cliftonbirding: Mull weekend Day 2

Saturday, 30 May 2015

Mull weekend Day 2

Saturday 23rd, day two and target number two was high on the agenda, we headed straight off to Iona after breakfast stopping along the way to admire a superb male Hen Harrier and a Short Eared Owl, we had just missed the Ferry as we arrived at Fionnphort, and it was an hour and a half to the next crossing but a summer plumaged Great Northern Diver kept us entertained by the Quayside. Five years ago when we last did this trip we didn’t even hear Corncrake let alone see one so it was a relief when the calls were heard even as the Ferry was docking, we marched up to the Fire Station field and several birds were calling in the vicinity and after much scanning a head popped up, the next couple of hours were just amazing as at least four birds showed regularly with even brief views of the whole bird on occasions as they moved around the field, Paz did the best when he had moved further along the road, a bird walked out of a garden and crossed the road right in front of him, a few Rock Doves in the area were probably as near as dammit to the genuine article. We took a steady drive back heading for the Grass Point/Loch Don area, another fine male Hen Harrier was seen en route and the mountainous area the road passed through yielded a Golden Eagle but was generally quiet, Grass Point was too, no sign of the recent Osprey, Paz walked out and looked over the offshore Islets favoured by the White Tailed Eagles, none of them neither, we decided to cut our losses and go to Loch na Keal, the forecast late afternoon rain started as we made our way there and had become persistant by the time we got there, we birded from the car for a while, a couple of Hooded Crows were blogging but the best sighting was an Otter walking and swimming along the shoreline.