 
November 2011
Nov 15th
Weather still glorious -
My leg is worse than I first thought and I am still sitting in the house
with it up on cushions, we have had to cancel our planned trip down to
see our grandchildren as there is no way I could sit in a car for 6 hours
to get down south. Pam drove me around to Calgary yesterday as I had heard
there were some Common Scoters in the bay and we saw 6 of them, a new one
for my year list.
Today we had 5 Hooded Crow's
in the garden which is unusual as they don't normally come into the garden
but one of them found the fat ball feeder and discovered that by standing
on a close sturdy brach and making the feeder swing he could grab the red
plastic covering from the fat ball then hold the feeder with his foot whilst
he fed.
 
Nov 1st to 8th
Weather after a pretty ordinary
Spring and Summer a week of glorious weather Hoorah.
We are having a bit of quiet
time now the season has finished. On Tuesday we went over to Oban for the
day it's always fun to catch up with friends on the ferry crossing and
visiting 'real' shops. I've also been doing a bit of bird watching for
myself as you can see from my selection of photo's. I could not resist
taking this picture of an old tractor, reminding me of my old life as a
farmer. My quiet time is lasting a little longer, a fell in the kitchen
and have hurt my thigh muscle and can hardly walk, curses lovely weather
and I can't get out.
 
 
There are plenty of Thrushes
around at the moment, we are also seeing Redwing and foreign Blackbirds
 
We get a few small Starling
roosts but not many Jackdaw and Rooks in the north of Mull so we took the
opportunity of a nice day
on Sunday to go down to the Ross of Mull and visit a couple of our favorite
spots down there, Ardalanish
and Fidden.
  
 
 
We saw over 60 species of
birds during the day, here are a few of them
  
  
It was late in the afternoon
as we started for home
 
 
November
2010
Nov 30th
Weather the same as yesterday
- I spent the day working on the farm today, checking the water supply
was OK after the heavy frosts we are having, and walking the perimeter
fences making sure that the Red Deer had not found any new areas to get
in after I had most of the property Deer fenced in the Autumn, fortunately
they hadn't. This afternoon I put 11 new bird boxes up around the garden
and moved the House Sparrow box, so hopefully there will be lots of new
birds for guests staying in the self catering to see next Summer
Nov 29th
Weather beautiful, sunny,
cold but little wind so much nicer to be out in - This lovely Song Thrush
put in appearance in the garden today, joining the regulars, always nice
to get a newcomer. Another visitor today a Treecreeper we see it sometimes
and I am sure it visits most days and we miss it. Funny sighting of the
day a Skating Otter, Torville and Dean had better watch out, another one
was seen in the Dervaig reedbed.
 
Nov 28th
Weather like yesterday
but colder as there was more wind - The Yellowhammer must have had a good
time yesterday as he brought his friends today, well 2 at least, as we
saw 3 in the garden at one time. I decided not to be such a wimp and went
out and nearly froze to death for 3 hours thats dedication for you. The
consolation was 4 very good Golden Eagles and some spectacular scenery.
Whilst I was freezing Pam was watching 2 White-tailed Eagles from our kitchen
window- Hey Ho thats the way it goes sometimes.
Nov 27th
Weather Another very cold
dry day with a tiny bit of snow in the air - A day to stay in except for
Pam walking the dogs through the woods and seeing very little. I on the
other hand watched birds from the kitchen window, much cosier but a little
bit wimpish, I did however see millions of Chaffinches, well it seemed
like millions as they were everywhere, lots of Blue Tits and Greenfinches
as well but the bird of the day at our bird banquet feed stations was a
Yellowhammer the first I have seen in the garden for some time.
 
