by David Gibbons

Day 1
6am. joining the A47 at Longwater – 347 miles to our overnight stop at Falkirk. A couple of coffee breaks on the way, Kestrels and Buzzards helped to break up the journey. 2pm. arrival , joined by 3 other members so dinner, for 7 , later at the nearby restaurant. We needed a translator at one point to assist in a language clash between a Falkirk-Scottish and a Mid-Norfolk dialect.
Day 2
7am start to Oban, one car found a café for breakfast the other found a Red Kite site at Argety , one Kite was clearly seen from the hide which was on private land. We met the farmer who gave us the history of the site and his views on conservation and education.

Next stop Oban, a spot of breakfast, coffee and pastries in a café then we discovered fresh crab and smoked salmon sandwiches to die for from the “hut” on the quayside.  The second car went in search of Tesco for supplies.

11.55 am ferry to Oban, 45 minutes to Craignure , Black Guillemots in the harbour and as we departed an accordion started up, on the top deck, with “Auld Lang Syne” and other Scottish tunes, a couple of Irish tunes, including “Danny Boy” and for some reason “ Le Marseillaise”, still along with sea watching the journey quickly passed. Guillemots, Shags, Common Terns, Lesser Black-backed gulls to name a few were seen.  A 6 mile drive to the hotel and 2pm. check-in, the hotel overlooking the bay at Salen and in between the hotel garden and the shore was the Glenforsa airstrip.

A well needed beer in the garden and we saw Hooded Crow, Song Thrush, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. On a nest in a hole in the trunk of a tree by the car park was a Spotted Flycatcher.
The evening took us to Tobermoray via a stop at Salen Bay where we saw Heron, Shag, and Common Sandpiper, now steady rain in Tobermoray. A restaurant opened early to protect us from the rain and grills and fish and chips kept us occupied for a while. After dinner we walked to the ferry terminal to appreciate the multi-coloured buildings along the harbour.

On the way back to the hotel a couple of stops at viewpoints only revealed a rain-soddened Buzzard perched on a branch.

Day 3
Several members up early in ones and twos, first checking the Spotted Flycatcher , now both birds on the nest, crossing the grass airstrip, in front of the hotel, to walk along the shore of Salen Bay in the Sound of Mull. Dunlin, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, Eider, Greylag and Canada Goose, Rock Pipit along with Hirundelles swooping low over the airstrip, and a solitary Buzzard in a pine tree.

Following breakfast we went north via Tobermoray to meet our guides from the RSPB and Forestry Commission at the head of Loch Frisa. Blue sky and sun today, immediately we witnessed a Kestrel “mugging” a Short-eared Owl for its prey, quickly followed by a passing Hen Harrier and Ravens. Setting off in convoy along the 8 mile track stopping to look for Skye and Frisa, the celebrity pair of White-Tailed Eagles, no luck here today though, Buzzards, Red-Breasted Merganser, Common Redpoll, Great-Spotted Woodpecker have to suffice. In the Eagle hide we had a Whooper Swan, who had decided to stay for the summer, Heron, Hooded Crow, Curlew along with Finches and Siskins on the feeders.

Once escorted off the track at the southern end of the Loch it was back into Salen for the Spar shop, bakery and Post Office for lunch items and postcards.

Heading west to Loch Na Keal, and taking its northern shore we pulled off the road for a brew up and lunch, scopes set we started to scan and soon came across a tagged White-Tailed Eagle in a tree, super views and then it took to flight and majestically cruised over the Loch and was soon replaced by another. Our scopes soon attracted the attention of other tourists along these single tracked roads including a group of Dutch and a couple of bikers. Thinking luck was on our side we decided to continue along the southern shore for Golden Eagle to sites which we had information on. There were only a few places where our 3 cars could park off the road but at one of the many passing places we came across a very rare event “ a white van” giving way!! On the Loch we only managed a Great Northern Diver and a Peregrine.

Back in Salen at the Salen Hotel, where one of our group was staying, a separate room was provided for us and local ale and venison sausages went down very well. Following dinner Plans A and B were discussed for tomorrow, depending on the weather, rain or no rain. Plan A – other known sites for Golden Eagle.

Day 4.
Wet and windy, a few of us made the early morning shore watch, the Spotted Flycatcher still on the nest, breakfast and off to the Spar shop in Craignure for our lunch items then to Glen More for Golden Eagle, Ben More the highest point on the island and classified as a “Munro”, it was difficult to find off-road parking for 3 cars here but we found 3 spots where we could. Still raining, damp and gloomy and after a couple of hours scanning the valley with no success, a few brews to warm us up but things where not looking good and our enthusiasm was falling ,even more so as we got no help from a guided Wildlife Tour who had indicated they had just seen an eagle, so they were nearby, some detective work found a discarded apple core in one of the parking spots we had used but our scanning revealed nothing.

So we drove towards Pennyghael to other sites, still raining, nowhere open for afternoon tea and cake, no eagle, then back to Lochbuie, 8 miles down a narrower track, a very pretty valley but still no eagle but plenty of Buzzards and two Gannets in the distance. Plan A hadn’t worked!!
Back to Craignure where 2 members of the group were to return as foot passengers on the ferry back to Oban to get their car and drive to Hartlepool for the White-Breasted Robin – we hoped they would have better luck than we had today.

