Minke Whales off Mull

Mull is a great place to see wildlife and on our tour this year we saw two to three Minke Whales. These cetaceans are real show stoppers.

 

 

Booted Eagle and Slender Billed Gull

Falcon Cottage did it again on Bank Holiday Monday.

Distracted from the laptop I kept seeing messages regarding a Booted Eagle over Norwich then North Walsham and Hickling. Given it was probably the same bird that was in Kent the previous day the thought crossed my mind it was heading north and that it was worth a punt to stand outside and watch the southern horizon.

Andrew from the village had the same thought and joined me. It was nice to have a little conversation. We had only just finished pleasantries when I noticed two distant Buzzards both up in the air. Not unusual but previous experience tells me that the local Buzzards get up when large raptors pass through their territory. I panned right a little and there heading north was a large raptor. It was still distant and the heat haze was furring-up detail but it so obviously wasn’t a Buzzard; lots of laboured flight and gliding. Andrew was onto it immediately.

It headed north and was greeted by two corvids obviously so much smaller. The crows pushed the raptor closer to us and lower. I could now see white underwing coverts and black primaries and secondaries. This had to be the Booted Eagle … surely. It went behind trees and hedgerows on strangely bowed wings – like a kite. I never saw the ‘headlights’ typical of this species or the tail pattern. Despite our reorientation to the north of Falcon Cottage to have a clearer view of the west horizon we didn’t see it again. Was this to be the 16^th species of raptor seen from the Cottage?

These things can be so frustrating.

Harking back to the 15^th May. We were travelling back from Mull and had stopped at Leighton Moss in Lancashire; a great reserve. Sat in the hide I was searching for a Little Gull that had been reported hawking over the main lagoon the previous day. There are a lot of Black headed Gulls around this year. I caught sight of a gull flying high over the hide and away from us to the north east. It had pink underparts. Now this is not unusual in Black headed gulls but for the life of me I couldn’t see a black head. I couldn’t even see a residual spot. It took me a moment as it flew away and out of view but could this have been a Slender billed Gull? Laughable I know given the last record I believe was in the 90’s (correct me if I’m wrong here) but I thought it may have been.

I put a note in the reserve log to say I had seen a ‘possible’ and joked to my guests that if a Slender billed Gull turned up on the east coast  somewhere (the direction it was heading) maybe I was right. Was it coincidence that one turned up in Titchwell in Norfolk this bank holiday Monday 11 days later? – another that got away.

So no photographs of raptors or gulls – no time to take either. However here’s a pristine Broad bodied Chaser that had newly emerged at Leighton Moss – why a photograph of a dragonfly? – principally because it was close and it sat bloody still!

 

Haring into the Vehicle

On the Mull Tour earlier in May of this year we were watching a family of Stonechats from the vehicle when an interloper flew in through one of the windows.

This was one of a couple of Green Hairstreak Butterflies we saw during our time on Mull. I thought it looked a little different to the ones I’ve seen in Norfolk, perhaps a little browner and a little cleaner cut which begged the question does Mull harbour a different subspecies? Having referred the matter to Greg my local Lepidopterist, who’s knowledge of these things far exceeds my own, a subspecies on Mull is not known.

A bird in the hand

Under the beech trees in the darkness of the undergrowth we managed to find a couple of dozen spikes of Birds Nest Orchids earlier this week. They aren’t the most photogenic of the orchids it has to be said… but still nice to see.

Hawking Hummers

There are some wonderful insects on the wing at the moment. We watched Broad bordered Bee Hawkmoths this week collecting nectar from Red Campion. They are not common although I have a feeling they may be overlooked in a few places. Hovering in front of the flowers they are our summer equivalent of hummingbirds.

 

Curiosity

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Common Dolphins are incredibly inquisitive creatures.

We were out between Mull and the Cairns of Coll last week on the birding tour of Mull. We had already seen one or two large rafts of Manx Shearwaters and a small northbound party of Pomarine Skuas when the distant splashes of a school of dolphins were seen.

The skipper played it cool and rather than up the revs and encourage the dolphins to join us bow riding he maintained revs and relied upon their natural curiosity to approach us. His judgement was spot on. We ended up amid around 150 Common Dolphins. Fantastic.

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A Bowl of Corncrakes

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Anyone who has tried to see a Corncrake will know just how secretive they can be; they are the models of stealth. You are looking where they appear to be calling from and a head pops up out of the vegetation yards away. Getting someone on it before it disappears is itself an art as descriptions of yellow flowers vie with those of red tipped leaf for the best direction indicators. Invariable the crake moves on before it’s seen well.

Not so on the Birders Tour to Mull last week; we were stood amidst an island of calling Corncrakes. As we watched a wonderful spring meadow respectfully from a distance the other side of a wall at one of the RSPB recommended viewing locations we were somewhat taken aback as this little chap made his way across the grass between sheep and geese … right out in the open.

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Sylvia Borin

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On several tours recently we have come across singing Garden Warblers. Someone asked me why they are so scarce. Well the truth is I don’t think they are. The song is very similar to Blackcap and I’m sure many get ‘written off’ as that species. In addition it is a rather crepuscular species not prone to sitting out much. So when it stops singing in a month or so it does become a little more difficult to find. In fact later in the season it’s one of those birds that tends to find you. Not known for it’s bright colours or features; it’s a warbler identified by the fact it has nothing to distinguish it. Cracking little singer though!

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Common or Harbour

The Americans call them Harbour Seals. We call them Common. Same species different race. On a photographic tour the other week we found this little chap on the beach. He came towards us as though he wanted his photo taken.

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Cuddly

Just how warm can it be under there?

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