Sept 29th
Weather low cloud and drizzle in the morning, dried up after lunch - !3 Tufted Ducks on Loch Cuin at Dervaig this afternoon this is the first time we have seen more than 2 on this loch at any one time, they are usually seen on Loch Pottie on the Ross of Mull and not in such large numbers. Superb sightings of Kittiwakes and a Gannet at Cailaich as well today, also a single Twite seen at Antuim. As you can probably guess we had no tour today so we were not looking for Eagles and Otters.
Sept 28th
Weather low cloud, high wind, rain with only very occasional dry spells - when I woke up this morning and Arthur told me I was doing the tour today and what the weather was going to be I just wanted to curl back up under my bed cloths but I was glad I didn't - I had a wonderful group of guests out with me who were determined to enjoy the day what ever the weather. The eagles and in fact most of the birds were staying well hidden but we watched an Otter for over half an hour as he made his way along the shore line marking his territory regularly along the way, by the time he disappeared around the corner we were all thoroughly drenched but happy. Just before we came back to our house to dry out and have afternoon tea we watched a Red Deer stag with his harem of females and our first Buzzard of the day flew past, topped of with a wonderful, close Male Hen Harrier taking advantage of the short dry break.

Sept 27th
Weather very low cloud for most of the day with high winds and showers - despite choppy seas we saw Great Northern Diver, Razorbill and Guillemot. A lovely Mistle Thrush sat on wires close to us and the guests were delighted as they do not see many now. Eagles were going to be hard but the clouds lifted slightly whilst we had lunch and after a little patience we saw both White-tail and Golden Eagles flying. Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk were seen during the day and we finished off with a good spot by one of our guests of a Dipper in the river and Red Deer stags just before we got home.

Sept 26th
Weather low cloud and rain again oh sun where art thou - No tour today so I stayed in and watched the sport, the cricketers are doing well at last whoopee.

Sept 25th
Weather cloudy but drier and still windy - Wonderful Golden Eagles today as well as fighting rutting Red Deer Stags. White-tailed Eagles also performed really well this morning and we also had terrific views of an Otter doing all the things Otters do best, in fact a brilliant day for all Mulls prime species and 2 Mountain Hares to end a truly memorable day.

Sept 24th
Weather same as yesterday - After a very busy season I had a day off just resting up and watching the birds in the garden and apart from the numerous Chaffinches now back there was very little to report.

Sept 23rd
Weather low cloud, drizzle, windy with 2 hour break in the drizzle - I mention the 2 hour drizzle break for one reason and that is that Golden eagles will often fly after prolonged rain if there is a lengthy break, today we had 4 in the air at the same time and a total of 5 during the rain break. All the usual species were seen as well as Red Deer stags both seen and heard roaring for the rut. Good Otter again today and my highlights 2 Great Northern Divers.

Sept 22nd
Weather cloudy, windy with some heavy squally showers - the day started with 2 interacting Great Northern Divers and then 2 White-tailed Eagles. As we were watching the Eagles we spotted an Otter behind a small island in rough seas, the Otter very obligingly swam right past us and came out on a rock to eat a fish giving us great views. Other notable sightings today were Golden Eagles, Red Deer and 2 Mountain Hares. Given the cold and wet we again had afternoon tea and cakes at Ardrioch in our warm kitchen enjoying the birds on the feeders including a single Siskin.

Sept 21st
Weather awful, high wind and diving rain all day - what a great group we had out today they never lost their sense of humour despite the awful weather and continued to get out of the van at every stop to see what was on offer. We saw a Great Northern Diver and Black Guillemots, a Razorbill and a Whimbrel lots of Curlews, Oystercatchers and Grey Herons but no Mull specialities. As we were like a bunch of drowned rats and cold  I took us back to our house for lunch and we had afternoon tea and cakes at the same time. Thoroughly warmed up and dried out we set off to see the beautiful Calgary Bay and we eventually found our all singing all dancing Otter performing really well at the end of the day a real treat for our guests perseverance. P.S. The waterfalls today were just brilliant.

Sept 20th
Weather cloudy, breezy and chilly in the wind but dry - A great tour we had only just started when we saw 2 juvenile White-tailed Eagles which were soon being mobbed by Hooded Crows, it was such a good sighting as they began talon grasping that nobody took any notice of the 2 Buzzards that flew over at the same time. On over the hill we went for coffee and biscuits and were joined by 3 Golden Eagles 2 adults and their youngster a fabulous 20 minutes of Golden Eagle aerobatics enjoyed by all. Otter were hard to find today but our patience was rewarded with fantastic Otter asleep on a rock, our guests were prepared to wait and see if it was stuffed but it eventually woke up preened, went fishing, brought fish to land was in fact an all singing all dancing Otter. Finally we witnessed the Deer rut on our way home.

