January
Jan 31st
Weather beautiful, sunny and cold - We did our
big garden birdwatch today and then went for a walk up a forest track
we have never been up before and saw a pair of Bullfinch and a Common
Crossbill. Crossbills are very early nesters and should be sitting on eggs
already despite the cold weather which is probably why we are only seeing
male birds. This year I am making bird lists for the year, I am not normally
a lister but this is a special birthday year for me and I have decided
to do 3 lists. One for all the species I can see in the year, one for birds
seen in Great Britain and one for Mull. The one on Mull is the one readers
of this blog might be interested in and just to make this one more interesting
I am competing in friendly rivalry? with my pal Alan Mullbirds Spellman
to see who gets the most on Mull this year. I have seen 80 bird species
on Mull in January and that is in only 19 days as we did not arrive back
on Mull after our Christmas break until the 12th due to the cold weather.
If you wish to see my Mull list go to the bottom of the blog page, I will
update you with numbers and birds seen at the end of each month.
Jan 30th
Weather sunny and cold after overnight snow flurries,
less windy - We had a great day out down on the Ross Of Mull with Alan
Spellman, we saw lots of birds and had a lot of laughs, whoever said birding
was boring and not fun. The highlights of the day a brilliant Golden Eagle,
a Peregrine Falcon chasing a Lapwing for ages needs to hone its prey catching
skills although this was one relieved Lapwing. we spotted a Long Tailed
Duck a long way away, got better views on the way home. 4 Grey Plovers
on Fidden beach a rare sight on Mull, perhaps as well as they look as if
they have the cares of the world on their shoulders, particularly in winter
plumage. 27 Greenland White fronted Geese in a field near Bunnessan and
finally one that got away, we missed a male Hen Harrier at Uiskin by seconds,
Ah Well you can't win them all, a great day anyway.
Jan 29th
Weather sunny, windy and cold - I went out birding
today after doing the chores, feeding the birds and sheep, checking the
water supply etc. The weather was beautiful and so was Mull, it was a joy
to be out and about this wonderful island in such gorgeous weather. Birds
of the day for me were 7 Fieldfares, a flock of Redwings, my first Meadow
Pipits of the year on Mull and a female Merlin, I also saw 2 White-tailed
Eagles, Slavonian Grebes and Great Northern Divers, it was a good day to
be out birding. Don't forget Big Garden Birdwatch This Weekend.
Jan 28th
Weather cloudy, breezy with rain in the late
afternoon - I spent most of the day in the garden still tidying up ready
for spring, nothing unusual to report except a White-tailed Eagle flew
over the house in the late morning. We took the dogs for a walk to Langamull
in the afternoon and got caught in the rain, again not a lot to report
other than Hooded Crows, but we did see 7 Oystercatchers and a flock of
15 Ringed Plovers on Langamull beach.
Jan 27th
Weather rain in morning dry up throughout the
day - I went out in the rain this morning before it got light with the
aim of looking for owls, in our experience they seem to be more visible
in the wet. I drove very slowly looking on all the fence posts and trees
near the road but all I saw was a very close Red Deer Stag. I had just
decided to turn round and head back home when 'low and behold' a Barn Owl
flew right in front of the car showing lots of white wings and body, I
was quite relieved not to have hit it. Heading home just before I came
out of the woodland I spotted a Tawny Owl sitting in a tree, sheltering
from the rain, so after a slow start I had achieved what I had set out
to do, I do love it when a plan comes to fruition.
Jan 26th
Weather low cloud and drizzle for most of the
day but warmer than of late, quite breezy - After feeding the birds and
sheep I went for a drive and a short walk hoping to see Common Crossbills
and I was not disappointed as I heard them flying over the wood that I
was walking through, on coming out of the wood I was able to climb a small
hill where I could see the tops of the Sitka Spruce trees and there, to
my delight, I saw 4 'brick red' male Crossbills.
Jan 25th
Weather cloudy and dry with little wind - When
I walked into the Kitchen at dawn this morning I was greeted by the sight
of 2 Red Deer calves in the garden, their mothers were in the field with
the sheep, the picture is not very good as it was taken through the kitchen
window. As I was working in the garden I noticed the great amount of Siskins
we have on our feeders at the moment, they are particularly fond of the
Nyger seed feeder as you can see from the picture below.
 
Jan 24th
Weather fantastic, sunny calm but cold - A great
day to be out and about so we went to several of our tour stops to see
what was about and we were not disappointed, Golden Eagles, White-tailed
Eagles, 3 Otters in separate territories, a single Barnacle Goose in with
Greylags, there was also a single Canada Goose there as well. Red Deer
and Fallow Deer were seen on the trip and we had coffee with Alan Spellman
who was out and about like us. Below are some photos taken on the trip.
  
 
 
