Brightside on tour - Part 3 - Isle of Mull

And here it is at last; the final installment of the big Scotland epic.


Friday 17th April

The crows had changed over to Hooded Crows again and summer plumage Black Guillemots were in Oban harbour as we arrived for our ferry crossing to Mull. By the afternoon we had checked into our B&B in Lochdon. Lochdon is noted for White-tailed Sea Eagle, so as Eagles were lacking in Highland, we stayed put in this area for the afternoon's birding.

Two Great Northern Divers were seen from Grasspoint and a few Red-breasted Mergansers were also present. A huge raptor appeared, quite clearly an eagle, as it tilted it's short white tail was revealed - t'was White-tailed Sea Eagle! (lifer 254). Things were off to a corking start.

Around the bay Bar-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Wigeon, Goldeneye, 2 Stonechat and many singing Willow Warbler all noted.

Saturday 18th April

Salen Bay is a nice little spot and reputably a good spot for Otter. Here we had our first Swallow of the year, 8 Eider, Shags and a party of Red-breasted Mergansers close in, plus 2 Rock Pipits and Wheatear. Seals out on the rocks and Red Deer up on the hills. Red Deer are everywhere on Mull and very showy, in fact you have to be careful not to run them over.

Next stop, nearby Loch Frisa. It was hard work walking down the rubbled path to get to the Eagle viewpoint. When we got near however, we were lucky enough to see a White-tailed Sea Eagle drift in over the hillside, a Raven having a pop at it as it passed through Raven territory. You could see that it was twice the size of the Raven in wingspan, impressive indeed. Walking a bit further down we came across the Mull Eagle Watch Wardens, they now had the Eagle perched. Locating this magnificant bird in our scope, they informed us that this was the female Eagle.

The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring this glorious island, stopping off at roadside spots, everywhere looks great, you just don't know where to start. Around the shores of Loch Na Keal we had Common Sandpiper, Golden Plover, Wheatear, Rock Pipit and Grey Wagtail. Shag, Eider, Black Guillemot, Red-Breasted Merganser and Great Northern Diver were all out on the water. The corvids on Mull are mainly Raven and Hooded Crow, both can be readily viewed from the roadside.

At Loch Scridan there were also 7 Razorbill in the loch with Black Guillemot around the mussel farm and many of the 8 Great Northern Divers here were nearly into breeding plumage.

Round the corner at Loch Beg, 4 Greenshank and a few Ringed Plover were added to the trip list, Redshank and Swallow were noted and best of all the first summer Ring Billed Gull was present, I wasn't quite sure at first as I've never seen one before, but this gull looked too big billed and stout and stood out as being bigger and paler than the many adult Common Gulls present. Luckily Big Yin of the excellent Beg Bits Mull wildlife blog was here and confirmed the ID. A first for Mull and lifer 255 in the bag. On the way back through Glen More we had crippling roadside views of a Short Eared Owl.

Sunday 19th April

We thought Mull was tranquil, but were yet to sample Iona. Iona is reached by ferry from Phionnport (below), ten minutes by ferry. Once again we enjoyed glorious weather, with the clear blue skies and water and rocky coastline it was bliss.

Rock Pipit and Wheatear were at the ferry port and Guillemot, Black Guillemot, Shag and Razorbill seen on the crossing.

In birding terms, the island is most famed probably for Corncrake, however we were a tad on the early side for these, although there had been an unconfirmed report of a calling Corncrake earlier in the week.

The fields here full of migrants; Wheatears, Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails and we picked out a couple of White Wagtails here, a first for us.

Also on the island we saw a single Twite, many Linnet, Rock Doves, which we assume are wild ones, or very near to - the plumage looked spot on. If anyone has any info on their pedigree I'd be interested to hear it.

Fulmer, Gannet and Great Northern Diver were spotted from the west side of the island and we were startled to come across a small raptor on the golf course about 7 metres away as it turned to look at us, we could see it was a female Merlin! She moved off pretty quick of course, leaving us amazed - one of the best moments of the holiday.

Back on the mainland, we had brilliant views of four Twite feeding at Fidden Farm, plus another White Wagtail and the now ubiquitous Wheatears and a few Snipe. At Uiskin Bay a spanking full breeding plumage Great Northern Diver was fishing very close in. Two more presumed wild Rock Doves nearby and a nice Barn Owl on a post in the evening at Lochdon.

Monday 20th April

We were more than a little worried, this being our last day on Mull and that both Golden Eagle and Otter were still yet to be seen, we had been looking out for both of these along the way, but hadn't given them the time they deserved. Today we would pour our efforts into these Mull specialities.

We drove round to the Croggon side of Loch Spelve, we had been told this was a good spot for Otter. It was completely silent here, with a gently incoming tide. We spotted a distant Otter through the scope, but then however noticed one much nearer and it was gradually coming towards us as it fished, when it climbed onto the shore and ate a big fish it was immense, I must admit I felt quite misty-eyed. House Martin, Ringed Plover, GN Diver and Black Guillemot here.

Next we staked out a spot we had obtained some Golden Eagle gen on and thankfully this time we were successful and we were able to watch first a single Eagle then the majestic pair soaring over the glen, lifer 256.

On the way out to the pub that evening, as we drove over Glen More a further Merlin was seen to the left of the car, we got out to view it, by which time it was very high up. Then another Golden Eagle (this one quite tatty) appeared gliding over the cliff and soaring to dizzy heights. Two Short Eared Owls on the way back from the pub, one sitting in the road! Our last notable spots of the trip were a Greenshank at Lochdon and a Red Throated Diver at Craignure port the following morning.

Wednesday 22nd April

Having had an overnight stop off at Windermere last night, it was a relatively easy journey to Inner Marsh Farm in Cheshire. What a fantastic reserve, the main purpose of the day had been to twitch the two Spoonbills, but we ended up spending hours here and having a thoroughly enjoyable day despite only having brief flight views of the two Spoonbills (lifer 257). Highlights included a ringtail Hen Harrier, unbelievably the third Merlin of the week (after not seeing one at all in 2008!), at least 4 hunting Short Eared Owl, 4 Spotted Redshank moulting into summer plumage, 4 Greenshank, Black Tailed Godwit, Ruff, Ringed Plover, several Little Egret and 4 Pintail.

It was certainly miserable returning to the grimy rat race of Brum after experiencing the utopian Isle of Mull, so clean, peaceful and safe with such breathtaking scenery and wildlife. Definitely a place we'll return to before too long, I hope.

PS Big thanks to everyone who gave us such excellent gen and advice on where to go in Scotland and lent us books, maps etc, you know who you are, cheers :)