Sept 19th
Weather cloudy with a few showers but still managed to walk the dogs for 3 miles without getting wet - No tour as it was saturday but showers prevented any chance of lawn mowing so we went to Glengorm Castle with our friends for lunch. In the evening as we were having tea a Piperstrel Bat flew past the kitchen window several times and the Red Deer stags started roaring, one was in our back field.

Sept 18th
Weather cloudy and breezy and quite cool - Would you believe it Otter at our first stop, the good news was the couple from yesterday turned up as we were watching it and we were able to show the Otter to them ,they were thrilled which even pleased todays guests as well as me. Sods law, we had 2 more even better Otters feeding on a rock later in the day, why can't we have an Otter every day so all guests are satisfied, an Otter a day keeps all guest happy. We also had terrific interaction between Golden and White-tailed Eagles today.

Sept 17th
Weather sunny and breezy - We had some very good seal sightings today with both Grey and Common Seals together on the same rocks and in the sea so guests were easily able to see the differences between the two species. At the same spot we also saw very good Slavonian Grebe still in partial summer plumage with 3 Black Guillemots. We saw lots of Red Deer today both Stags and Hinds and the day ended with fantastic Golden Eagles, the downside of the day was no Otters which one couple in particular wanted to see, but that's wildlife for you there are no guarantees.

Sept 16th
Weather sunny with slight breeze - a total of 6 White-tailed Eagles were seen today on the tour, 3 adults all flying around together giving good close views. Both types of deer were seen  with particularly good sightings of 2 Red Deer stags. A Peregrine Falcon was also seen sitting and flying showing its hunting prowess as it chased small birds. 3 Red Throated Divers were also seen and an amazing view of interaction between a hunting Guillemot and a Herring Gull. The Guillemot kept diving and driving Sand Eels to the surface where they leapt out of the water in small shoals and the Gull would pick one or 2 up before they went back into the water, the Guillemot would then re-appear usually with Sand Eels in it's bill, then the process would start all over again, it was fascinating to watch. 

Sept 15th
Weather cloudy, with slight cool breeze but dry - No tour today so we went out with friends who are visiting us for a week. We saw an Otter not long after we had left home and a Bar-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plovers, Grey Seal, Red Breasted Mergansers and 2 adult White-tailed Eagles whilst having coffee. A single Gannet Common Seals and a Red Throated Diver were seen and 2 Golden Eagles were seen before a leisurely lunch. Golden Plovers, Red Deer and A female Hen Harrier were the afternoon highlights as well as a rare for us Common Lizard. We are starting to hear the Red Deer Stags roaring prior to the rut, it will soon start getting exciting.

Sept 14th
Weather very pleasant autumn day again - Lovely guests today which was just as well as the Mull specialities were not play ball. All we had seen by lunchtime were 2 distant White-tailed Eagles, then at the lunch stop another adult White-tail flew right past the van giving great views and then we saw a couple of distant Red Deer hinds. At 3 pm  we spotted an Otter, Whoopee, our guests were delighted as it was really close and in and out of the water, as they watched the Otter i spotted a distant Golden Eagle on a hilltop, things were starting to look up. After we left the Otter we stopped for a closer look at the Golden Eagle and spotted a closer one on a nearer hill, later when looking for Red Deer stags we got really good views of 2 more Golden Eagles being mobbed by Hooded Crows. At the tea and cakes stop we at last saw our Red Deer stags and 2 more flying Golden Eagles, the afternoon continued to get better. We decided to look for Hen Harrier after tea and got our best White-tailed Eagle sighting of the day, last but by no means least at the last stop a brilliant female Hen Harrier, what an afternoon, don't I always say wildlife watching can be a patience game well today was certainly proof of it.

Sept 13th
Weather another glorious autumn day but warmer - Golden Eagles everywhere today enjoying the great weather and giving guests great views also had lots of Buzzards and Kestrels today and a view of a Ring-tailed Hen Harrier flying over the sea an unusual place for us to see this bird. A great day was completed by a good sighting of a small pod of Porpoise.

Sept 12th
Weather glorious autumn day - no tour as it is a Saturday so I had to mow lawns which I had not been able to mow for 3 weeks due to the wet weather. I also took the opportunity to give my bird feeders a really good clean as they had become very dirty in the wet weather and it is very important to keep all bird feeders clean for healthy birds. The only wildlife I really had time to see today was a Dragonfly which turned up in the Basil which Pam keeps in the kitchen window. 

Sept 11th
Weather cloudy but warm and calm - an ideal day for wildlife and we saw all of the usual culprits including 5 Golden Eagles. The highlights of the day were 3 Slavonian Grebes and a flock of Ringed Plover sitting at a high tide roost when a Sparrowhawk flew down and took one, the Sparrowhawk sat on the beach for a few minutes before flying off with his catch. Arthur stayed at home today to mow the lawns after all the wet weather, whilst working he looked up as 2 White-tail Eagles flew directly over the house.

