November For those of you who were a little confused by the 'STUFF' we saw 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". Nov 30th Weather beautiful, sunny, cold - Mull at it's winter best and Pam and I went out for the day with our friends Alan 'Mullbirds' Spelman and  Felicity  Hanson, what a great day out we had with 56 species seen during the day. We also had a lot of fun stopping to look at STUFF, Felicity kept saying 'there's a lot of stuff in the Bay' so we would stop and sure enough the bay was full of stuff. The highlight stuff of the day was Merlin, Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier, Slavonian Grebes, Great Northern Divers, Red Throated Divers, 5 Goosanders, Golden Plovers, Turnstones, Greenland White-fronted Geese, 2 Otters, lots of Red Deer and a pen full of Orange painted Sheep; these are the Rams all spruced up and ready to go onto the hills with the ewes. Nov 29th Weather dry again not quite as sunny with more wind, cold - A shorter walk today but we did manage to see some Buzzards which was nice as we had seen no birds of prey at all yesterday also a couple of Grey Wagtails on the streams were well worth seeing as they are such exquisite little birds. An Otter eating a fish in Laggan Bay and 2 White-tailed Eagles circling above our fields as we arrived home were the highlights of another nice day.  Nov 28th Weather at last sunshine all day without a hint of rain - We took the dogs to Quinnish Point to do another BTO square and saw 5 Great-northern Divers, 1 Black-throated Diver and on our way back to the car a Jay which is very uncommon on Mull. In all we saw over 20 species on the walk. The walk was about 7 miles and when we got home Sally & Misty, our 2 dogs, went to their respective baskets curled up and went to sleep for the rest of the day.  Nov 27th Weather cooler less windy but more showers - A quiet day today a few Buzzards and a Great Northern Diver at Ulva Ferry, otherwise back home to watch my garden birds. The weather forecast looks better for the weekend, let's hope so. Nov 26th Weather windy with more squally showers - We had a beautiful Grey Wagtail in the garden today which was a real treat, particularly as it was unexpected. We took the dogs for a walk down Calgary beach this afternoon and saw some Turnstones, Ringed Plovers, Oystercatchers, Curlews and a Redshank either on the sea shore or in the kelp. Nov 25th Weather squally showers and high winds - Today I went to Aros Bay to put in place some canes where the council are going to put in reflectors to try and prevent Otters crossing the road and getting killed, we hope that they will use the culverts under the road instead. The money for this project was acquired by the bird club from the RSPB hide Eagle fund and if it proves successful we would like to put more of them out. On the way to Aros I saw another male Hen Harrier hunting in Glen Belert, I seem to see one every day at the moment. On my way home I saw the Jackdaws again in a field with 40+ Hooded Crows. Nov 24th Weather rain all day - A red letter day for me we have at last turned our local square red on the BTO atlas which means we have seen and recorded over 90% of the birds expected in our square and that for the Dervaig area of Mull means 90 species seen, this is by far the most productive square on Mull. When out in the rain today I saw an Otter and another great Hen Harrier sighting. I managed a few photos of the Harrier but in the poor weather they are not very good. Nov 23rd Weather squally showers throughout the day - I went for a drive round to escape cabin fever and watched a White-tailed Eagle hunting in Glen Belert. There were Wigeon at Aros Bay and 120 Greylag Geese grazing a field at Gruline but the highlight for me were 2 Jackdaws at Lagganulva. Nov 22nd Weather a dry early morning but rain again later - I took the dogs out this morning before it rained but stayed in for the rest of the day and watched the birds in the garden. We now have over 100 Chaffinches and 20 Greenfinches at any one time and a now regular Hooded Crow visits us. Todays highlights however were a Buzzard in the garden and in the late afternoon a female Sparrowhawk flew past the kitchen window scattering little birds everywhere before alighting on a tree. Nov 21st Weather a drier day but still with the odd shower - Pam and I went for a drive around today and were rewarded with 2 hunting Golden Eagles, a magnificent male Hen Harrier, and lots of Red Deer. The highlight of the drive was a mother Otter with 2 very young cubs playing in a small