2012

15/05/2012

Another good day and a sea eagle straight off soaring on the west coast and every other bird in the air because it's the safest place to be at such a time until danger has passed. We wandered for some time on the same coast looking for an otter and eventually I saw him tail in the air on a biggish islet. From there we had teasing views of him fishing offshore and with whimbrels passing by. Off then for golden eagles and really exciting views of them, soaring, tumbling out of the air and landing for the sun to glint off them ang give us good views. I heard a rumour that one of them had killed a buzzard earlier that morning. A few short eared owls and then top views of male and female hen harriers. Always during the day we see curlews, eiders, wheatears, pipits, seals, red deer and things I can't remember !!

14/05/2012

A great day all round with Sheffield United just now winning their playoff game and going to Wembley !! On the trip today we had a beautiful sunshine and showers day which is of course the best weather for looking for wildlife. 5 minutes out of Craignure we had a male otter swimming and going on a small islet while a female and cub avoided him and eventually went on a similar islet and had a nap. Sea eagles at the nest, peregrine falcon and then a really close 3rd adult sea eagle [what was he doing there] carrying a greylag goose and landing in a tree being mobbed by crows and buzzards before he was off again with his meal. Rain was just coming and I felt a golden eagle might return to his mate and sure enough there he was high up and then plunging and swaying out of the sky and landing. More sea eagles feeding young and one flying toward us, great northern diver and finally big view of a male harrier carrying prey and passing it to his female, as a big shower passed. The best time !! By the way diabolical weather yesterday !!

12/05/2012

You know, like any guide in the wilds we forget lots of things that we see and I suppose I know that my people are mad keen to see golden eagles, sea eagles, otter, hen harrier and what you might call the big ones and I should remember the little ones too when I do this diary. For instance we were pretty high up the other day and saw a couple of snipe buzzing around and I watched them as they alighted behind us. I reversed to where I might see them knowing full well that snipe can be impossible to see even when close. But then I spotted this little tiger coloured 'thing' in thick grass 30ft away and sure enough when I focused my binos there was this beautifully coloured snipe with another one standing nearby and clearly thinking David can't see us. They are like a little woodcock which seems to have every shade of brown there can be in its plumage and brown is never done justice too in the bird books, have you noticed that? So even the little sightings can be enchanting as we found in that wild place.

12/05/2012

Well I have just had two pretty good wildlife trips. First day it was fine but got misty and wet but it was a lot better than the forecast and we saw plenty except golden eagles and otters but good views of short eared owls sitting and flying. Second day was a a bit better weather and so sea eagle sitting and flying, great northern divers, no otters again !!, two young sea eagles obviously in love and talon grappling on high while a jealous golden eagle came up and ushered them off his patch. Good hen harrier sightings that day but again brilliant views of short eared owls with one perching 30ft in front of us on a post and occasionally hopping down to get one of our plentifull short tailed voles and then hopping back up again to wink at everyone and look good. Terrific weather again today so lots of painting again for me here.

09/05/2012

Regularly we see this here. Where the BBC's computers are telling them that it is going to be driving wind and rain all day. Because it cannot work out that on easterly winds it just doesn't happen here because we are sheltered by the rest of Britain. Westerlies are another matter but we have had a sensational spell of weather and same again today as I have been out and painting the exterior again today hoping for rain on the landscape as the farmers are !! Two lots of people have changed tommorows trip to Friday based on these misleading forecasts but I see that the BBC are already backing down on their original rain all day thing. We are at the mercy of southern townies who cannot seem to face the idea that it is actually sunny somewhere else and has been for ages.

08/05/2012

Todays trip started sunny with a flat calm sea and then turned grey but just fine, by afternoon it was gloriously sunny again. We are still in really good weather here. I had a jolly load of punters today who gave me a round of loud applause when we finished the trip at Craignure, so it must have been good. Down to Grasspoint first then and the two non breeding sea eagles together on a headland perhaps consoling each other. A female otter and cub were just offshore as were a number of great northern divers waiting to go to Iceland. We also had a few porpoise futher out, pretty close sitting adult sea eagles, common sandpipers, stonechats, snipe, common seals, female hen harrier, sparrowhawk, young sea eagle in Glenmore along with a number of golden eagles, adult sea eagle flying, whinchat, eiders, male and female hen harriers. Highlight was probably the male hen harrier repeatedly racing around chasing ravens and buzzards of his patch.

07/05/2012

The forecast was spot on today with rain predicted by about 4pm and so I felt I should try and get the 'rain unfriendly' Sea and Golden Eagles early !! The porpoise on the way which of course like water, were a distraction but all enjoyed seeing them and then we got the Sea Eagles flying and sitting with another Sea Eagle above it along with a big and very high Golden Eagle which was from the territory across the sea and when we got over there we had massive views of both Golden Eagles landing flying and taking prey remains for the nest. Along the coast we eventually found a female otter with a small cub as they ambled along beneath Gribbun Cliffs locked in each others body. No sign of the Peregrines there though but more Sea Eagles. Whimbrels today common sandpipers, skylarks, seals, red deer, stonechats, lots of wheatears, divers in summer plumage, black guillemots etc.

06/05/2012

I rather avoid doing trips on weekends these days and so the last 2 days I have been outside painting the house in more of this fantastic weather. Weather that the BBC weather people do not seem to be doing justice too in their broadcasts, occasionally mentioning some sunshine in western Scotland when from what I have been seeing here for some time is unbroken sunshine!. Here we are now at 9pm with the calmest deep blue sea out there, a reddish colour as the sun is going down covers most of the landscape across the sea, which as some know is sea cliffs, mountains, more islands rocky Mull costline and emptiness. The shades of golden landscape dappled with the red sunshine is something to behold and I have to tell everyone that the clarity of light at this time of year with easterly winds is a bit unreal. I suppose the weather has to change soon though.

04/05/2012

Today was a change as it started grey and cold but it was soon back to 'normal' with crystal clear weather, as we found a sea eagle flying out to sea. Across the water we found a golden eagle on high doing its dramatic swooping up and down displays. Then we saw the otter eating a fish on the corner of small group of seaweed covered rocks 20m offshore. It proceeded to give us long term interesting views diving and coming ashore with fish and with the fabulous backdrop of white crested waves on a sea with islands disappearing into the horizon. We of course had the usual ravens, buzzards, kestrels, wheatears and so on and then a sea eagle at the nest. Toward the end of the journey we had really good views of a short eared owl by what is the highest road on mull. Question is why is their favourite prey the tiny short tailed vole living so high up? On the way down we got pretty good views of 3 female hen harriers.

