Photographs

Common gull

Common gulls, whilst not being generally common in the UK, lived up to their name on the esplanade at Fort William.

Common gull

They could usually be seen along the waters edge and were particularly reliable on a piece of grass by the site of an old fortress near Mc Donalds.

Common gull

We did not see much variety along the esplanade but most evenings we would see one or two, often distant black guillemots, never close enough for a decent photo.

Common gull

There are only about 45K pairs breeding in the UK compared with 130K pairs of herring or blackheaded, and they are only residents around the Scottish coast. They are much more dainty than the herring gulls and certainly less aggressive.

Red deer

Red deer are the classic Scottish wild animal, not as cute as a red squirrel or pine martin but big and grand and symbolic of wild places, a wildlife trip to the highland would not be complete without seeing them.

Red deer

One afternoon, when the weather was not too good we went for a drive along the little used single track road along Loch Linnhe towards Strontian, though you are only 20ish miles from Fort William in some parts it feels as if you are in the wilderness.

Red deer

We came across a herd of about 40 deer, oddly around a remote house, they were just passing through, the road was so quiet I was able to stop the car and watch and photograph them for at least 5 minutes.

Red deer

We also saw them regularly on Mull along the road from Salen to Knock, we must have seen them there at least 10 times during our weeks stay.

Red deer

We also regularly saw Fallow deer along the Knock end of this road, but where as the reds tended to ignore us, the fallow deer either scampered across the road to disapper into the woods, or move further back into the woods if we happened to catch them in the woodland edge.

Red deer

Though we saw a good number of reds on Mull there appeared to be a lot less of them than on previous visits. when we visited in the winter of 1975 they werre everywhere, we were told that now, they were being controlled to allow the understory to regrow for the benifit of other wildlife.

Red deer

It was the wrong time of year for a full set of antlers, they were either knobs or in velvet or some hand smaller sets, but they will all be ready to try to impress the hinds in the autumn.

Red deer

How much more impressive would he look with a 12 point set of antlers, maybe a visit in September is called for.

Twite

We have never been to Mallaig before, when we visited this time from Fort William we were captivated by its beauty, while we were watching the harbour two LBJ's flew past us and landed on the rocks, a glance through the binoculars identified them as a rare treat for us, twite.

Twite

They did not stay long just long enough to grab the camera and get a few not so good shots, there are less than 8000 breeding pairs in the UK, and mostly resident around the Scottish coast, in the south our best chance of seeing them is a few wintering birds on the east coast.

Atlantic Grey Seal

While watching the twite we found a seal out in the bay, just hanging around nice to see but a bit too far out for photos, we though we would have a look for it when we got round to the harbour side.

Atlantic Grey Seal

After fish and chips and an ice cream, that's for us, not the seal, we walked out past the wildlife boat trip kiosk to where a fishing boat was unloading its catch, where we saw this large seal just floating right next to the boat, it did not dive or swim around just floated in the same spot.

Atlantic Grey Seal

Then we realised what it was waiting for, one of the fisherman went to the other end of the boat, leaned over the side and held out a fish, the seal came back to life and knew just what to do.

Atlantic Grey Seal

The seal was given a few fishes and it put on a show for about ten minutes, watched only by us, one other couple and some of the boat crew it was a wonderful sighting, the day was brilliantly sunny, the one thing that could have inproved the show was if it was performed out of the deep shade.

Grey seal

In many places this is the kind of event that would have attracted a crowd of people with their phones out, but it highlights the charm of Mallaig, quiet, peaceful and most of all unspoilt.

Atlantic Grey seal

We went on to see a few seals particularly around the coastline on Mull, Salen and Loch Na Keal were often good for both common and grey, sometimes sharing the same rock but never this close.

Raven

We booked a day with local guide known as Mullman, early on in the day we came across this raven eating a dead gull, it was on the rocks both on the waters edge and the side of the road, it was so involved with its food it took little notice of us as we stopped and took some photos.