So the Craignure Inn seemed to be the venue for dinner.

Day 5.
A flat tyre on one of the cars required some attention and the local garage would repair it during the day, so back to Glen More!! Dry and warmer with the sun trying to break through our expectations were high again. Back to the “apple core” spot and with the 3 cars safely off the road another period of scanning and brew-ups started. A Cuckoo was heard, Hooded Crows, Meadow Pipits and Ravens, then one of the group who had walked down the road waved his walking stick in the air, he had seen a Golden Eagle, at last, could we all see it? A few minutes passed, had he dreamt it? Then it made a short flight back to the nest, ripped apart its prey and took off again. Now knowing where the nest was, scopes were fixed and we were rewarded with clear views of a fluffy white chick, so double success!

Now off to the north of the island, stopping for lunch at Loch Na Keal, saw White-tailed Eagle again, almost in the same tree. It took off and flew across the loch also saw Red-Breasted Merganser, Shelduck and Black Guillemot. Off again on a spectacular windy and hilly journey to Calgary Bay, the beach here looked fantastic especially as the sun was out and the sky blue. Calliach Point was our destination for sea watching, we found it at the second attempt, our reward was Gannet, Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, Rock Pipit, Kittiwake, Manx Shearwater, Great Skua and Fulmar.

Also in view, in front of us, was a local crab boat winching in its pots.

The drive back to Salen was via Dervaig, our colleagues were back from their trip to Hartlepool where they had seen the White-Breasted Robin at 5am. The tyre was also fixed so off to Tobermory for dinner.

Day 6
A few hardy souls met on the shore of Salen Bay before breakfast, then on the road to Fionnphort stopping briefly in Glen More at the Golden Eagle nest sight so our 2 colleagues, who were not with us yesterday, could see the Golden Eagle, we saw the female take a short flight from the nest to a perch on the ridge above where she was silhouetted against the blue sky, whilst her mate flew from the nest way down the valley.

A few minutes delay on the way as re-surfacing was taking place on the single track. We parked up in Fionnphort , a couple of us saw a Merlin, and we boarded the ferry to Iona, this took about 5 minutes, coffee and pastries in the café and the first stop was the field behind the Fire Station, one of the known spots for corncrake, marshy Yellow Iris habitat.

No luck, so moving on making steady progress along the track and across the island to the beach on the far side (the island is about 3 miles by 1 mile). Linnets, Meadow Pipits, Shags, Eider, Kittiwake, Hooded Crow, Rock Doves, Gannets, Jackdaw and Rooks, (these two species are not found on Mull!). Retracing our steps back to the cross-road, turning left down the track through a farm yard before reaching the remains of a Nunnery. Corncrake territory again, this field also backs on to the Fire Station, we continued up to the Abbey, passing the gardens of a hotel, another known site. We took lunch on some picnic tables across from the Abbey wall and almost immediately a cry went up as we saw a Corncrake hop on the wall, walk across the Abbey lawn and disappear into the longer grass – success!

We lingered a while in the Abbey gardens and also by the Nunnery, where we sat on a low wall, and at the Fire Station on the way back hearing Corncrakes but no more sightings. The 6pm ferry back to Fionnphort via Bunessan Bay where we stopped for dinner in the Argyll Arms overlooking the bay. Leaving we soon came to a sudden stop as we witnessed Shortnosed Bullnose Dolphins in Loch Scridain, a brief stop at Pennyghael looking for otter, no luck, back in Glen More we saw two Cuckoos, now nearing 10 pm, the sun still not set, and the reflections in the Lochs threw up blues and pinks. On again we met two deer in the road and we glimpsed two more wading in a Loch, we were soon back at the hotel where the Spotted Flycatcher was still on her eggs.

Day 7
Only three of us on the Loch shore this morning and after breakfast it was a search for woodland birds. First stop was on the road to Grasspoint but little to see, so we moved to the road on the way to Lochbuie and almost immediately we witnessed a Buzzard “buzz” a Golden Eagle, the Eagle turned upside down under the Buzzard, showed its talons and the Buzzard flew off having taken the hint.

Wood Warblers were calling and everyone got a good sighting, Willow warbler and Whitethroat were also seen.

After lunch to Fishnish Bay, where another ferry runs to Lochaline on the mainland, some of us enjoyed Orkney ice-cream from the café, we saw a few Arctic Terns but in the wood on the edge of the Loch we had good views of Common Redpoll.

Moving on to Aros Bridge, past Salen, looking for Dipper, again no luck but we did get Blackcap.

Our final drive was up to Dervaig, scanning as we went, stopping in the Forestry Commission car park at the north end of Loch Frisa.  Cuckoo seen but most interest was watching and photographing Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Beautiful Demoiselle, Dark Green Fritillary and Green Hairstreak. As we left we came across a Hen Harrier, then back to Salen via Tobermory. Dinner at the Salen Hotel, where we updated our records for Mull and Iona and we had a total of 102 species.

Day 8
Check out after breakfast, 3pm ferry from Craignure, back to Oban and then an overnight stay in Kilmarnock.