pool as mum ate a large fish, they were joined by another female Otter for a short while and as mum took no notice of it we could only think it was either an older sister from a previous litter or a relative of the mother. Nov 20th Weather less rain than yesterday but still pretty wet - I went for an early morning ride out today looking for Owls and got a couple of glimpses of probable Tawny Owls but it was too dark for positive identification. I did however see 8 Woodcocks one of them stayed in the middle of the road until I was within 5 yards of it and I could see all its magnificent plumage in the van headlights, amazing. Nov 19th Weather monsoon - Yes folks it is raining and it has been all day although we managed a walk through the woods with the dogs before it got too bad. We went to Tobermory to see about printing new leaflets for next year and believe it or not we saw a male Hen Harrier out hunting as we drove in, poor thing, even the ducks were thinking twice about coming out today. Nov 18th Weather nice morning but the promised monsoon started about 3pm, but no matter we are very cosy with our new double glazed windows installed - We took the dogs to Calgary this morning to get in their walk before it rained and they really enjoyed a run on the deserted beach. There were lots of birds in the garden today feeding up before the rains, we have not seen our local White-tailed Eagles for a couple of days I must go and check them out when the rain stops. Nov 17th Weather the same as yesterday - An early morning drive out today brought me 2 Woodcock, a Great Northern Diver, Red Deer and an Otter. Pam took the dogs for a walk through the local wood and I did some draining and cleared the down spouts before the impending monsoon strikes. I have just been notified that my friend Rod and I have been made the regional representatives of Mull and Morvern for The BTO the British Trust for Ornithology. Nov 16th Weather nice morning showers in late afternoon - We took the dogs for a walk to Quinnish this morning, it was a lovely walk but little in the way of wildlife. The joiner came and started putting in the double glazing which we had ordered for the Sheiling self-catering cottage and our house. Pam and I went out this evening to look for Owls and managed to see 2 Barn Owls. Nov 15th Weather sunshine and cloud but dry -Another day another BTO square to do but this time up a very steep hill, there is not a great deal to see when out on the hills in winter although i did get 3 Red Grouse, a Woodcock and a Golden Eagle and a lot fitter, although it did not feel like it at the time. I was a lot better after a hot radox bath to ease my aching muscles. Nov 14th Weather rain and gales forecast but it wasn't so bad although it rained most of the day we had 1 hour of dry bright weather whilst watching the Kites - I left Arthur at home to look after the dogs today and took the mini-bus full of Bird Club members over to the Argatty Red Kite centre at Doune. When we did this trip last February it was foggy and we saw very little and we weren't expecting much more with the weather forecast but what a surprise we got when at 1.30, Kite feeding time, it stopped raining and the sun came out. There were  30 to 40 Red Kites in the air twisting and turning before swooping down to pick up the meat which had been put out, amongst them were Buzzards, Rooks and Carrion Crows. After it had quietened down a flock of mixed thrushes flew past which suddenly panicked as a Sparrowhawk flew into their mist. We saw a total of 36 species during the day. Nov 13th Weather cloudy but dry morning rain as afternoon wore on - I went out for a look around our local patch today and saw well over 30 species including Buzzards, Kestrels, Reed Buntings, Whooper Swans and Fieldfares. It is great to be out and about again after the monsoon season we have been experiencing on Mull of late. Nov 12th Weather nice morning turning wet and windy in the afternoon - I went around the north of Mull today and Pam went out with the bird club committee, we both saw a lot of birds including 2 very close Golden Eagles, 2 White-tailed Eagles in our wood 2 Male Hen Harriers, 2 Common Scoters, 2 Common Buzzard above the house, a Lapwing at Dervaig with 12 Ringed Plovers and 2 Greenshanks and a preening Snipe and a single Red Grouse. Nov 11th Weather the same as yesterday - I went to Calgary Bay this morning and saw 17 Ringed Plovers on the beach and the Common Scoters were again in the bay. Later at Loch Cuin I saw two Juvenile White-tailed Eagles sitting together on