Dec 22nd
Weather snow but not windy - As I write todays blog I am watching lots of birds on the feeders and bird tables in the garden, it is so important to put food out for birds when the weather is so bad and natural food is hard to come by. The reward is a garden full of birds, in our garden today we have loads of Chaffinches, a lot of Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Siskins, Robins, Blackbirds, Blue, Great and Coal Tits, a Grey Wagtail, a Pheasant, Dunnocks, Collared Doves and Rock Doves. The views in the snow from Ardrioch today are magnificent and the 2 dogs Sally and Misty were also enjoying the snow.

Dec 21st
Weather cold and bright after more overnight snow - We had a lovely walk with the dogs today up a snow covered forest track, the views were lovely, it was so peaceful with just the frozen snow crackling beneath our feet. We saw 3 Mistle Thrushes and 2 Song Thrushes on the walk, 2 Buzzards on the drive back and a great view of a Female Hen Harrier which flew past us as we were watching a couple of Greenshanks at Dervaig.
Dec 20th
Weather cloudier with some drizzle - Pam continues to help with the decorating and I must say Inch Hame is starting to look really good in its new coat. We now have an extractor fan in the bathroom which will hopefully stop condensation we are putting in some new pictures to enhance the new decor. The White-tailed Eagle which we have not seen for a few days has put in an appearance and we are watching it from Inch Hames living room window.
Dec 19th
Weather a few showers and windier today - A quiet day today so I stopped in and watched sport on the tv Manchester City won today so I am happy. Chris Hollins and his dance partner Olla won 'Strictly come Dancing' so Pam is happy.
Dec 18th
Weather cold and icy - we went Christmas shopping today to the house by Ulva Ferry school, the lady there sells beautiful hand painted bird feeder and hanging basket holders and they make very unusual presents, if any blog readers are visiting Mull in 2010 we recommend you stop here to view what they have to offer. The wintry view of Ulva and Gometra as we came over the hill road on our way to Ulva Ferry was stunning.
Dec 17th
Weather fine sunny calm but cold - I had to go to Oban today which was a bit of a drag but was able to see about 20 Eider Ducks in the harbour there. They joined the ever present Mute Swans, Mallards and Herring Gulls. If you are in Oban look out for Turnstones running and foraging in the seaweed on the foreshore or at high tide on the sea wall.
Dec 16th
Weather another nice morning but with a bit of mist and drizzle later - As christmas approaches we have to do things towards getting ready for the holidays today it was taking the car and van to the garage. The car to check on a rattle which turned out to be a broken spring and the van to be serviced and have new tyres. While we were in Tobermory we both had hair cuts at Catriona's, they are excellent. Pam is still busy decorating and the old Kitchen in the Sheiling came out today.
Dec 15th
Weather a lovely day sunshine cold and dry - It was a great day for the Mull bird club December field trip along the south shore of Loch Na Keal. The highlights of an excellent day were Barnacle Geese on Inch Kenneth, Great Northern Divers, Red Throated Divers, a Black Throated Diver, Slavonian Grebes, Goldeneyes, Red Breasted Mergansers, 6 Golden Eagles, 3 Otters, Fallow Deer and Red Deer. The day finished with tea and biscuits at the Kinloch Hotel at Pennyghael.
Dec 14th
Another dry if cloudy day - We took the dogs for a walk along the Cailiach road today and were pleasantly surprised at the amount of Thrushes we saw, in particular Fieldfares, this is a lovely bird which winters here in Britain from its breeding grounds in Scandinavia. When we reached Sunipol the views out to the small isles and Skye took our breath away, you just cannot takes what Mull has to offer for granted.
Dec 13th
Weather sunny dry and cold again - This weather is so much better than the wet we have had to endure for the past few weeks, the only drawback is the amount of food the birds eat in the cold weather. Our winter Pheasant appeared for the first time this winter today and we can now count well over 100 Chaffinches at any one time in the garden. Siskins are visiting the feeders joining the 20 or so Greenfinches we see every day, it is difficult to get any work done with so much going on in our garden, as I write 3 Goldfinches have just turned up.
Dec 12th
Weather another nice day cool with little wind - I had to go to Salen today so I dropped Pam and the dogs off to go for a walk and then went on my way. Just before I reached Salen on the Aros river was a lovely Dipper,  as I had not seen a Dipper for some time I stopped to admire this amazing little bird. When I got back to pick pam up she told me she had been watching a Golden Eagle and as we were talking a couple of Crossbills flew over our heads, it pays to keep your eyes and ears open when out in the countryside particularly here on Mull you never know what is about. On our way home we were entertained by a nice flock of Redwings, wintering Thrushes from Scandinavia.