03/05/2012

More super weather and a good wildlife trip. An early sighting then of a few porpoise, sea eagle sitting and flying briefly, very good and close golden eagles displaying above us, landing and then sailing across the sea to a sea eagle territory before coming back in style to join its mate. A few summer plumage great northern divers and black guillemot, lots of wheatears, common sandpipers and pipits, calling cuckoo, really close adult sea eagle flying and sitting when we were all pretty high up, plenty of kestrels, ravens, buzzards. Common seals and red deer are not tough to find of course. The otter was tough to initially spot but then everyone saw it. Two golden eagles again in Glenmore where all should see them, in their wild, free and inspiring habitat. Finally 3 short eared owls flying and sitting but I was then off quickly to meet the ferry !!

02/05/2012

Well I had no trip today and so it was up on the roof with an undercoat and a gloss in terrific weather again but I am just logging the fact that the sea was flat calm and just off our coastline I could see the tell tale signs of a porpoise as it rolled and came up for air but it was so close inshore. I also had our seemingly resident woodpecker telling me off for painting so near the bird feeder ! What we have here this year is lots of birdsong and I am certain that it is because our two acres of sheep free landscape is getting more and more verdant and so has far more cover for birds and more orchids I hope this year. Full trip tomoorw and it should get better and better as birds have young and therefore more activity.

01/05/2012

Our weather cannot now get any better because real warmth has arrived too! However it remains a fact that the best weather for wildlife activity is sunshine and showers, but it did not stop us seeing porpoise, great northern divers in summer plumage, possible white billed diver, sea eagle, really good golden eagles with young sea eagles involved too, probably two seperate peregrine territories instead of my usual one, wheatears, pipits, skylarks, stonechats, eiders, female hen harrier, otter, seals and more. Add a pretty good group with good eyesight. Our good weather continues tomorrow but will we have water supply problems eventually too? Or will it be a punch under the chin and be terrible like last May which was awful and totally freakish ?

30/04/2012

It was a bit tough today actually! Mainly because it was too sunny and bright, very cold and windy and wildlife does not really like any of that. We did see sea eagles, otter and male hen harrier and a treat of a male Long Tailed Duck at Gribbun and of course lots of the more typical things like fallow deer stags, red deer, seals, rock and meadow pipit, wheatears, skylarks, curlew etc but eagles were really quiet today and I am still not 100% on where all the different birds are going to nest, however the male harrier was circling and then off with his prey to pass to the female and I more or less have them sussed which does help my trips and the potential for people to see these things. But you know visiting a specific nest site to see a particular bird is not necessarily a great idea because you can then spend hours just looking at a nest with little action.

29/04/2012

A couple more tourist tips if you are thinking of coming to the west coast and islands of Scotland. They are mainly single track roads here and so do learn to reverse. Bring binoculars, waterproof, sensible footwear and swimwear. Do lots of research before coming and be prepared for places to be far bigger than you expected. Ignore all weather forecasts because the BBC regularly get it wrong and rarely give us credit for super weather such as we have had since Easter. It is a childrens paradise with loads of exploring to do but it's all about the great outdoors and not the all inclusive kids club in Tenerife.

29/04/2012

We are just back from a trip to Cambridge and Sams PhD graduation which of course was a very proud moment for all and conducted in the very historic Senate House. Don't talk to me about Scottish weather though when it was wet, windy and very cold down there for the two days. Whilst up here it was gloriously sunny again and has been since Easter !! We left Cambridge in wind and rain and had a pretty bumpy flight to climb a long way above the weather. In sight of the Scottish borders the dark featureless sky turned to blue with puffs of cloud decorating it. From Glasgow through Glencoe it was the usual crystal clear environment of huge snow capped peaks and blue sky. Arriving back here we had a cloudless sky and the Hebridean Princess a former Cal Mac ferry which is now a posh cruise ship, at anchor offshore. I don't want to talk about Sheffield United which spoilt my weekend Ok ! But it is going to be a super sunset later.

26/04/2012

2 more very atmospheric days. Yesterday very windy and cold with only glimpses of sun. Today lots of sun again and not so windy. Yesterday we saw most things including otter but no golden eagles. But I did have the lovely Kerry on the trip who was I think 10 years oldish and full of intelligence and enthusiasm as she kept wandering off to explore and look for more 'bones' and red deer antlers. She didn't find one to match hers but today I had a rendezvous with the family and gave here one of mine. Interesting human children are a natural wonder. Today we saw lots of eagles, short eared owl scrapping with a buzzard, two male hen harriers and one female, great northern divers in summer plumage, twite but no otter. Both days were very successful really and with enthusiastic adults and one child who could be the next Kate Humble. Maybe she should host a childrens Autumn Watch ? What do you think Kerry ??

24/04/2012

We had the otter trotting up from the coast below the house again today. Guests who are staying with us were looking at a bird on a post when the otter suddenely appeared below it. We watched him for some time ambling up toward the small wood by the house and I can only guess that he has his eye on perhaps some chickens up the road but who knows because they are naturally inquisitive creatures and very happy on land. By the way we also have a great spotted woodpecker now coming regularly to the bird feeders.

24/04/2012

I am on the roof painting today in more glorious weather and which we have had for some time now. It is predicted to continue for at least another week. So get the sunblock packed and get a fly drive deal as soon as you can. Why do so many people travel abroad never having even seen The Hebridean Islands, when they must be some of the most spectacularly beautiful places in the world.

23/04/2012

Another glorious sunny day with a flat flat sea. So flat it was difficult to take your eyes of it. Porpoise then from the off, sea eagles and young golden eagle all within 15 minutes. Then another sea eagle sitting and flying and a number of summer plumage slavonian grebes and summer plumaged great northern divers. A Black guillemot, more divers and pergerine falcon on sea cliffs flying and sitting and brief otter. Another sea eagle, red deer, both seal species, an otter asleep and then wandering around on the seaweed, golden eagles in Glenmore and highlight of the day a female harrier and then a male on high tumbling out of the sky to the ground to chase off another male, twite, sparrowhawk and lots of pipits, skylarks, stonechat, common sandpipers, cuckoo calling and lots of easier to find creatures too. Finally a glorious sunset this evening.