Raven

To my mind this kind of sighting is what makes Mull so good for wildlife, apart from the exciting headline targets, you never know quite what you will come across when you are not expecting it.

Otter

We booked the guide because so many of the Mull guides regularly put good close otter photos on their blogs we have only had a couple of this type of sighting on Mull dispite many hours of searching, most veiws are humps on distant rocks or animals swimming far out in a loch.

Otter

We searched the waters edge round from Ulva ferry to Pennyghael and very quickly Dan found two very distant animals out on the rocks that we definitely would not have seen without him, he then found one for us on Loch Scridain where it landed just below us but remained hidden by the rocks.

Otter

I was beginning to think we would not get our up close sighting as the day came to a close, when just near the head of Loch Na keal Dan picked up an animal swimming far out in the water, we pulled into a parking spot.

Otter

We watched it feeding for a while then Dan said he knew where it was going, so we scampered off down the road and into a lochside sheep field, now unfortunately the weather took a dramatic turn for the worse, the sky went black and it started to rain.

Otter

The otter was coming in fast heading for an old fish trap, a ring built of stone on the waters edge, we were stooping and moving along, then crawling along on the wet sheep poo covered grass, so that we could get adjacent to the fish trap.

Otter

The otter came ashore right below us probably 20 or 25 meters from us and rolled around in the seaweed for a good 5 minutes, just the photo opportunity we wanted, sadly spoilt by the rain and almost night light conditions. The photos maybe not good but it was a great experiance to watch the otter so close and it was totally unaware of us thanks to Dan's excellent field craft and local knowledge.

White Tailed Eagle

To rub salt in the wound caused by the rain and black sky, as we were stalking the otter this eagle flew low over our heads maybe only about 15 meters above us, we were concentrating so hard on the otter we did not even see this big bird coming.

White tailed eagle

It was by far the closest I have ever been to one, even when I went out on the eagle feeding boat the Lady Jane, it was so close it over filled the view finder at it's closest, how good would this photo have been in a good light.

White tailed eagle

This is two of Mulls top species for wildlife lovers at the same time without a good photo of either.

Rabbit

This maybe what the eagle was looking for, this was taken about 20 minutes previously in perfect light conditions.

Rabbit

Though generally a very common animal, we did not see many on Mull, probably because the eagles and buzzards have eaten them all.

Buzzard

On our first day on Mull, driving from Salen to Tobermory this bir flew off of a fence post on the edge of the road and landed on one a short way off, the road was so quiet I was able to pull off the road and grab some shots.

Buzzard

On Mull this bird is so often upgraded to an eagle by less experienced birders.

Buzzard with Grass Snake

Driving up the Ross of Mull from the Iona ferry, we saw this odd sight at first I thought it was an escaped bird with jessies on, then we realised it was a buzzard that had caught a grass snake being chased by a hoody.

Buzzard

The photos are not good quality but I find the content fascinating.

Common sandpiper

This is a very common, but still lovely little wader around the loch edges on Mull.

Common sandpiper

When ever we had an hour to pass we drove slowly around the top end of Loch Na Keal, where lots of these photos come from, common sandpiper was a reliable regular.

Common sandpiper

Though common they were never tolerant of close approach, and if flushed they fly off a long way.

Common sandpiper

Most shots I took were when they landed near the car when we were sitting in one of the little carparks around the loch.

Great Northern Diver

This was a real treat for me, GND's in plumage varying from winter to almost full breeding, though they are seen all round the island we saw the mostly on Loch Na Keel.

Great Northern Diver

We arrived on Mull on the 2nd of May and left on the 9th, the first half of the week we could always find 3 or 4 along our short stretch of loch side but the number dropped off over the week until on our last visit we could not find any.

Great Northern Diver

There was a particular little car park near the head of the loch used by a lot of birders, If we happened to pull up there when it was empty we could almost guarentee to find one less than 10 meters off the edge, if the car park got busy they would often go out a bit or move off down the loch.