Sept 10th
Weather mild with slight breeze sunny morning more cloud as day progressed no rain - Common and Arctic Terns at first stop followed by Wigeon and Otter before coffee. Great views of both Eagles before lunch followed by lots of Red Deer stags, hinds and calves in the early afternoon. Porpoise were seen in the late afternoon and some good Manx Shearwater sightings. The Mountain Hares again provided a fitting end to another good day.

Sept 9th
Weather mild and dry but breezy with interspersed cloud and sunshine - After prolonged rainy days the Golden Eagles were determined to make sure they did not miss out on the better conditions today and we had our best views for weeks with one flying below us and close - MAGIC. Good Otter again today and the nearly always reliable White Tailed Eagles, bird of the day however were Ringed Plover, Bar-Tailed Godwits and a very good Red Throated Diver with red throat showing well.

Sept 8th
Weather cloudy and gales with occasional heavy showers - Not a great day to go out you might think and two of our guests obviously thought so as they did not turn up, most annoying as we waited around for them and made food for them. In the event they were the ones to miss out as we saw 4 White Tailed Eagles, 2 Otters, Red Deer, Fallow Deer stags, Common and Grey Seals, brilliant diving Gannets very close, Snipe, Dunlin, Turnstone, Knot, Redshank, Golden Plover and 15 Grey Herons standing in a line in a ditch keeping out of the wind. It turned out to be a great day for wildlife watching - AGAIN

Sept 7th
Weather cloudy start then sunshine with strong breeze - we saw the first Slavonian Grebes of the winter today still showing a lot of summer plumage. We also saw a Whimbrel and some Wigeon, Greenshanks and Blackheaded Gulls and Great Northern Diver, all great to see but also a sure sign that winter is just around the corner. We found a dead Guillemot chick on the shore today a victim of the awful weather we have been having recently. 

Sept 6th
Weather cloudy but dry for most of the day before rain started on our way back to Tobermory - 3 Otters today and great Eagles again, both types, we also saw both Fallow and Red Deer and Common and Grey Seals. We had close up views of Mountain Hares, diving Gannets, a Red Throated Diver, Black Guillemots and much more. We were nearly blown away from a viewpoint and the views of the small isles was spectacular. We also had a lot of laughs who said wildlife watching had to be deadly serious even when it was as good as it was today, we all thoroughly enjoyed a great day and had a fantastic time.

Sept 5th
Weather wall to wall rain - I can't even get into the garden to mow the lawns today so I'm just looking at the birds busy on the bird feeders. After a month of mainly Chaffinches and Rock Doves in the garden many other small birds seem to have returned after their summer moult. The Robin has started singing again and Coal Tits and Greenfinches have returned to the feeders. The Mountain Ash trees in the garden are laden with berry's and the Blackbird and Song Thrush and making the most of the feast before their northern relatives arrive and devour the lot. Our 2 resident cock Pheasants are still here but now look splendid in their new feathers.

Sept 4th
Weather sunshine and showers and windy - Great Golden Eagle day today with one hunting a hillside in front of us and then a family of 3 all flying together giving the guests great views. The adult White Tailed Eagles appeared to be having a relaxed day after bringing up another chick this summer spending all morning in a tree just watching the world and us go by. 4 Mountain Hares were seen towards the end of the day and 2 Red deer stags a big wish for one guest were seen at the last stop before we returned to Tobermory. This is a true account and not a made up cliff-hanger as seen on BBC wildlife programmes.

Sept 3rd
Weather cloud and a little more sunshine than yesterday with odd heavy shower - A great day with enthusiastic guests wanting to see everything. They were rewarded with good views of Mulls specialities and more including Goosander, a late Wheatear, 2 Great Skuas, Manx Shearwaters, Buzzards galore and 2 Mountain Hares. a great day was had by all including me, I had a wonderful day.

Sept 2nd
Weather Cloudy with only a little rain today, I did not get wet - A White Tailed Eagle fest today with 4 birds 3 adults and a juvenile at one spot, sitting, flying, being mobbed by Hooded Crows a spectacular show. distant Golden Eagles and an otter that would not stay in one place for long when hunting fish making it difficult to follow but all the guests saw it through the telescope. Birds of the day 2 Red Throated Divers that only 2 guests wanted to see.

Sept 1st
Weather no change from August when 13 inches of rain was recorded in Dervaig, I'm not waving I'm drowning - Red Throated and Great Northern Divers seen at an early stop today as were Ringed Plover and Dunlin, Kittiwakes and Guillemots. Later we saw a single Razorbill and Common Terns as well as all the main highlights Mull has to offer. Nice views of some of this years Red Deer calves today. Another great day with nice guests most had been out with us before and put up with the weather with fortitude and good humour.