22/04/2012

After owning a hotel here for 25 years, running my wildlife trips for a similar period and with another 7 years under my belt here on the West Coast I feel duty bound to give potential visitors my big tourism tip. Don't fall for 'TOURING' Scotland. When Mull alone has around 300 miles of coastline and Skye 1000, how much does the rest of the west coast and islands have? You end up regretting it, feeling very tired of packing, unpacking, catching ferries and meeting endless deadlines. Put down roots in say two places if you are here for a week. If you are here for longer spend a week on Mull and a week in the Outer Hebrides or the Cairngorm National Park for something totally different. Suppose you fall for that 'tour' ? What if it's raining for your two days on Mull, Skye, The West Coast, East Coast etc etc. You wont even 'see' those places because you are moving on again tomorrow !!! Put down roots and give the weather a chance to change, because it will. Give time not just to seeing but enjoying the 'feel' of these wonderful places. You wouldnt tour Mongolia, so dont tour Scotland. It can't be done with any sort of pleasure.

22/04/2012

Sunshine and showers today after a trip to Glasgow. Just had an otter gambolling along the landscape in front of the house and headng for the coast. He realised that he could not simply go over the cliffs and into the sea and was then silhouetted with his long tail in the air as he wandered along the skyline of land and sea until he could find a way down. There is something about the gait of an otter that is extremely cute !

19/04/2012

It's been a really heady week with amazing weather and stacks of top sightings. Today we had a number of porpoise, slavonian grebes in summer plumage which will be off to Iceland anytime now. Lots of great northern divers and one calling which will also be off to Iceland in about three weeks time. Three peregrines arguing about who is going to be with who as we got a great view of a male otter coming ashore with spider crabs. It was a tough choice deciding which creature to look at. Later, Sea eagle on a nest, golden eagles close and above us, young sea eagle flying and sitting, red deer and seals of course, male hen harrier and lots more. It also seems that our sunny weather is to continue.

18/04/2012

More wall to wall sunshine here and a keen crowd with one particularly keen Birmingham lad ecstatic about a Sea Eagle chased by a buzzard which he spotted while we were at the ferry point waiting for other people ! So off we went with porpoise, seals, great northern divers, group of summer plumage slavonian grebes, sea eagle, highlight was probably the female otter with three cubs on a flat sea and onshore grooming, peregine falcon, another sea eagle, in fact lots of sightings today !! Eventually we got the elusive golden eagles and hen harrier and of course always the more predictable Hebridean creatures. So a very good day in beautiful weather.

17/04/2012

Another dazzling day with lots of encounters and 9 adults and two very enthusiastic children to enjoy it with. Seals, red deer and innevitable buzzards on the way out. A sea eagle sitting and a group of summer plumage salvonian grebes with great northern diver, short eared owl above us. more divers, meadow and rock pipits, wheatears, skylark, shags, noisy and active peregrine falcons, redshank, 2 golden and 2 sea eagles, male hen harrier and female later, teal, goldfinch, greenfinch. Sighting of the day was a young sea eagle flying off a mountainside with prey and a young golden eagle locking talons wiht it until it dropped its prey and then the goldie tumbled and swirled as it followed the prey down.

16/04/2012

I was so overjoyed by the Merlin yesterday and so tonight was not good, as our guests went for a walk on the same route before dinner and came back with a picture on their ipod of a bird they did not recognise. Sure enough it was my Merlin friend but they said this bird had a broken wing. It was good news of course that quite by chance they had come across it. So after her starter Jo and I went up the hill to try and find it again. Just before heavy rain I found him among the bushes but the terrain was awful with deep mud and thick low bushes. The Merlin scuttled across the road and we were out of the bushes after him. I eventually pounced on him and popped him in a box and while Jo joined her husband for dinner I was off to Salen to see Sue Dewar who does great work with injured birds and she was not too pessimistic about its rcovery but I will phone here soon and check. But do I want to know when my encounter with him the previous night was so exciting with him wild and free.

15/04/2012

It's another absolutely terrific sunny day here but will it beat yesterday evening as we had a walk up the road. As always pervading such walks here is the vastness, silence and sheer spectacle of each scene. We were about 800m from the house when some starlings scattered above us and smaller birds were dancing around the grassland and then there he was, my favourite bird, the male merlin !!! Magic as anything to me as he rushed along the field right by us chasing what was probably a meadow pipit its favourite prey. Long winged and bullet shaped rather like a small peregrine falcon he and his victim swerved this way and that and as the Merlin dipped and turned I could clearly see his blue backed plumage and dusky wing tips and tail. The meadow pipit escaped and he was off and away as magically as he had first appeared. Why is he my favourite bird ?? He is rare and elusive to find, very very fast, good looking, merely the size of a mistle thrush and one in a million !!

14/04/2012

Forget the rest of the day except to root for Sheffield United to win and Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton to lose !! It's another clear blue sky morning in these islands with the most dazzling crystal clear colours. It is flat calm across the landscape which reaches out to a sea that is as flat as a pancake, all the way out to Iona and the south of mull. What a wonderful day it would be to be wandering on the white sandy beaches of the south today, but I will be following United !!

13/04/2012

Just back after 2 days in Glasgow getting my minibus serviced. My life is deep rooted in these Islands now and going back to city life is like visiting an alien place each time. I had long walks while the garage fiddled around with my vehicle and I had the strongest desire to walk up to other people also walking the streets and clearly living such ordinary lives, and hold them by the shoulders, look them in the eye and say ''you know life can actually be so much better''. But I know it's they that would then see me as an alien when they have become so indoctrinated by the environment in which they have grown up in and feel they have to accept. I know from my own experiences that you have to truly want that better life, career, place to live etc and be driven and commited to that cause but I think I have eventually grasped that most people just don't want the work and effort. Better and easier just to live life like everyone else, and just dream.

