Sunday 17 July 2011

Isle of Mull 9/16-7-11

A Week spent on the wonderful Isle of Mull staying at Hideaway Lodges in Gruline over looking the River Ba and Loch na Keal also Ben Moore giving a real nice back drop for stunning views.
White-tailed Sea Eagles were the stars of the week for me,followed closely by the few Golden that we did manage to see followed by the Otter which saw us setting the alarm for 3am,these are brilliant creatures we had one down to about 5ft in a stream that runs into Loch na Keal but we did track it for 3 days to get use to it's habits,so we knew exactly where it was going to go to once it had clocked us but with bad light and grey cloud meant we couldn't get any shots of it and settled for watching it instead.
The 3rd morning we were walking along the loch watching the Otter and flushed the female Eagle from a roadside perch which I just thought was a heron taking flight until I seen her about 20ft in front of us,if only we spotted her in the pine tree.
Most days we took time out to go and watch and photograph the Eagles but they never would fly for us when we got some blue sky so all photo's where with a rubbish background as you will see in the pics.
With around 70 species of bird seen throughout the 6 days wasn't bad at all seems it was all done on foot,I walked from the west to east coast 3 times during the week which was a nice walk apart from the last one which I got soaked but lots of Crossbills and a scarcity for Mull in the form of 2 Common Swift.
The Lodges themselves are just brilliant nice and quiet set in a wood,Tawny Owls calling close by Voles,Mice and Shrews under the feeders,Deer Fallow and Red in the area,Kingfisher along the river which had some good size Salmon/Sea Trout in it,The usual bird species on the feeders including Great spotted Woodpeckers and Treecreepers around the Lodge and not forgetting the Mountain Hare which was confiding for pics.Iona was on the cards for Corncrake but finding out the bus to Salen wasn't running because of school holidays made it impossible but always next year Early May :)
A Great week just to get away from everything and enjoy the great wildlife that Mull has to offer.








































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