Recent Sightings 9/9/12 - 22/9/12

 Baird's Sandpiper and Sanderling at Seaton Snook 9/9/12

 Peregrine at Seaton Snook 9/9/12

 Very Showy Ringed Plover at St. Mary's 22/9/12

 Short-Eared Owls continuing to show well at St. Mary's tonight! 22/9/12

 Snow Bunting at The Brier Dene car park, amazed to find this bird in September! 20/9/12

 St. Mary's Yellow-Browed Warbler showing well on and off this morning.

DAY THREE OF MULL

DAY THREE OF MULL – EXPLORING THE ISLAND On the third day of this fantastic trip, we toured the island by ourselves without a guide. We did the route we had done the day before with some extras. We started the day by driving towards Craignure. We didn’t see anything on the way so we carried on our route. We got to the spot where the hen harrier was but no sign of it then. We carried on down the road until we got to a junction and we left the normal route to go down a road that eventually led to Loch Buie where we were hoping to see red-throated divers. On the way there, we saw a brown wader fly out of the grass to our right. We soon found out it was a snipe. After getting some photos, we moved on. We soon got to the coast. There were lots of little rocks for waders to sit on. We kept looking to see which waders we could see. We saw 3 common sandpipers, 10+ oystercatchers and 4 redshanks. Not much there but a lot more to come. When we arrived at the loch, we had lunch straight away on the beach next to a tree. As we ate, a pair of chaffinches came down and starting eating the crumbs. They were very tame and we soon found out why. It kept the food in its beak so we knew it must have had a nest somewhere. We watched where it went and soon found out; the nest was in the tree we were sitting under! It was hidden in the tree so no photos but we could see the babies quite well. That wasn’t the only nest we found however. When we went further along the bay, we saw a pair of oystercatchers calling loudly at us so we got back in the car and watched where they went. After 10 minutes, we saw the oystercatcher walk back towards us and sit on the pebbles. Obviously, it was a nest that we had missed so when it left the nest again, we went over to have a look. 2 eggs were there in amongst the stones and it was very well camouflaged. But what we had really hoped to see were RT Divers. After moving away from the oystercatcher’s nest, we set the scope up and scanned the loch. After 10 minutes of scanning, we eventually saw them, a pair of them in the middle of the loch. They didn’t come any closer so we moved on. Next onto the sea eagles nest. On the way there, we past some mudflats. There was a ringed plover, lots of redshank, oystercatchers, common gulls and a heron. Further down the road we saw a hooded crow and a pair of curlew before reaching the sea eagles nest. When we arrived, the female was on the nest but it soon left the nest and flew out of sight. They are really massive! After that we went back to Tobermory. We did our normal routine. Fish and Chips then to the pub! On our way back from the pub. We were told that the otter was around. We couldn’t find it so we went back. We sat down to Britain’s Got Talent the 5 minutes later someone burst in and said: “The Otter’s out!” so everyone scrambled out and sure enough there it was and this time, I had the camera! It was quite dark but I still got some shots. It was climbing in people’s boats then it began to swim towards the bridge. Everyone ran round then it swam under the bridge we were standing on so we got some magnificent views. As we were walking back a peregrine flew over to just finish off a great day! Unfortunately the trip was nearly over as we had to go the next day. But the journey home also contained some good sightings...

Adult Oystercatcher and the nest

Friendly Chaffy SandpiperCommon Snipe

Otter PeregrineSea Eagle Hooded Crow

A good day in the hills 10/4/09

My dad told me about a peregrine nest site that he had come across with his dad over 30 years ago high up in the Cheviots - he's never been back since. I asked him if he would take me to see if it was still being used today. We parked the car and walked for an hour into the hills until we came to a cliff face, it was raining slighting so we sheltered under a tree which gave us good views of the cliff. At first there appeared to be nothing there and we thought we had wasted our time when suddenly a female peregrine appeared overhead and flew onto a ledge high up on the cliff. She sat there watching and preening for 10 minutes before settling down until only her head was visible. After a while the male flew over and the female flew up to greet him before returning to the ledge. We watched for about an hour before quietly sneaking away so we didn't disturb them. I have read that some nest sites have been used for 100 years and we now know that this one has been used for at least 30 years. It occured to me that the next generation of our family was watching the next generation of the peregrine family. I wonder if I'll be showing my kids this wonderful sight in 30 years time!!

On the drive up there we drove through Elsdon where we saw a pair of dippers under the bridge and as we were watching them a pair of sand martins flew over. Other sightings were 100+ fieldfare, 6 red-legged partridges, 5 wheatear and lots of buzzards. Spectacular views of the peregrine LapwingRL Partridge Fieldfare