Mull trip episode 6 - alien invaders, owls and an absence of adders

After the scorching, Mediterranean-style sunshine of our trip to the Treshnish Isles, the weather here on Mull has taken quite a turn for the worse, with grey cloud, wind & some rain. However, it hasn't stopped us getting out & about - one of the great things about Mull is that you can often see showers coming from miles away over hills and take some evasive action! 

We've seen quite a bit more of the local Red Deer over the last few days than in our first week. Presumably, the freshening winds have kept the midges down enough to tempt them down from the heights for a bit of loch-side grazing. We've mainly seen bachelor groups of stags up close, although we have had a few distant views of groups of does with one or two very young fawns. It's interesting to note that most of the stags antlers have still got a fair amount of re-growth to do; normally we'd expect to see the majority with fully-formed antlers by the end of June, albeit velvet-covered. Talking to Paul, the Estate Manager here at Pennyghael, we learned that many things are a bit behind in their seasonal routines this year - probably down to very hard conditions earlier in the year. Paul also sadly debunked our putative feral goats sighting from last week; apparently he's got a new small herd of Soay Sheep, which have gone a little bit more free-range than anticipated! 

In previous years, I've had good luck in finding adders basking, however this time I've failed to find any at all. During the last week or so, it's really been too hot for them to be out sunning themselves during the day, but even very early morning visits to some of their usual basking sites has failed to produce a sighting. Speaking to one of the local wildlife guides, he confirmed that they have been harder to find this year, again the hard winter & bad spring weather may have had some impact? However, one bonus of being up so early was that I got some amazing views of Loch Scridain, looking as calm as a mirror in the soft morning sunlight.

Ben More in the background

Iona in the middle distance

Yesterday afternoon, we spent a couple of hours around Fidden, particularly the small tidal inlets, which host a good range of breeding waders, such as Lapwings, Oystercatcher, Spotted Redshanks, Redshanks, Greenshanks, Sandpiper and Sanderlings - as well as Eider Ducks, Shell Duck and Greylag Geese. As the tide was right out during our visit, we got some good views of chicks of several species, out feeding on the rich mud with their parents. We also had a large flock of Linnets, Pied Wagtails, Skylark and Meadow Pippits.

Artic Turn

Ringed Plover

I was particularly pleased when Louise spotted a stunning male Golden Plover on the far side of the inlet. While we've seen these birds before in good numbers on migration during some of trips to Spain, they've always been in eclipse, so this is the first decent look we've had at one in it's striking full breeding plumage. 

Golden Plover

I was also chuffed to finally get some decent views of Snipe, including a couple posting nicely. There seem to be good numbers of them in the iris beds on the marsh ground around the inlet, judging by the calls we've heard, but this year they have been reluctant to show in the open until yesterday. Not sure if they prefer the overcast weather, or if it's just chance., but there were certainly a good few of them out and about yesterday.

The surprise sighting of the day was an American Mink, which I spotted bringing down a large adult rabbit buck in the field across the road from the bay. We then watched it drag it's prey (which was considerably bulkier than it) over 100 metres into a culvert under the road.  Until this year, I hadn't realized that Mink are present and a real problem on Mull. So, while they are an impressive animal in their own right, it's not good to encounter one right next to a breeding site for a number of ground-nesting waders, which are already under pressure from many other factors. I've reported the sighting to the locals, so hopefully they'll be able to take action to curb the problem.

Finally, I also had a closer encounter with one of the local Tawny Owls - probably not the same one that sits outside our window at night though!