11/04/2012

The last two trips have been in dazzling sunny weather and with lots of eagle sightings of both species. From displaying and swooping up and down on high, to sitting together on the skyline, calling and just being very exciting and entertaining. Hen harriers have also been doing their sky dance and one male today was doing it for an age when he plunged earthward and seemed to land behind a small hillock. As we arrived in the area the brown female was gliding away and suddenly the more handsome male was up and following her. How we missed him sitting 25m away I dont know. Goosanders, porpoise, slavonian grebes, peregrine falcon, divers etc were seen over the last couple of days and I feel it is all under way now here, but this beguilling April weather has fooled me before !!

09/04/2012

I am not sure that anywhere in the world pulsates and bewitches like The Hebridean Islands and I have travelled to a lot of the worlds wonderful Islands. The forever changing colours of landscape, sky and sea entertain endlessly on the wildest days or like today with its serene and beautiful sunset of gold and layers of different shades of purple and blue clouds. The earlier red landscape is disappearing as I write but its been a lovely day for the trip to Oban to see off the family after their stay for Easter. Not much to say then tonight but just of the romance of this place occupying my mind and that feeling of needing to convey the beauty of the evening to Mulls many fans. It is an idyllic place to live if you enjoy nature in all its moods.

07/04/2012

Out with people who had been with me last year and so they knew my little idiosyncrasies. So we saw porpoise, slavonian grebes, white tailed sea eagle, Iceland gull, golden eagle, lots of divers, an otter close, another sea eagle, female hen harrier and short eared owl sitting and flying. Of course always red deer, seals, ravens, kestrels, buzzards and more. ''BUT'' poor weather really, though calm, and calm is always good here at anytime of year !!

05/04/2012

For some reason it was tough day today, relatively speaking !! We still saw some porpoise, an Iceland gull, slavonian grebes in summer plummage, lots of great northern divers and some calling, red throated divers also. Golden eagle sitting on the top of a cliff and then launching itself westwards, an otter which we followed along the shore but maybe then got spooked and disappeared but another an hour later. We did see a sea eagle on the nest but no hen harriers or short eared owls today and buzzards were strangely thin on the ground. So everything was what you might call fleeting today but maybe I have come to expect such big results and of course people learn a lot on the trips regarding how to look and where to look. I think there is such a lot to still learn about wildlife behaviour because I get the feeling on such days that there is just something about a particular day that is just not ok for them sometimes.

04/04/2012

I am always banging on about the only real Plan A for here and so please have a look at my article under 'Searching for Scotlands green gold' via the following link http://www.scottishpolicynow.co.uk/ It has been another glorious day for a trip to the Isle of Ulva across the water from here. I bumped into Marvin who put me onto the Bee Eaters at Calgary last year. He was going over with his wife and very cute children. Cuter possibly than Sonny and Charlie !! We heared crossbill and great spotted woodpecker, though we missed one of the jays that are now getting seen occasionally around Mull. I have to recommend Ulva as a super day out amongst lots of native woodland and in the west there are open vistas across the sea to the huge mountains and sea cliffs of Mull. There is also the excellent restaurant there !!

03/04/2012

Todays trip with 11 people was a pretty cold wild showers and sun day and tonight is ending with a beautiful calm and clear evening with designer clouds across the sea above Iona and a golden landscape between us. Good views of sea eagles today doing different things, golden eagle for a moment across Loch na Keal but I could not find it on the ground, but we had another encounter above Balmeanach as one raced back and forth across the sky and then another in Glenmore. The hen harrier was ok but fleeting but the young otter entertained us for an age coming ashore with a spider crab and surfing along in the waves. It was eventually on a mission to go home as it romped past us and we could have followed it for longer under Gribbun Cliffs but I had a lady wanting to see short eared owls but it was a challenging cold day today for all of us and so it seemed for the owls. A nice crowd though and an inspiring Hebridean day that looks terrific now with Benmore golden peaked and the moon above it and out to sea very low blue and golden clouds.

31/03/2012

It's going to finish with a beautiful sunset tonight and what a glorious sparkling sunny day it has been. Calgary beach was empty and the sand dazzling on one of those days which is cold in the wind but warm out of it. You could have nestled into the marram grass and got a good tan there today. All of the glass in our house 'manufactures' warmth on sunny winter days like this and fortunately it retains it well into the evening. In the olden days you would have the smallest area of glass in your cottage here because it was the weakest link and let the wind and cold in. Today the secret is to have lots of modern glass which added to the clearest atmosphere now generates the opposite of those days. On a wildlife note, going to Calgary we saw a number of yellowhammers for some reason and as you know they are becoming rarer in Britain.

29/03/2012

A full crowd and a big day with terrific sightings of sea eagles sitting and flying, goosander, twite, great northern and black throatetd divers, goldeneye, ravens, red deer and more. Highlights were a male hen harrier engaging with two females as they swooped over forestry and in and out of the clearings. Best sighting today was the perfect golden eagle encounter on our highest point of the trip. Initially one came off a high craggy cliff and then the other joined it as we jumped out of the vehicle. They soared over and then one glided across the glen to land on some rocks and while we had soup it came back again but much closer. Then the two of them were off attacking another eagle intruding on their territory. It was the esgle encounter that everyone should have when they see their first golden eagle.

28/03/2012

Another super day for a trip with a milky sea as calm as I have ever seen it way off into the distant Atlantic. So white tailed sea eagle sitting and within 3 minutes of the ferry point !! Another sea eagle flying with buzzards and one at the nest. Common Seals and slavonian grebe, first wheatears of the year for me, pereregrine falcon up with buzzards, ravens and kestrel, great northern divers or as my American Customers would say, Loons !! Red deer of course and two soperate male hen harriers, sparrowhawk, rock and meadow pipits, skylarks, bullfinch AND golden eagles, one on a hazy cliff and the others flying off crags in Glenmore. And lots more of course. 9 people for the trip tomorrow and so things are getting going.

28/03/2012

A truly stunning day here but shouldnt we all actually be alarmed, because it should not be like this in March !!! Anyway, I attended another meeting, this time with Forestry Commission people today as they are looking for new ideas on how to make more of Scotlands varied forests. Its all good news at last leaking out of the Scottish governments offices, as they are at last understanding the value of their green gold and not just their black gold. It was fun and a very informing meeting. They stated that Mull was considered the leader of the pack on Ecotourism/ Environmental tourism in Scotland and that others are now trying to follow us. It was all very flattering and rewarding for all the hard work that people like myself have put in against the odds to get Mull to where it is. The world now knows about '''''EAGLE ISLAND''''. Robert Louis Stevenson loved it here too and would be proud of me.