 
Nov 26th
Weather cloudier with more
breeze and warmer, I feel snow in the air - There is only one topic today,
Otters. We went for a walk with the dogs through a small wood and came
upon an old farm steading with a burn running at the back of it, as we
crossed the wooden bridge over the burn we heard a loud splashing underneath
and lo and behold an Otter swam out from under the bridge. We watched as
it swam away from us down the stream when it stopped turned round and swam
back, by now it was just a couple of feet below us and seeming not to be
worried by the dogs at all. It disappeared under the bridge and reappeared
a few seconds later carrying a fish, as we watched it s bubbles in the
water it disappeared completely, How do they do that? As we walked on we
saw a second Otter at the side of the burn, this was a youngster eating
a very large fish and only about 10 yards away, we stood quietly and watched
it for a few minutes and then quietly moved on, I don't think he knew we
were there either that or he didn't give a fig.
Nov 25th
Weather still calm and
sunny but getting colder - We are seeing a lot of continental Blackbirds
in our garden now these are the ones with the dark beaks and the brown
wings and not the yellow-orange ones of British Blackbirds and boy do they
like apples. We are on the lookout for Blackcaps which are appearing in
gardens on Mull as the cold snap sets in, so look out for this lovely little
Warbler on your bird feeders in the next couple of weeks.
 