Great Northern Diver

In the winter this is the easiest diver to find inland on Lakes and reservoirs in the south, but as it does not nest in the UK it is not easy to see in breeding plumage.

Great Northern Diver

The difficult bit was getting the light in the right place, often a problem with waterbirds and in general you cannot work your way round a bird that is swimming in the water without a boat.

Great Northern Diver

I only ever notice the red eyes on photos, but it's not caused by flash.The next one I see will almost certainly be on Farmoor or Staines reservoir next winter, not quite such a romantic location.

Wheatear

I really like to see wheatears, I used to see them a lot on Portland where I was able to get very close to them in the Bill carpark using the car as a hide, but now I don't go there any more I almost never catch up with a wheatear.

Wheatear

They were quite common on the whole trip, but particularly convenient around Loch Na Keal, they were not easy to approach but as there were so many I could try often, particularly from the car and achieved some success.

Wheatear

We saw many more males than females, I assume that is because the females were sitting on eggs or chicks as the females alone do this.

Wheatear

There are thought to be 165K breeding pairs in the UK most of them nest in the north and west of Britain, genarally on upland and moorland, Mull is perfect for them and will be even better when the midges come out.

Wheatear

The way they move about is really helpful to photographers, they hop quickly for a short distance then stop and look around for a few seconds, that's when you have to catch them in the viewfinder.

Wheatear

As you can see from this photo rocks and Lichens make for a much more attractive photo, and fortunately Mull rocks often have lichens and wheatears like to perch on a raised point like a rock.

Corncrake

We have looked for this bird for probably over 20 hours on previous visits to Iona and probably only had 4 or 5 very flleting glimpses of one, though heard them crexing dozens of times, they are very frustrating bird to try to see.

Magic Pub

We had taken the ferry from Mull to Iona and were walking along between this hotel and its garden wall to the iris beds between the abbey and the sea, a well known cormcrake hotspot, when I saw a corncrake run from the flower bed by the wall into the cover of the bank at the side of the garden.

Corncrake

I could not believe my eyes, though fleeting this was the best sighting I have ever had of this famously elusive species, it disappeared into the vegitation but continues to call very loudly. We noticed that the garden was empty but for one couple sitting at a table who told us they had been watching it on and off for an hour, sometimes right out in the open.

Corncrake

We sat on the wall and were treated to sightings, often a bit obscured, on and off for the rest of the afternoon, slowly word got around and other birders turned up, sometimes up to a dozen birders all getting sighting that they could not have expected.

Corncrake

It transpired that it had been around the garden for a while, the bar staff all knew the bird was around. It never showed completely in the open again while we were there, but it would often be visible, paticularly its head and neck making it's unmistakable call for a few minutes at a time.

Corncrake

This is a bird that is very difficult to see for many reasons it is very rare, only about 1100 pairs in the UK, it frequents remote little areas of the west coast of Scotland and Ireland, and even if you can locate one by knowing where they are and hearing it's call they hide so well you can be a few meters away and listening to it but still never see it.

Corncrake

They have been on the decline in the UK for many years now but seem to be on the increase on Iona and the Ross of Mull, every time we have visited Mull we visit Iona it is a beautiful island with an amazing atmosphere and of course to search for the holy grail of birders, the Corncrake.

Corncrake

It is now possible to see them in Norfolk, there has been a small reintroduction project that seems to be doing OK, but for me the challenge has long been to see one on Iona, and now at perhaps the last try I have managed it, perhaps making up for the failure of the light when we found the otter.

Corncrake

When you look at this plain bird it is surprising that anyone tries to see them at all they do look a bit like the Spitting Images chicken from the chicken song. Not quite like the quest for Resplendent Quetzal in Costa Rica or Cock of the Rock in Equador.