26/03/2012

Stunning weather here and where could be better on such days than walking on a calm sunny evening along an empty white sand Hebridean Beach? That's just to make you jealous of course. However it's also very true ! I attended our Islands Tourism marketing group AGM today and there was discussion about the new parking areas, better interpretation and eco loos for visitors. Gosh they do this sort of thing so well on La Palma, with their often spectacular 'miradores' which are parking areas with viewpoints. The Spanish have style for sure and they don't wreck the landscape by building a road around a mountain, they create a tunnel and go right through it !! My new Spanish right hand driving skills will serve me well when we take Sonny and Charlie to Cantabria in midsummer and where I am told all the other Rhesus Negative people live !!! I am advised by an 'expert' that we are all pretty flamboyant and very friendly. To think that as a young man I was so desperately shy. I think that coming to Mull made me into an individual again, like an eagle is.

26/03/2012

Could I just please remind everyone about the important petition that you might wish to sign, as it impacts on the natural environment here and the link is http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/savestaffaarchipelago/

25/03/2012

Back from the must do destination of La Palma which is the most north westerly and third of the trio of unspoilt and 'Brit free' Canary islands which also include El Hierro and La Gomera and which we have been too in the recent past. They are all like Mull was a few million years ago with young volcanic terrain on each of the islands along with very friendly, stylish and gregarious people. The centre of the island has enormous mountains topped by canary pines and mist daily rolling over the top like snow. There is a massive crater miles wide which is probably the most spectacular natural phenomenon I have yet seen on my travels. On the southern tip is the 1971 crater of Spains last volcano to erupt and choughs were nesting inside it. In Spain stay at the government owned 'Paradore' hotels which are always classy, whether newish like the one we stayed in perched on a hillside, or they are a converted monastery or castle etc. Food was excellent and we looked out on a super pool from our balcony and the ocean stretching into the distance. The Hebridean Islands are however far more varied and richer in history, but then the Canary Islands have the sun! Seeing the world is a great thing for all to try and do.

15/03/2012

Yesterday I offered to drive people to a woodland community project after a conference at the Isle of Mull Hotel in Tobermory and so I was there ready for the off at 1pm, but they were still in their meeting and then they suddenly swept out taking me with them and into lunch which I didnt really want because I had just had it at home. But I was swept off my feet I suppose! Anyway its a great project by some dedicated people in the north of Mull and on the journey we saw a male and female hen harrier and I debated with an estate manager from the Highlands about persecution of birds of prey, to no avail. It was a timely chat as Scotland announced today that it had been a good 2011 regarding the poisoning of birds of prey, after 2010 was the worst ever. Anyway I was glad to do my little bit for the community project here.

13/03/2012

Pretty good weather today and a trip with eight people and so it was all well timed. Sea eagles were up on the ridge behind the house early morning and still there as I left to collect everyone. At the ferry point we were off to a good start with a sea eagle sitting in a tree 3 minutes from Craignure, an otter swimming and then coming ashore with a big fish another 2 minutes up the road. More sea eagles above us between Salen and Loch na Keal and sea eagles at Killiechronan. Another otter as I spotted a male goosander and another otter as we waited for peregrine falcons. Two sea eagles tidying up and sitting around their new nest and then flying toward us ! On the way home two golden eagles flying briefly and sitting on the top of a crag and a male and female hen harriers. Not totally sure we saw the male actually ?? But a very good day with very happy customers.

12/03/2012

You know, we get a lot of rain in The Hebrides, but we also get a lot of sun 'AND' the rain might be some of cleanest in the world anyway. What we don't get is this strange murky, misty weather that they can get in the Highlands and that we have been getting lately for some reason. BUT BUT how sensational it all looks on afternoons like this as it clears to sun and across the sea the mist is rolling back over the top of the huge sea cliffs on the Ardmeanach Peninsula and the sun is brightening up the entire landscape. The elements are all part of the magic and wonder of it all here for me as nature paints this ever changing wondrous picture.

12/03/2012

For any of my friends and green thinking others, could I remind you about the petition link that I put details about on my diary entry of the 6th of March ? Or go to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/savestaffaarchipelago/ Thankyou to everyone who has already signed this because it does matter in this very environmentally sensitive area.

09/03/2012

As predicted it was another misty start to the day but by lunchtime it was clearing over Iona and eventually we had a really sunny windless afternoon and evening. Lots of birds were up and about making the most of it but one of the adult sea eagles down the loch was looking pretty relaxed and sitting near the nest. As usual the giveaway with the sea eagle as against golden eagle is its huge yellow bill which is forever swivelling around as they scan their domain. In fact they are far more hyperactive creatures than golden eagles. Why I don't know !! but the subsequent flashing yellow bill gives them away when sitting somewhat.

08/03/2012

It has been one of those wintry Hebridean days when everything seemed to be in black and white. It was also a sad day, appropriate for the weather as Joy and I attended the funeral of John Kirsop one of the local plumbers in Tobermory. He and his family worked on our hotel when we first moved there and the same again with the new house here on the west coast. On the way from here it was seriously mizzly at our highest point as a sea eagle launched itself above us and flew out across the sea to the Isle of Eorsa. These encounters are always dramatic in such wild elements as today. He must have been hungry and desperate to be flying in it. I believe tomorrow is starting similarly but then getting better and it would be a good day for a wildlife trip but it's off to the swimming pool instead.

07/03/2012

Its a cold but very bright day here with long spells of sunshine and warm out of the wind. The regular showers of earlier have abated and it is always interesting watching them coming from the Treshnish Isles and lasting for about 5 minutes before hurrying off. Our electrician Donald has been here trying to track down an intermittent fusing of some appliances and I have been out cutting back brambles and protecting the daffodils from more brambles and dead bracken. They seem such happy flowers determined to look good in our wild winds and rain. Birds are very active both on the feeders and soaring the hills behind. As the sun gets higher in the sky now it feels more like Spring and we are heading for those long hours of daylight and hopefully calm sunny evenings and walks down to the little ferry point opposite Ulva. Bookings look good and I feel that it will be a year when more people holiday in Britain, and why not when so many have never even been to these romantic Hebridean Islands.

