🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 2️⃣ 1️⃣  One of the wildlife highlights of this year was undoubtedly the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater seen on the Isle of Iona in June! Only 12 accepted records in Britain! 📷 Alan Lewis (via eBird)

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 2️⃣ 3️⃣  A Short-eared Owl on Mull this summer. With some promising signs in the Spring, it yet again proved to be a poor season for this species on the Isle, with adults dispersing breeding areas early and very few fledglings recorded in July/August.

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 1️⃣1️⃣  Slow Worms! - These beautiful and gentle 'legless lizards' are a joy to see around the island. One of my first 'pets' was a rescued SW called Smiggie (named after my dads good mate). We helped it recover before releasing him back into the wilds.  I helped rescue this SW from a nearby strimmer and sadly thousands of SWs will get killed by these destructive and noisy machines every year on Mull. Leaving grassland to grow longer

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 🔟  The ducks are looking their dapper best during the winter months on Mull, and one of my favourite seasonal spectacles on the island is without a shadow of a doubt...displaying Red-breasted Mergansers! The drakes are so graceful and elegant as they perform to the females, almost like they are showcasing a bow or a curtsy.  If they were on 'Strictly' on a Saturday night, how many points would they be getting!?

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 0️⃣ 8️⃣  Carrion is an essential food source for eagles in the winter months to get them in a suitable condition for breeding efforts towards the end of the season.  🎥 Trail Cam, Golden Eagle

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 0️⃣ 7️⃣  A winter time-lapse of Gribun cliffs...

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 0️⃣ 4️⃣  The amazing carnivorous plant Great Sundew (drosera anglica) enveloping another victim in the peat bogs of Mull!

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 0️⃣ 3️⃣  Making the adder count! These sensational snakes do relatively okay on parts of Mull, but sadly are a 'vanishing viper' on large areas of the mainland in recent decades. These animals often get demonised due to being a venomous snake, but did you know that there has only been one human death by an adder bite since the 1970s in the UK. In that same time, human-based actions have caused the decline of 50% of all the wild bioma

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 0️⃣2️⃣ A male Ptarmigan feeding on heather shoots on the Isle of Mull. As the climate has got increasingly warmer and wetter over the last few decades, these snow grouse have struggled to survive in mainly snowless landscapes on the island's high peaks. This species is hanging on by a claw here on Mull but showing incredible signs of survival to still be spotted occasionally on the island. Who else has seen Ptarmigan on Mull?

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 0️⃣1️⃣  A Long-eared Owl that had recently dispersed from its nest on Mull. This was one of three owlets to fledge from an old Hooded Crow's nest in a stand of larch. This secretive and under recorded owl species doesn't build its own nest and instead has a huge preference for using old corvids nest for their own breeding attempts so next time you see a Hooded Crow or a Raven on Mull, give these clever corvids a nod of approval for b

Quite overcast and grey in the morning with a fresh northerly wind, very appropriate for the first winter day tour since March! Red throated diver and Harbour seals were a nice start before a little egret, buzzards and kestrels. A few attempts for the other raptor species to no avail before five species together at our lunch stop. Two Hen Harriers and both flavours of eagles on the distant skylines. At our toilet stop we had a spectacular otter encounter as we all got in a re

Weather: Moderate breeze picking up through the day with heavy cloud mostly The days sightings included lots of Red Deer, a ringtail Hen Harrier and 2 male Hen Harrier, one of which gave great views quartering the flat grassland not far away, 3 sightings of sadly distant Golden Eagles, who despite the breeze didn't want to play ball, some sizeable flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare, Great-Northern Divers in the sea lochs and lots of Buzzards enjoying the breeze. The star sightin

Weather: Light breeze and mostly overcast with occasional light rain. Both groups started with the local pair of White-tailed Eagles before watching a pod of Common Dolphins unusually high up a sea loch, an indicator of the huge amount of food that's around for the marine mammals lately. A Golden Eagle was perched in dead tree on the hillside and 2 Kestrels over the ridge above. We then watched a pair of adult WTE's on an offshore island before an Otter and her tiny cub appea

Bright spells and calm winds made for perfect conditions to explore Mull’s coast today before the cloud arrived in the afternoon. Our morning began at a sea loch where two magnificent White-tailed Eagles perched in the trees before lifting off to hunt across the water. Behind us, a solitary Otter quietly fished in the bay, surfacing close to shore and offering beautiful views. The excitement grew as a Golden Eagle appeared on a nearby hillside, slowly circling higher into the

Bright skies and calm air made for ideal walking conditions on Mull today. A quick stop on our way to the coast brought an early treat — a distant Otter feeding in the Sound, watched over by two White-tailed Eagles perched out on a rocky reef. We began our coastal walk with a lovely mix of waders and a Red-throated Diver just offshore. The calm conditions made spotting easy, and before long, Harbour Porpoise and Harbour Seals appeared, moving gracefully through the still wate

Light clouds and a gentle breeze set the perfect scene for another incredible day exploring Mull’s wild coastlines. We began at a sea loch where an Otter mum and her two cubs rolled playfully through the seaweed — a fantastic start to the morning. Further out on the loch, two Slavonian Grebes and several Great Northern Divers dived in the calm water. Before long, our first eagle appeared — a magnificent White-tailed Eagle perched at low tide, keeping watch not far from yet an

Mull was alive with activity today after Storm Amy. As we set off from Tobermory, a male Sparrowhawk gave us a brilliant start, darting...

Weather: a rainy and overcast day with occasional bright spells and a light breeze. Theo's 4hr private tour: On our morning out we had...

Weather: Rainy morning but eventually cleared into light cloud but always a chilly autumn day. Highlights of both tours today starting...

Weather: Bright and breezy sunny day with little cloud. Klay's Wilderness tour: Bright skies set the scene for a fantastic day on foot....