 
Nov 24th
Weather still the same
but colder - As the weather gets colder the birds in the garden are even
more appreciative of the food and water we put out for them. I went to
a tour operators group meeting this afternoon with parking in passing places
on the agenda, a lot of local people on Mull are complaining about tour
operators and tourists parking in passing places which as the police point
out is illegal and we, the tour operators, are getting the blame. I know
it is sometimes difficult to find places to park to look at the wonderful
wildlife and scenery on Mull but do try to remember that we are not all
road users are on holiday or involved in tourism, so do try and be courteous
and park in a manner that does not inconvenience other road users or more
importantly cause a hazard, in other words do not park in what could be
described as 'in a dangerous position' and likely to cause inconvenience
or even worse an accident. If at anytime you feel that this might be the
case ie; someone parks in the same passing place as you are already using
and thus rendering it not usable for its intended purpose, move on, this
is better than getting a ticket, a fine and a ruined holiday. The police
although sympathetic to our plight and knowing Mull does not have enough
parking areas still have to act on the law and if the local community council
keep complaining, they will have to act as the law states 'parking in passing
places or in a dangerous position is illegal' and that has to be their
stance on this contentious issue.
Nov 23rd
Weather unchanged this
is great - I eventually saw the Purple Sandpiper at Calgary today taking
my Mull year list to 145, I am still striving for 150. Pam and I were going
to the Ross of Mull today but a flat tyre and rubbish spare, my fault,
put paid to that, many thanks to the couple who helped me change the wheel
and to Charles Peace for the use of his electric pump to blow op the spare
which stayed up long enough to get to the garage in Tobermory. On a better
note we managed 4 Otters, 3 White-tailed Eagles and 2 Goldies amongst a
lot of wildlife seen in the 3 hours before the tiresome tyre episode. We
received some very sad news today a regular guests of ours, Margaret Fickling,
has sadly past away after a long illness. Our deepest sympathies go to
Phil and her family, she was a lovely person and we will miss her.
Nov 22nd
Weather a fantastic autumn
day with superb viewing light - We had lots of work to do today but did
manage a walk with the dogs this morning as we drove towards Calgary the
views out as far as Barra & the Uists was incredible it was so good
you felt you could almost reach out and touch them and they are over 60
miles away. On the walk we saw 2 Otters, 8 Ringed Plovers, 2 Great northern
Divers, a Redshank and an Eider Duck. The dogs had a great time with Sally
somehow managing to get absolutely filthy but we were able to clean her
off enough for her to travel home in the back of the car by washing her
in the river.
Nov 21st
Weather similar but with
a little more cloud - Pam & I took the dogs for a walk today and saw
2 White-tailed Eagles in a new area but close to one we have seen them
at before, at the same spot looking out to sea we saw an Otter and a very
close Great Northern Diver. Retracing our route from yesterday we again
saw the Jack Snipe, I say we saw yesterday but I had missed it so I went
back to try and get it for my Mull year list and was very pleased to see
it fly out of a bog with several Common Snipe. As I was basking in the
glory of another Mull bird for the year lo and behold 'eagle eyed' Pam
spotted a pair of Gadwall in the bay below with 2 Mallards, a rare Mull
species. Other birds seen here today was the very beautiful Grey Wagtail
and a fantastic sighting of a Merlin which flew right past us.
Nov 20th
Weather just like yesterday
- Pam and I lead a bird club outing today and in an area of no more than
7 miles from home we saw over 50 species of birds and several mammals,
we also had a lot of laughs and finished a great day with afternoon tea
at Ardrioch sampling Pam's home-made Chocolate cake, blueberry biscuits
and fruit scones with jam and cream, YUMMY. The days highlights and there
were many were a White-tailed Eagle trying to rob an Otter of a fish it
had caught, 8 Great Northern Divers in one group, there was a Red Throat
in the same area, 2 Greenshank at the start of the day, a Pink Footed Goose
in with a small flock of Greylag Geese, a Jack Snipe disturbed as 12 Common
Snipe were put up and 2 Golden Eagles hunting together at the end of the
day. As well as wildlife the views were spectacular in fantastic light
with the Outer Hebridies easily seen, the small isles Eigg, Muck, Rum and
Canna looked amazing in the sunlight as did the Red and Black Cuillins
of Skye. Staffa, Iona and the Treshnish Isles were seen at their best from
our vantage point at the top of a small hill, regulars on our tours will
know where I mean. All in all a great day and our thanks go to the club
members who came out today and made it a very special outing.
Nov 19th
Weather a lovely autumn
day - I went for a drive round this morning and saw 4 Buzzards in various
locations, a Sparrowhawk shot across the road in front of the car and I
had a great view of a hovering Kestrel. 2 White-tailed Eagles were chilling
out together after the rigors of bringing up young all summer and a Golden
Eagle was just enjoying the good weather. I saw 2 separate Otters one eating
and one enjoying a good scratch. A nice Fallow Deer on the side of the
road just inside a wood was also nice to see as were Common Seals basking
away in the unusually calm warm weather.
Nov 18th
Weather cloudy, windy but
mainly dry - A day of catching up after being away, a tree which had blown
down had to be cut up and while we were at it we trimmed some other trees
where branches were overhanging. We had to get the sheep in to get the
two ewe lambs which we are going to breed from next year ready to go and
join our new ewes for a visit to the Ram hopefully they will get on well
with him and we get some good lambs for guests to see in the spring.
Nov 17th
Weather dull, windy with
some light rain - Back on Mull and we woke up to 2 White-tailed Eagles
drifting over the wood at the back of our house, later we were to see another
one disturbing all the ducks at the end of Loch Cuin. We took the dogs
for a much needed walk this morning as they have certainly put on pounds
since we have been away. On the walk we saw a Red Deer stag which ran off
just as the dogs were considering giving chase, but Pam soon put a stop
to that nonsense. As we returned to the car a Golden Eagle was flying effortlessly
over the trees, it is lovely to see Mull's iconic birds so quickly on our
return.
Nov 2nd-Nov 16th
Weather everything - We
have been away to England visiting our parents, children, grandchildren
and friends and had a great time. We took my parents with us down to Devon
to see their great-grandchildren and they had a lovely time although at
86 they found the children quite tiring as did we after being with them
all day, we were definitely ready for our bed each night. The children
were a delight and as I have not seen them since Easter they have grown
and changed dramatically. Although we spent most of our time with our friends
and relatives we did manage a little bit of birding and were able to see
the American Robin near Exeter and a Cetti's Warbler in the same area.
I added a total of 6 new birds to my year list and I think the highlight
for me had to be the beautiful Avocets that winter on the River Exe. On
our way back to Mull we came out of a restaurant after eating a really
good breakfast and were surprised and delighted to see over 100 Waxwings
in the surrounding trees and bushes this was by far the largest number
of Waxwings we had ever seen in one flock, fantastic.
Nov 1st
Weather fine till mid morning
then the heavens opened for the rest of the day - I went birding with Alan
Spelman today and we saw hardly anything in the poor weather although we
did have a nice cup of coffee and some delicious biscuits. In the meantime
Martin Hughes-Games new best friend, Pam was watching the Brambling which
reappeared in our garden again, though how she spotted it amongst the Zillion
Chaffinches is still a mystery. |