06/03/2012

Well just back from a trip south to collect Lucy for a short break and also see the boys Sonny, Charlie and Rufus. Then off to see Timmy in York and do some shopping for a forthcoming holiday in the sun on La Palma [Canary Islands] and sorting out Joys new phone at Vodafone. Then to Sheffield for a couple of days to see my mum who isnt good but is after all 91 years old !! The Hotel was excellent but Sheffield United were not ! They were so on top but collapsed to lose 3goals to 2 against Oldham and I still have not got over it, but I may forgive them tonight if they win against Walsall. How can I possibly be talking about not winning against a team like Walsall when they use to beat teams like Liverpool ? You can tell by this diary entry that I may have gone a bit townie because of the last week but I have just returned to the best view in the world, and so I am cured !!!!

06/03/2012

Here on the West Coast of Mull and National Scenic Area we are threatened by a development that could truly damage the area. Could anyone with a passion for the environment have a look at the following petition and sign it. Hopefully ! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/savestaffaarchipelago/

27/02/2012

Correction !! I'm pretty sure that at sometime I mentioned taking Sonnie amd Charlie to Calabria this summer, but its actually Cantabria in Northern Spain !! I only realised the error when the wrong guidebook came in from Waterstones. I know I could create lots of jokes around this subject but as this is really a wildlife diary and not a travel site, I wont. I also don't want to fuel my two boys now desperate attempts to unseat me as the alpha male and if I say more it will only aid their efforts.

26/02/2012

A pretty good weather day here then and our wildlife has been making the most of it. The two resident golden eagles were up behind the house chasing somebody else off and doing their swooping up and down routine as a threat and territorial display. Unusually there was a lot of yelping which is rather like that of a small dog and pretty rare to hear actually. In fact the only time you really hear it is when a young golden eagle is calling from the nest in summer asking where mum and dad are. Has anyone ever heard the most unusual call from a peregrine falcon ? Which I have heard only once and that is the loud janggling of keys, like a jailer heading for the cells? Isn't the really great thing about being close to nature, being able to learn all the time and find new things about creatures every day. Yesterday I made the comment that most creatures do what they do because it's all they have to do to survive. For instance if two ravens had to go to a supermarket to shop they would do it but fortunately they don't. It's only we hapless humans that have to.

25/02/2012

An eagle friend may have glimpsed me with my Christmas present camera today but its not one of those big lense things, so don't think I have gone over to the other side. It's still primarily a spotting day out !! On the trip today we started with an otter at Grasspoint, brief female hen harrier, kestrels etc. Two sea eagles sitting together in a tree which then flew along the shoreline and alighted to mate and make a racket. Then an Iceland gull with rock doves, another sea eagle sitting and its mate flying over to join it, again with much noise. Laterly a good view of a male hen harrier and lots of great northern divers and a black throated earlier. Plus poorish weather but The Island was still wildly and beautifully atomspheric !! Pity more humans don't have those traits.

23/02/2012

Another iffy day here which did not clear until about 4pm but the clearing looked magical, or was it just relief ?? I was at a meeting to select the right people to design our proposed new interpretive, parking and eco loo project and it was a pleasure with interesting and creative people, but it was also a bit like the old days in the office and the call of the wild whispering in my ear. I should miss my artistic background, like a musician not playing their violin but the Hebridean Islands natural creativity seems to envelop your life here anyway, as it dresses up each day and whispers, can you capture my beauty anyway David.

22/02/2012

My very PC son Sam [since he got his PhD] has advised me not to be so eccentric in my diary postings if I want plenty of wildlife business. His older brother Tim has advised me similarly but he's just trying to topple the alpha male, like the immature males do !! Anyway, another very wet day for a trip around Mull with people tendering for the proposed interpretive/new parking areas project and then the challenge of finding them an otter. So phew ! I found them one. This evening Mull is calm, serene and maybe angelic, with a lovely grey and silver sky. Is she at last over her temper after raging on like she has.

21/02/2012

Thers no doubt at all that most of the rainfall in the British Isles in the last 12 months has been falling in The west of Scotland and it's all about prolonged westerly winds instead of a fifty fifty with easterlies. There was a short window in it today with a shaft of golden sky off the south of Mull and I saw a sea eagle sitting on the sheltered side of some trees waiting patiently for it to clear. We humans once had such patience of course and we would have hunkered down making arrowheads or axes while the women prepared food or made articles of clothing and adornments until the rain stopped. Up the road another sea eagle was above us with a buzzard making the most of that break in the rain. Stepping back in time is pretty easy here because it's much the same as it always has been in such a wild and spectacular place.

19/02/2012

It's like a scene out of 'Doctor Zhivago' today with a covering of snow across the entire landscape, except for the southern tip of Mull and Iona. I can easily imagine a Troika trotting past any minute with Lara in lots of fur and one of those great Russian hats that they have. However I don't remember the sea in Doctor Zhivago and here it is wrapping itself around this snow covered scene and it's a sort of metallic grey and mirror calm. In fact it's a day to be somewhere like Calliach Point, looking for cetaceans, or maybe the western side of Coll looking for 'bigger' cetaceans !! As that area looks toward the Atlantic Frontier and the deep chasm that meanders its way from south to north in the Atlantic, as it does off California and the Pacific where we saw Blue Whales a couple of years ago. Possibly the ultimate wildlife experince and one that I will never forget.

17/02/2012

Another mizzly day today for the trip with our son Sam's friends and familly from Cambridge. But the weather doesnt really matter sometimes particularly with Otters, as they are an all weather creature and so we had good views of one coming repeatedly ashore with fish on Loch na Keal. We also saw two more on Loch Beag with some regular visitors to Mull whom I know very well. Earlier we had good views of two adult sea eagles and the female seemingly tendng the nest and then sitting out as the male in the background looked as if he was trying the nest out for size, before he leapt out and flew along some trees while she watched. We also saw another young sea eagle late in the day at Ardura. Red throated and great northern divers also, lots of buzzards and kestrels but the key to the wildlife door this year is that there seems to be lots of short tailed voles about and most of our birds of prey eat short tailed voles.