Greylag goose

The greylags in most of Britain are ferral birds but the greylags in the North West of Scotland are considered truly wild. The Mull birds appear to be doing very well just from general observation there seems to be more of them then we have ever seen there before.

Greylag goose

Unlike the classic TV views off massive winter goose flocks we tended only to see them in 1's and 2's around the loch edges.

Greylag goose

They were not particularly nervous, they would swim by lose to the waters edge or carry on feeding on the grass if we stopped to take photos.

Gannet

We booked a 4 hour "Whale watching" trip with Sea Life Mull leaving from Tobermory at 9.30 in the morning, I have been watching wildlife for long enough to know that with wildlife, sightings are never certain but I did feel that this tip may have been a bit over sold.

Gannet

On the trip we did see harbour porpoise, common dolphin and a minke whale and some interesting sea birds, amongst which were a few distant gannet, which we also often saw from the shore on Loch Na Keal and around Iona.

Common dolphin

The dolphin sighting was a good one, a pod of common dolphin approached the boat then swam around the bow for a while showing very well, then the swam of to another approaching boat and did the same for it.

Common dolphin

The minke whale sighting was brief and distant, but it was the first we have seen, and there were quite a lot of harbour porpoise, but sightings of them are always just a small round rolling hump with a fin on it.

Common dolphin

Common dolphins only arrive around Mull in May so we were very lucky to see them, we are far more familiar with Bottle nose dolphins that are resident in the Moray Firth as we have seen them a few times.

Guillemot

We saw lots of small groups of Guillemots on the trip, but they were generally quite timid.

Guillemot

This was a typical view swimming away as the boat approached, but they are nice to see as they are not easy to see generally from the land.

Guillemot

The boat came within sight of the Isle of Lunga, and island with a large nesting population of guillemots and other Auks, we also saw a few very distant puffins, always a draw for anyone who has not seen one.

Manx Sheerwaters

These were a better sighting for me, it's possible but not easy to see Manx Sheerwaters from the land but normally just distant fast flying views rafts like these are a bit special.

Manx sheerwaters

Though they do not nest on Mull they do nest on Rhum, Eigg and the Trishnish Isles all of which were visible on the trip so it is a good place to see them. Nearly 300K pairs nest around the UK but it is very rarely seen without a determined effort.

Song thrush

Southern birders will all say "I hardly ever see song thrushes any more" a bird that was common when I was a kid in London, I was very please to see so many of them on this holiday, particularly on Mull.

Pied wagtail

Another common bird around the Lochs, but not unusual enough to spend the time trying to get a shot where they stand still

Ring plover

These nest arond Loch Na Keal, there are only about 5.5K pairs nesting in the UK, we never saw anything other than lone birds but we saw them every day around the loch. They would not come near a person but run around a parked car with peiple inside quite happily.

Rring plover

They are often easy to overlook on a shore line with other waders, but here they would come within a few meters of the car with only wheatears as a distraction.

Ring plover

Like wheatears they move by running a bit then freezing before running again making taking photos a pleasure.

Medow Pipit

Another bird generally common arond the locks though never in big numbers.

Medow pipit

A bird that I probably usually ignore, but whilst waiting for wheatears or plovers to approach the car it seemed a shame to ignore them.

Meadow pipit

Though the loch side attracts lot of camper vans and cars, it is so big that the birds can still live a generally undisturbed life and hopefully bring up multiple broods.

Dipper

Mull is said to be a good place to find dippers, but for the first few days we had no luck, we have often seen them below a water fall just past Ulva Ferry, but this time we drew a blank as with an old river bridge at Knock.

Dipper

Eventually on our last full day we found one under a road bridge where the River Aros goes under the Tobermory Road near Salen, it was quite mobile and generally hard to photograph because of the geography.

Dipper

Looking down from above on a bridge does not usually give good results.

Dipper

It ws a shame we did not find it earlier on the trip as it was less than half a mile from our cottage.

Orange tip

Orange tips were well within there flight period, and much more numerous than they had been in Aylesbury, but still as flighty as usual.