a rock and managed to get a photo of them via digi-scoping. As I tried to get nearer to them for a conventional photo I disturbed a Common Snipe which flew up from beneath my feet. Nov 10th Weather sunny with slight breeze - We took the car to Tobermory today for its MOT and stopped to do a BTO square on the way. We saw all the birds we expected to but were disappointed that there were no birds at all on Loch Tor. The best birds we saw in the square were a Golden Eagle sitting on a ridge and a Woodcock disturbed by the dogs. On our way into Tobermory we saw 2 Whooper Swans and 2 Greylag Geese on the Mishnish Loochs. Nov 9th Weather Colder, cloudy but dry - A day doing jobs around the place today including cleaning the mini-bus and Midge eater before putting them away for the winter. Pam took the dogs for their usual walk through the woods today and they came across a delightful flock of mixed small birds, as well as the Chaffinches, Great, Blue and Coal Tits their were Longtailed Tits and Treecreeper. Nov 8th Weather sunny and dry - Pam and I had a day around Mull today and saw 70 species of wildlife 65 birds and 5 mammals, what a great day. The mammal highlights were 4 Otters and a Mountain Hare, it is much easier to see Otters in the winter months as there are less hours of daylight for them to hunt in and a lot less disturbance. Birdwise we saw 30 Great Northern Divers, 20 Buzzards, 5 Goosanders, 4 Slavonian Grebes, 3 Snipe, 2 Whooper Swans and a Partridge in a pear tree amongst the 65 bird species seen. Nov 7th Weather wet morning improving later - Another winter Atlas square done today and this time we took our dogs with us for their walk, we all had a great time despite the weather. The highlights of the walk were 4 Crossbills, 3 Reed Buntings, 30+ Goldfinches and a Dipper and we saw 22 species in all on the walk. On the feeders in our garden we are getting over 100 Chaffinches and 20+ Greenfinches every day now with a few Siskins among the other birds we see each day. Nov 6th Weather very, very wet morning clearing up in late afternoon - Yesterday evening I went to Calgary and saw 2 Great Northern Divers, one still in summer plumage, and a Black throated Diver. I was surprised to find there 2 Common Scoter so this afternoon when the weather had cleared up I took Pam to see if they were still there and I managed to get 2, not very great, photo's of them in the very rough water. At Calgary we also was a Sparrowhawk and in the poor weather in the morning I did manage to see a juvenile White-tailed Eagle being harried by a Common Gull. Nov 5th Another nice morning and beautiful day it should be good for the village bonfire tonight fingers crossed - I went down to Calgary Bay at first light today and there were lots of Oystercatchers and Curlews there along with the Common Gulls and a couple of Herring Gulls. While I was watching a Buzzard and 2 Ravens, 5 Whooper Swans flew over my head going south. I went from Calgary to Dervaig where there were 4 Little Grebes and 2 Goldeneye Ducks a female and male the first ones I have seen this winter and 2 Greenshank. Nov 4th Weather a lovely day after early morning showers - With my knees feeling a lot better and the weather improved Pam and I decided to go and do our first BTO atlas tetrad of the winter. We counted over 30 bird species in the square, the highlights being 3 Great Northern Divers and 2 juvenile White-tailed Eagles, a single Snipe and a charm of 7 Goldfinches. It was great to be out and about walking and birding again after my enforced lay off. Nov 3rd Weather improved again today just showery but still warm - I went out with Pam to Salen for more bird feed and took the opportunity to come home via Ulva Ferry, we were rewarded with Wigeon, Teal and lots of Curlews which are always worth seeing. When we got home we saw the regular White Tailed Eagle in a favoured roost tree across the loch from our kitchen window. Nov 2nd Weather better than yesterday, it could not be worse, a few breaks in the rain - Still laid up but am feeling a bit better -I counted over 50 Rock Doves in the garden today, word is getting out about my feeders. There are a lot of Finches on the feeders now particularly Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Goldfinches. Nov 1st Weather heavy rain all day - I am stuck in the house with dodgy knees but that is not so bad when the weather is this awful. I did however see 5 Whooper Swans on Loch Cuin from the kitchen window.       This is the web site of Pam & Arthur Brown, Ardrioch Farm, Dervaig, Isle of Mull. PA75  6QR