16/02/2012

Taking Sonnie and Charlie home we had a pretty poor journey back with mist and rain but inevitably as we got to The Corran Ferry to go onward to the Lochaline to Mull ferry the mist cleared and virtually all the way to Mull's National Scenic Area it was sunny and always of course spectacular like today has been again, with 25c on the decking area. The kids are wonderful and they love it here but I come back always from their world with these alien images of people in their masses snaking slowly along city roads in their cars and rushing along the streets to work, seemingly in their millions. It's such a mire of humanity to me now, for within an hour I am transported to this vast scenic wonderland of mile upon mile of virtually empty roads and mountains rising into the clouds and snowy peaks in sunshine. Vast tracts of breathtaking Scotland are empty right up the West Coast and onto the Islands. We don't want the millions like the cities have but there is stacks of room for people who want to escape to something so much better.

13/02/2012

No wildlife trips here despite it being a short holidy in the country. Ive always wondered whether everyone thinks we are deep in snow in the winter because it isnt true. However we are having great fun with Sonny and Charlie here. Charlies very Scottish Gasgow accent is amusing to hear as he rolls his r's for quite some time !! They have me out chopping logs on a regular basis and I am weary of singing I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I work all night and I work all day !! We collected some big and delicous oysters also which is another of their favourite pastimes. I'm to blame though as I taught them the song and the fun of searching for oysters. I did get them into filling small holes in our track with gravel but I seem to do most of work on that one. They are off home to Glasgow tomorrow and its like parting with really fun friends. How can anyone not adore interesting children.

12/02/2012

A flat calm mecury sea today all the way from the west coast of Mull to the southern coast at Carsaig, which as Robert Louis Stevenson would have described is the most 'felicitous' meeting of ocean, islands, sea cliffs, forest and beach, with wild goats thrown in for good measure! The run there with Sonny and Charlie was virtually empty, save for the Otter with his wriggling fish, goosanders, divers and peregrine falcon. As was the big grey sand beach of Carsaig which is great for fossils, occasional saphires and the ancient bead that I once found there and then lost. Kids love it with its waves lapping the shore, seals on rocks, waterfalls running down into the sea and a shining wet beach with rock pools to explore. As you come out of Carsaig to the top of the hill you see Ben More rising snow capped and speckled by black rocks 5 miles away. It is SO spectacular. I have always felt so inspired here.

11/02/2012

A lovely fullsome day today with Sonnie and Charlie. So its pancakes to start with and honey or lemon and sugar, delicious. Then off to Calgary Bay and a run up the west coast. Super moody but a calm day with wisps of sunshine at the beach which the boys love. I saw a black throated diver just offshore. Then off to Calliach Point and majestic sea views of Skye, Rhum, Eigg, Muck, Coll, Tiree and the Ardnamurchan Peninsular and Stevensons lighthouse. Another famous five scramble around rocks and headlands for them and then back to see Sheffield United win and Sheffield Wednensday lose !! Meanwhile Joy and the boys were off to see Katy Mary and Marie and to buy treats at the Spar shop in Salen, but don't tell Mum. Delicious free range chicken dinner and then the serious bit of setting up the train set for us boys !! The Hebridean Islands are the most perfect place for children to grow up in.

10/02/2012

I think human children are the most adorable and interesting creatures on the planet, don't you ?So here we are with Sonnie who is 8 and Charlie who is 5 and I can hear them right now discussing the intricacies of setting up the trainset on the landing. It will end in a scrap over who is in charge and so this diary entry may be short. We are all off to Calabria in summer, though they will almost certainly prefer coming here anyway, if they were asked. Anyway, I just had someone on the phone from Bristol talking about a new wildlife series about Islands of the World with Mull featuring for the Hebridean Islands. Good move then !! He wanted tips on finding eagles and conveniently one came up behind the house and which I could see through the window. I was therefore able to describe how they are almost always coming head into wind, being mobbed by other birds etc etc. Haven't I suggested before that our eagles may now be coming to find me !!!!!!

09/02/2012

Its a misty windless and mysterious looking morning here and I was just putting my shoes on to travel and collect Sonny and Charlie from Glasgow for a weeks stay here when I saw this shadowy figure ambling along the grassland and behind my minibus. Sure enough it was an otter well away from the sea or any stream or river. What's he after I wonder?

07/02/2012

I had some people from London on my trip today but fortunately they were quite wildlify ! It was a cold but quite sunny day and we saw lots for the time of year. Otter at Grasspoint just coming ashore to eat a fish, male and female hen harriers under Ben Taladh, golden eagles and sea eagles in Glenmore with two sneaky sea eagles nestled up against a small black crag on a mountain peak, then a really close golden eagle maybe 50m away. Lots and lots of buzzards and kestrels today with a couple more hen harriers, one of which came up from sea cliffs in front of a peregrine falcon which sat preening and gave really good views in the scope. Red Deer everywhere and common seals, black guillemot, mergansers, teal, curlews and others !! The beauty of today was in the emptiness and majesty of the Island and that feeling of being so much closer to nature because of it.

06/02/2012

Back from my birthday bash in Glasgow it was another day of days driving through The Highlands, Rannoch Moor and Glencoe. With clear blue sky, empty roads and snow capped mountains. Then mirror calm seas all the way home and a silver sunset just shaping up now. It has to have been the best day of the year so far and warm in the sun. I always come back though with negative views of city life. In a nutshell it seems so unnecessarily 'COMPLICATED' for everyone to endure, and to achieve what in life anyway? Quality of life ? to feel safe and secure? a fulfilling career? a better future, fresh air and an innexpensive lifestyle? to be a true individual? to be happier? Well it's a 'NO' for all of it. There was a time when people migrated to the cities for work but that bubble has burst and more will want to escape to the country as the new land of opportunity, to feel safe and be an individual once again.

03/02/2012

Well another glorious sunrise today as the sun swept its way through the house warming it up everywhere. I met a friend on the coast the other day who is something of an energy expert and he explained to me that because we had so much sea around us all here, as the suns rays reflected off the sea it created even more warmth than just the sun from the sky. Having the clearest atmosphere also adds to the equation as even more sun gets through. It was all very encouraging !! Its all about the wondrous views here on the west coast that inspires me though and I am certain the people that once lived in the now ruined black houses to the rear of the house. How glad they must have been to step out to this, despite the hardships they endured in those very tough days.