Orange tip

They were particularly common on the sunny bank where the Corncrake was altrntely hiding and showing, but it would not have been a popular move to approach the bank too closely.

Heron

When hanging around the waters edge waiting for something to show up a heron is always a useful distraction, even if they are not doing much themselves.

Heron

Not common on the trip but there were a few around Loch Na Keal.

Heron

This is a bird that always impresses none birders, they look so impressive, but they are so obvious when they are around they are not often high on a birders list of birds they want to see.

Oystercatcher

We tend to vist 2 areas of Scotland, the Cairngorms around the Boat of Garten and the west Highlands, we usually visit in spring when we always see loads of oystercatchesrs

Oystercatcher

They were by far the most common wader of the trip, particularly common around Loch Na Keal.

Oystercatcher

Their piping call was the soundtrack to the endless otter searching

Pearl bordered frittillary

The big failure of the trip was not seeing chequered skippers at Glasdrum Wood near Oban, we missed them a few years ago because we were too late, this time we missed them because they had not emerged yet even though we were within the time they would be expected to be seen.

Pearl bordered frittillary

While looking for the skippers we did find a few of this rare frittillary, something we don't see often.

Pearl bordered frittillary

They went some way but not all the way towards making up for the missing skipper.

Black Guillemot

We have two good reasons for visiting Oban, catching a Ferry to Mull and watching the breeding colony of Black Guillemots, they are both good looking and interesting to watch.

Black guillemot

The big old hotel we stayed in for a couple of nights was quite expensive and truly horrible, but it's big saving grace was that it wes almost opposite the well known nesting site for these splendid auks.

Black guillemot

The birds are well known to nest in the drain pipes exiting the harbour wall almost opposite the Corran Hall and car park, they have beennesting here for many years and are well known by birders and locals alike.

Black guillemot

The birds are not obvious all of the time, the state of the tide and the time of day seem to make the birds come and go.

Black guillemot

We found that a good time to see them was early in the morning, when the esplanade was still quiet except for a few joggers.

Black guillemot

We saw odd birds in Mallaig and Fort William, but not at all possibe to take photos off, here in Oban people bend down and take photos of them with their phone, sometimes the birds even stand on the pavement.

Black guillemot

About 19K pairs breed in the UK, all around the north and west coast of Scotland or Ireland, they are beautiful and entertaining and could rival the Puffin in Auk popularity if they got a bit more publicity.

Black guillemot

The blood red beak and inner mouth, and the frantic little feet draw the eye and make a little black and white look special.

Hooded crow

Another handsome bird, this takes the place of the carrion crow in the west of Scotland. The best sightings we had of them on the holiday were in Oban particularly near the Tysties (black guillemots)

Hooded crow

Although we saw them every day on Mull they were never common, they were usually seen around the Loch edge.

Hooded crow

On Mull they were very cautious, almost impossible to take photos of, but the Oban birds walk on the beach and even on the pavements and will approach people very closely.

hooded crow 102.jpg

There are about 1 million pairs of carrion crows in the UK but only 180K Hoodies, as you move south and east in Scotland the hoodies fade out and the carrions take over. At one time they were both considerd the same species as they do interbreed.

Red breasted merganser

On our last evening in Oban we went down to have a look at the tysties and noticed a pair of Mergansers swimming in the harbour, the female swam off away from the edge but the male swam towards a little pier and passed by close to the end where I was standing.

Red breasted merganser

Somebody we met while watching them told us that earlier in the day they had been close into the shore in the inner harbour,

Red breasted merganser

I find that this species is always wary and always a bit difficult to get anywhere near.

Swallows

Swallows were seen most places there was water, but never in huge numbers.

Swallow

This was one of a group nesting under the pivoting road bridge at Neptunes starcase near Fort William

Swallow

This was one of the last photos of the holiday taken at Loch Lomond where we stopped for refreshments on the way home.