could find were a few Ravens.