Jan 23rd
Weather Fog all morning but beautiful afternoon
- I pruned our weeping pear tree this morning after feeding the garden
birds and our sheep and checking the water supply a daily necessity now
we are also responsible for our neighbours supply. This afternoon we went
on a tour reckee and found a female Otter with 2 new cubs at one of our
regular sights so we were very pleased. We also saw a juvenile Golden Eagle
which we had seen shortly after it had fledged in the summer, it was good
to see it was still surviving after the very harsh weather conditions.
one of our Shellducks was back in situe as were 3 Lapwings so despite the
hard winter we are seeing some signs that Spring is not too far away.
Jan 22nd
Weather the same cloud but much less wind - I
spent the morning trying to get water to our neighbour but was not successful
so we had to put her in a new water pipe from our overflow and I am glad
to report she has running water for the first time since before christmas.
We went to Calgary Bay this evening and saw a very large Mink almost the
size of a young Otter it dived off a rock and took a fish almost as big
as itself, an amazing sighting even though we are not keen on Mink.
Jan 21st
Weather unchanged still cloudy and windy - Our
Great Spotted Woodpecker has now become a regular visitor appearing at
least 3 times a day. The Sparrowhawk also flies through regularly dispersing
our Chaffinches to all parts, although we have well over 100 Chaffinches
in the garden we have yet to see any Bramblings this year but not through
lack of trying. Our friend and mentor Alan Mullbirds Spellman had a Water
Rail in his garden today lucky devil.
Jan 20th
Weather the same as yesterday - I went to Tobermory
today and noticed that the Mishnish Lochs are still frozen over at the
Tobermory end. Apparently during the hardest frosts on Mull at the new
year over -10 degrees people were skating on the Lochs and Quad bikes were
pulling sleighs on the ice, this must have been similar to the old pictures
you get on Christmas cards and must have been great fun , we are sorry
to have missed it.
Jan 19th
Weather dry, cloudy and breezy - We took the
dogs for a walk to Cailiach today and although there was not wildlife in
abundance what we saw was very interesting and sometimes quite close, re
the Red Deer Stags in the photos below. We had a very good sighting of
a Sparrowhawk landing in a farmyard and later on the top of a tree. We
also had good Buzzard and Kestrel sightings and the highlight for me over
100 Herring Gulls at roosting at the point. At Loch Cuin on our way home
there were some Wigeons which had arrived since yesterday to join the Mallards
and Teal already there.
 
Jan 18th
Weather dry and calm with some sun in the morning
becoming cloudier as the day went on - Out and about north Mull this morning
and saw 15 Ringed Plover, 19 Slavonian Grebes, 2 Greenshanks and a single
Common Snipe. Red Throated and Great Northern Divers were also seen on
Loch Na Keal and a Black Guillemot in Salen Bay. There were a lot of Red
Breasted Mergansers seen some of them actually displaying whether
this was love or just to keep warm we could not tell. 2 White-tailed Eagles
and 2 Otters as well as a Fallow Deer Stag and Red Deer were seen and Common
Seal at 2 different sites. In total 43 species were seen in 2 hours not
bad for a wintry morning
Jan 17th
Weather cloudy with showers and windy - We took
the dogs for a trip to Calgary today and they really had a great time after
being kept on our own grounds during the big freeze. On a drive out with
stops for dog walks today we saw Golden Eagles, Buzzards, Kestrels and
Hen Harriers. There were Teal in the loch at Dervaig and Ring Plovers and
Curlews at Calgary, it was great to be out and about on Mull again today.
Jan 16th
Weather the thaw continues as it is much warmer
with showers - Going up to check the water supply this morning I disturbed
a Woodcock in our woodland a good start to the day. The Great Spotted Woodpecker
was on the feeders again today as were lots of Siskins which seem very
partial to the Nyjer seeds. Red Deer are still appearing in our field and
causing problems in our woodland and we will probably have to Deer fence
the whole property to protect the woodland.
Jan 15th
Weather warmer, it has rained during the night
and thawed much of the remaining snow and ice although the drive is still
icy - at last around mid morning our water has begun to flow, the system
seems to be a bit air blocked but at least it is working. I checked the
oil in the tank as our neighbour said that the delivery lorry had called
last week and could not get up the drive and we had about a thimble full
of oil left so I rang up the depot to ask them to call, unfortunately when
the delivery man arrived he still could not get up the drive so we had
to carry drums of oil up the drive and pour it into the tank to keep us
going until next week. There was a Siskin on the feeders today. With the
water now sorted and enough oil to last the weekend we hope to get out
and about and do some wildlife watching over the weekend.
Jan 14th
Weather thawing a little but still cold and icy
- we've decided to await the thaw which is supposed to come tonight and
manage another day with out water, we have switched off the central heating
to conserve oil for the Aga which is keeping us warm and well fed. The
Greater spotted Woodpecker has visited the garden today along with lots
of Chaffinches and blackbirds but a noticeable lack of Tits.
Jan 13th
Weather dull, very cold and icy - We arrived
back from our journey's down south and found we could not even get up our
drive it was a complete sheet of ice from the cattle grid to our back door.
We had to leave our van in the neighbours drive way and carry everything
up the grass at the side of the drive, it took us an hour to unload the
van in the dark. When we got in the house we found that all the water was
completely frozen up so today we have been carrying buckets of boiling
water to try and thaw the pipes but it was still frozen when we went to
bed. The dogs, cats, sheep and birds had all been well looked after by
our trusty friend and I gave the birds plenty of food this morning and
judging by the numbers in the garden they were very grateful. It is very
important to feed the birds during very cold and frosty weather.
Christmas & New Year were spent visiting
family and friends with little time being given to watching wildlife, I
have managed to amass a sizeable bird list for the new year which include
Cirl Bunting in Devon and Red Kite near Stirling on the way home. The highlight
of our time away was in Devon whilst on a short walk with all the family
including 3 children under the age of 4 years. Our son-in-law spotted a
rabbit nibbling grass at the edge of a gorse bush as we watched we realized
that there was a stoat creeping up behind it, the stoat leaped up on top
of the rabbit biting into it's neck and killing it, it then proceeded to
drag the rabbit who was at least 3 times it's size back into the gorse
bush, as we watched we were all excitedly describing in graphic detail
to those with out bins what was happening we then thought about our 4 year
old granddaughter and hoped she would not be traumatized, but no, for the
rest of the day she wanted to play 'rabbit and stoat' with Grandpa, 'I'll
be the stoat' she said as she leaped on him. |
