On Monday we provided two Mull Nature Explorer tours, meeting the guests in Tobermory. It appeared to be a very settled high pressure spell for the week ahead and highs of 18 degrees, so the short and shades were out along with the sun lotion! Ewan and group had great views of a golden eagle actively hunting in the heather! It may have been a field vole but even a cuckoo, which was nearby the area! An adult white-tailed eagle was also seen soaring to the east. Whimbrels were

A very welcome settled high pressure spell has arrived on Mull and looks to be carrying on into next week as well. Beautiful sunshine with the songbirds in full voice! On Monday Theo provided tours for guests from the cruise liner Majestic Line. They managed to see a Golden Eagle chasing a Cuckoo! Also, a WT Eagle v close to Tobermory as well! Mum and cub Otter were also seen during the trip, all bathed in beautiful Hebridean sunrise. Jack had a Mull Nature Explorer with eigh

Klay and Ewan ran two 3-hour nature youth sessions for children on Friday. In the morning we were joined by 6 children and 2 parents for a walk around Aros park to check the local heronry and even find some egg shells and a heron pellet! The birds were in good song and we listened to them with our parabolic microphone, giving us super hearing! To finish with we made a couple of birds nest using sticks, mosses and mud! The afternoon session further south on the isalnd was quit

Ewan checked a few Golden Eagle territories on Friday, and it's at this time of the year that it is with negative emotions to see both adult birds on the wing for a prolonged period of time. Pictured is the female bird and the male is just of frame, indicating a failed breeding attempt for this pair for the fourth time in five years sadly. On Thursday Klay had two half day private tours and one of the highlights was seeing golden eagles mating! Another sighting of note was 7

Not as much rain as originally forcast this week but still slightly unsettled and a good wind blowing and gusting! It was warm on Tuesday, reaching 15 degrees, compared with the 2 degrees we got only a few days earlier! Klay had a tour on Tuesday and managed to get some moderate views of both eagle species and hen harriers. The eagles are sitting tight on their goose sized eggs right now so a bit tricker to spot at this critical time. Common Sandpiper on the shoreline of Loch

Theo and Klay both had Mull Nature Explorers today, meeting the guests in Tobermory. It was quite a cold wind but mainly dry, which was a welcome change! WT Eagles were showing well on both tours and also views of Golden Eagles in different capacities. One of the highlights was this stunning male Merlin pictured! This is the ‘April spike’ with Merlins passing through the island on their way to more northern breeding grounds. Otters were seen on both tours, actively feeding in

Rain hammering down at first light and a tricky forecast so we provided a shorter 4 hour tour today. The guests were from Newcastle and Vancouver as we headed out to explore this magical island! We got onto two WT Eagles at our first stop, showing strong pair bonding with some close interactions. We then focussed on the coast and saw GN Divers, Slavonian Grebes and RB Mergansers. Further north we had a stunning male Hen Harrier before a superb overhead WT Eagles view! Harbour

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 2️⃣ 4️⃣ A very special bird that inhabits Mull rainforests, the Wood Warbler, a migrant from sub-Saharan Africa, this 'Lemon & Lime delight' is an absolute joy to see and hear in the summer months 🥰 Sound on and listen to that song 🎶

🎄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 2️⃣ 0️⃣ BTO WeBS counts today (species of note) - Little Egret on Loch Cuin along with 3 Snipe and 7 Greenshank. Salen Bay - Kingfisher (my first for the bay) and 4 Bar-tailed Godwits. Killiechronan - 1st winter Rook, 4 BT Godwits. Laggan bay - 30 Turnstones and 1 BT Godwit. Some good WeBS sites available to survey around Mull, take a look here - https://app.bto.org/websonline/sites/vacant/vacant-sites.jsp#lon=-6.1669025&lat=56.4

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 1️⃣ 9️⃣ A Mull Cuckoo and Meadow Pipit... Since 1995, the number of Cuckoos has decreased by over 30%. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) have been satellite tagging the birds since 2011 in the aim to discover more vial information about the species and what may be causing big declines. Follow the latest updates from the tagged birds, as they all settle in their 'wintering grounds' in the Congo basin...

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 1️⃣ 7️⃣ After today's news from south of the border pointing heavily towards atrocious wildlife crimes, there is only one species to showcase today...the majestic White-tailed Eagle! See the link if unaware of the news - https://www.roydennis.org/

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 1️⃣ 3️⃣ A Northern Gannet in hunting mode off the coast of Mull.

🎄The Nature of Mull - Advent Calendar Day 1️⃣ 2️⃣ A rasping Corncrake on the Isle of Iona!

🎄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 6️⃣ An auroral solar storm visible from the north of Mull! The island is blessed with some of the darkest skies in the whole of Europe! I am planning to run a Mull Stargazing Evening around the 14th December (weather permitting) to enjoy the spectacular Geminid meteor shower (120 meteors per hour at its peak)...stay tuned for more updates!