I was in the conservatory bright and early at 6am, it was still dark but the sounds of the Curlew were just magical. As the light increased it was so good to see that it was dry, this was the first day of our holiday that has had a dry start.
It didn't take too long for the small birds to start feeding on the seed Jan had scattered on the front wall, the first visitor was a Robin, quickly followed by Blackbirds, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Dunnock, House Sparrows, Chaffinch and two new visitors, a lone Starling and some Yellowhammers. There are a couple of Collared Doves who have looked down on the seed but not visited the wall yet. One bird I haven't seen so far today is the Coal Tits. We also had a Buzzard about 50 metres away sitting on top of a telegraph pole overseeing things. The first Collared Dove has just visited the wall but still no Coal Tits.
On the far bank of the Bay I can see 6 Red Deer Hinds grazing on the ridge. The Coal Tit has just turned up. The weather forecast for the next two days is good so hopefully we'll see an Eagle or two on the wing but we'll see.
Just as we finished breakfast an 11 point Red Deer Stag trotted past the cottage on the Loch side it was no more than 30 metres from us. It came out onto the road and into someone's garden.
This morning there has been a small murmuration of Starlings (30-50 birds) going on in front of the cottage. Jan counted the birds on the front wall and there has been up to 30 at any one time and I counted 7 Yellowhammers together on the wall.
Still in the conservatory at 10.13am, I've just spotted a Golden Eagle riding the thermals over towards Loch Spelve.
Just before I had my shower, Jan noticed a small group of Redwings (collective name - a crowd) in the back garden but they were gone by the time she had her camera ready.
We decided to retrace some of our steps from yesterday, so we made our way back to Loch Spelve but instead of turning off to Croggen we continued onwards to Loch Buie. Not very far down the road to Loch Buie there is a sudden change in the environment. You first notice the buildings, although there are not many of them, they are grander and have a Victorian nature about them, you begin to think you are on the estate of a Country Laird and this is all part of a managed garden. Although the hills around the road maintain a wilderness feel about them, the roadside vegetation changes quite dramatically. Rhododendrens have taken over the roadside verges, some of them were still bearing flowers. Obviously someone had planted these plants as they are not natural to this country, they hail from the Himalayas and were much sought after by Victorian plant collectors and in some parts of the UK they have become a pest swamping out the natural vegetation and creating almost a desert for our natural fauna and flora.
As we were going down this road we came across four Pheasants which doubled the amount we've seen since being on Mull, which all gives it the flavour of being part of a country sporting estate. You drive past Loch Uisg which has a very different feel about it. I don't know the history about it but you get the feeling that this is a man made Loch almost like some grand garden pond, it looks as if it is very deep and certainly by the road there are no gentle banks it goes straight down to the depths of the Loch. As you pass by Loch Uisg the countryside changes again, it is more like managed farmland which once again gives you the feeling that you are on a managed estate. When you arrive at Loch Buie your breath is taken away because you are at the head of an enormous sea loch that is like a giant amphitheatre with giant sea cliffs forming a horseshoe shape around the loch with views out to sea towards the Islands of Colonsay, Jura and Islay. I should imagine that in the right seasons this would be a perfect place to watch out for Cetaceans (Whales and Dolphins).
The road ends here but there are good reasons to linger here. The first the residence of some super tame Chaffinches. The guide book told us that they often land on car mirrors and beg for food. No sooner had we stopped and Jan had got out of the car to read the noticeboard, a female Chaffinch was on the car mirror looking for food and when Jan returned we both got videos of Chaffinches feeding from the other's hands. But just as soon as they started, they lost interest in us, perhaps our Sunflower seeds weren't to their liking, perhaps they were more used to the biscuit crumbs that the guide book had suggested. It was interesting to note that the Chaffinches we saw here all had a greenish back, I wonder if that has anything to do with the Rhodadendrons?
We saw two Red Breasted Mergansers feeding near the shoreline and there were plenty of Sea Birds riding the thermals further out into the Loch. There was something else of interest there as well The Old Post Office which was like a glorified garden shed. Jan went in to buy some ice cream but was surprised by what she found.
There was no one there but it was open. A sign in the shop said it was an honesty shop, take whatever you want and put the money in the box, also help yourself to tea and coffee. There was also another amusing notice on the door but unfortunately Jan didn't take any photos of these.
After our coffee we started to make our way back to the main road, we'd only gone a few hundred metres when we noticed some Geese in a large garden, we didn't know if they were pet Geese or wild Geese but they were Greenland White Fronted Geese, so I presume they were wild Geese availing themselves of the lush grass in the garden.
Not much further on and I saw 2 Fallow Deer in a field on one side of the road and then a Stonechat on the other side of the road, we also saw some Redwings here.
As we drove back to Loch Spelve we saw several Buzzards, Herons and Hooded Crows. When we had got nearly to the Fish Farm we saw a very pretty small bird diving for what appeared to be shellfish. It was quite small a bit grebe like with a pointed beak. It was mainly white with some black markings and bright red legs. It was diving for long periods and appeared to be bringing up orange shellfish perhaps Scallops. I did get some short video clips of the bird but for the life of me I can't identify it. Perhaps it was an oddity blown in by the Westerly and South Westerly Gales. I'll have to work on that one.
Not very much further along we came across a brilliant double rainbow, in the clear air the colours were so vibrant and stunning and one of the ends of the rainbow appeared to end in the Loch. I'm afraid the photos don't do it justice.
We returned to the main road and decided to go to Grasspoint a secluded prominentary with some very steep and twisty roads. As we approached the point we saw another 2 Stonechats. It was quite windy near the end of the road and we could see that the water was very choppy. We decided to park for a little while in the turning point and as we sat there were some Herons and Hooded Crows trying to fly against the wind and then without any warning a White Tailed Eagle just effortlessly drifted in and landed in the field about 200 metres from us. It was an adult bird because it's tail was white.
The grass and the bracken were quite dense where it landed and we couldn't see any sign of it at all so we inched forward until we were about 100 metres from where we saw it land but we still couldn't see it. We wondered if it had landed on some carrion or was roosting in the bracken. We waited for a good 40 minutes hoping we would see it take off but there was no movement, so once again we inched forward until we were level with where it landed but we still couldn't see it. The light was now getting a bit dark to film anything so we decided to call it a day.
As we were returning to the main road we saw 4 groups of Red Deer numbering 26 in all, in each group there was one stag and the other were hinds. We stopped at one point to allow Jan to film a hovering Kestrel and I took a short clip of a Hooded Crow keenly watching the Kestrel.
We returned to the cottage at Lochdon, I was very pleased to get back because all day I felt as If I was drugged, I think the lack of sleep this week is catching up with me. When I'm at home and I don't sleep well, I know I can take it easy but I so much don't want to miss a thing that it is beginning to have an adverse effect on me; I didn't even feel very excited when we saw the White Tailed Eagle!
Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.
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