Dec 11th
Weather another nice day - With better weather winter work is taking over here at Ardrioch, we are having double glazing and a new kitchen put in the smaller self-catering unit the Sheiling and at the same time we are re decorating the bigger unit Inch Hame throughout, it already has double glazing. Pam is helping the decorator and I am starting work in the garden now we can get out to do clearing up and pruning. It was the bird club Christmas do this evening which was most enjoyable and on our way home we had a great view of a most obliging Tawny Owl.
Dec 10th
Weather a beautiful mild winters day - Another BTO square for the atlas today and a brilliant sighting of Common Crossbills, sometimes birding just blows your mind and this sighting was one of them, it made me feel good to be alive and put all the dreary weather of the past few weeks out of my mind. This is why Mull is so special there are so many species on this island and to get up close and personal like today is what birding is all about.
Dec 9th
Weather showers with some breaks - We took Sally for her second lot of inoculations today and given the long drive she behaved impeccably and took the needle like a trooper. On the way home as the rain had stopped we took both dogs for a short quick walk and were fortunate to see a pair of Golden Eagles out hunting, we also saw a couple of Buzzards, Hooded Crows and Ravens.
Dec 8th
Weather cloudy but dry for most of the day but rain again in the late afternoon - We were sorting the sheep this morning and whilst we were rounding up our lambs from the paddock we saw a male Hen Harrier fly across the garden another garden bird for our list. The Tawny Owls which have been silent of late have now resumed calling in the hour before daylight about 7am, beats an alarm clock any day
Dec 7th
Weather nice today after an awful night of wind rain and hail - I went to buy Pam a birthday present today so took the opportunity to go for a walk around Tobermory golf course. Although I don't play golf it is easy to see why visitors to Mull might want a round on this beautiful course with its views across the sound of Mull to Ardnamurchan, Loch Sunart and Morvern. The birdlife was not too startling but there were a lot of Ravens and a few Buzzards over the course. On my way home there were Goldeneyes on all the Lochs and 2 female Goosanders on the Mishnish lochs.
Dec 6th
Weather lovely sunny dry morning but rain from 2pm - We took the dogs for a long walk through Aros Park near Tobermory today another very long walk for their short legs but they do enjoy it. There was disappointingly few birds about but we did manage to see 2 very nice male Goldeneye, a small flock of Long-tailed Tits and a much larger flock of Siskins. We were very lucky to get back to the car just before the rain started.
Dec 5th
Weather cloudy but dry again after overnight rain - Pam went for a walk at Calgary bay today and was surprised to find a flock of 10 Reed Buntings on the Marran grass which has been planted to protect the Machair. It was a red letter day for me as Manchester City beat Chelsea in the premier league HOORAH.
Dec 4th
Weather Cloudy but dry - I got the ferry over to Ulva today to do 2 more BTO atlas Squares and had a good 7 mile walk which took me past the big house then through the farm yard and out to the coast. Around the coast were the Basalt columns that I sometimes point out to guests on the tours, from there I turned inland to Livingstones Cave and Croft as in 'Dr Livingstone' his family originated from Ulva. As I made my way back towards the ferry I passed the Telford church which is still used today for Easter, Harvest and Christmas services. This was the first time I have done this walk and it was well worth the effort. Best birds on the walk were a very close male Hen Harrier and Blue Tits just for their numbers I have never seen so many in my life.
Dec 3rd
Weather light showers in the early morning after heavy overnight rain, beautiful for the remainder of the day - Christmas shopping in Oban today not my favorite chore particularly on such a nice day. There were 15 Mute Swans in the harbour at Oban with half a dozen Mallard and 2 Feral Pigeons otherwise very little to report from the big city, I hope we have the good weather on Mull tomorrow.
Dec 2nd
Weather Cloudy warmer but mainly dry - We had 2 Siskins on the feeders this afternoon and a Yellowhammer turned up the first I have seen in the garden this winter. There was a Great Northern Diver In Calgary Bay today and on a  walk at Cailiach
we saw several Thrushes including Redwings. There was an inquisitive Grey Seal  watching us watching it and the views as usual were stunning.
Dec 1st 
Weather rain all day - For those of you who were a little confused by the 'STUFF' we saw yesterday here is our friend Felicity's explanation - The true definition of Stuff is:
"a collection of the usual kinds of gulls and common waders, with or without a heron or two, which, on closer inspection, may well include some interesting and even rare birds among them."  The more technically minded may call this "water stuff" and add that there is also "field stuff" and "tree stuff" and occasionally "rock stuff". However, it should also be noted that the term "sky stuff" should only be used for flocks of flying birds that do not constitute a "hurry".