01/02/2012

It was a beautiful sunrise and a glorious sunny day altogether today. I managed to finish 750 words of copy for a new discussion site on the internet. As they asked me to do a piece on the value of Scotlands black gold as against the countries green gold, which gets a fraction of the attention that oil gets here and yet the natural environment of Sctoland is surely its biggest asset isnt it? I could easily be an avid writer and so I did another 500 words on The Island of Mull for The Glasgow Chamber of Commerce as the chap hoping to promote Mull in their publications didnt know anything about the area at all. However the story I really want to do is my childrens adventure story about the return of the sea eagle and the heroics of a group of local children in trying to protect them against a ruthless egg thief. I will do it !!! As I did lots of Grezelda the Witch stories for our children when we lived in Tobermory. For instance Grezelda Goes to Tobermory High School was a good one and made their little eyes bulge with excitement !

30/01/2012

It was a super sunny day here and so worth a drive and walk up the coast to look for more Jays which my Aga service friend John had seen on his way to the house. By the way John also had close views of the Pine Martens at Craignure after they had fledged there for the first time last year !! No Jays though, but at the top of our track two golden eagles were close and gliding along the ridge. Having parked up some buzzards were rushing around in a large wooded promontory sticking out into the sea at Laganulva and sure enough an adult sea eagle glid through them and up the coast. We bumped into another friend Roc Sandford who owns the Island of Gometra off the northern tip of Ulva and he showed me his petition concerning the possible huge fish farm here in Loch Tuath which could damage so many things here on The National Scenic Area. I hope to help him with this when my season starts proper and my green thinking guests will hopefully sign up too.

29/01/2012

Today was cold but dry and so worth an explore down the loch. Sure enough up came a sea eagle from the shoreline to circle above us. Another 2,000ft up was its mate simply hanging in the wind to proclaim territory for a while before he stuck his head into the wind and flew across the sea to loch Ba. Flying close was also a kestrel and a sparrowhawk and buzzards are calling near the house now as are ravens. I know people get excited when they see the two eagles and so do I !! but on the way back from The Leonardo Exhibition in London I had my first really good view of a Jay here and the fact is that it is far rarer in the Hebrides than a Dolphin or an Eagle, so keep your eyes open and dont take them so much for granted down there.

28/01/2012

I have to record what a simply stunning drive it was yesterday after flying into Glasgow from Stanstead and then the journey over Rannoch Moor and down though Glencoe. But how to describe it ??!! Both misty and then sunny huge mountains capped with snow and black craggy junks of rock protruding through the snow, with gold and green landscape rising up the slopes. Below this the sweeping view of miles and miles of snowy landscape, big black rocks and the odd twisted tree stood forlorne, often in the middle of small sunny and mirror calm lochans. It was almost deserted save for the odd car with people out with their cameras trying to capture the impossible. Sweeping down to sea level and the ferry across the top of Loch Linnhe and then the drive to Lochaline and the ferry home to arrive to a beautiful blue sky and sunshine was the icing on the cake. Cambridge and London are Ok but it's not living but just existing by comparison.

27/01/2012

Well just back from London seeing The Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition at the National Gallery. Leonardo is one of my inspiritions along with John Denver and Mull !! And don't we need inspiring people and places like Mull today? Anyway, we were on the train from Cambridge to London very early morning to meet Sam who had set off much earlier to queue for tickets. On the train journey I observed hundreds of people with nothing to say to each other. What a waste of such a short time on earth when all of these people are spending 10 hours of every week of their lives going to and from London in complete silence? There are so many big things to talk about and put right in the world, yet people seem to have no big views or things to say. It isn't our politicians that have got it wrong but the trillions of very ordinary people who live such politically correct, predictable low horizon lives.

23/01/2012

Well it's been a lovely day here with the merest hint of spring! Lots to do around the house and I have had some expert help in replacing some slates after the storms of a few weeks ago. Our friends at loch Buie had a lightng strike and had lots of things frazzled including their computer, telephones etc. However there isnt much bad news on Mull to be honest except that I feel I am often fighting on green/environmental issues that surely all should care more about. Mull is a living breathing beautiful entity in its own right, which everyone here owes a massive debt to when it has brought relative prosperity to all via tourism farming and fishing. The beautiful entity I speak of is possibly smiling at me now out in the west with a golden sky and whispy grey clouds filling the horizon. If it could speak I know it would love me for all I do, like I love it.

22/01/2012

I'm looking forward to my season already having had too much time off I think. Some would envy my 4 or 5 month holidays but its not really work that I do anyway is it ??!! Anyway off for a jaunt up the west coast to look for crossbills and try my new christmas camera out. It's been a glorious clear day here with the bluest sea and frothing white waves crashing on to the coast. Calgary beach looked stunning as always but it only had about 5 people on it. Then it was off into the pine forest where I had seen the exotic looking crossbills recently but there was no sign today, just the eerie sound of lots of wind damaged trees creaking against each other. Still it was a lovely drive and walk and atmospheric and beautifully vast as always.

21/01/2012

It's very poor weather here and such long spells without much needed sun. This is a very warm home with sheeps wool insulation and lots of glass ready for that sunny moment. The under floor heating comes into its own now but frankly we have rarely needed it over the years here because the high spec glass seems to almost manufacture and store warmth with the smallest amount of sun. In the cosyness here I watched the male sea eagle from Killiechronan gliding across the land in front of us, through the rain and just a couple of feet off the ground today and flashing his big white tail. He alighted and glanced across toward the house and l almost wanted to hide because I felt so guilty about his heroic and dangerous life. But I know I would rather be a sea eagle wild and free in the rain of The Hebrides than living in a flat in any UK city. Except perhaps the centre of ancient York, for a few weeks only !!

20/01/2012

Despite not being out on trips just now [and I miss it a lot] there is always something to see or experience when you are slap bang in the moiddle of wild nature. As I turned our two vehicles around in the car park to give the rain a chance to wash both sides, I saw a hooded crow diving at the ground 25yards away and then sure enough up came a merlin like a bullet as it dashed along the front of the house putting up all of the birds on my feeders. A male Hen Harrier was out in the mizzle with some red deer and it alighted on the grassland a 100m away. It's been poor for man and beast here this winter so far, with lots of mizzly rain and cold. Approaching February we should now be heading toward easterly winds and more sunshine and protection here on the West Coast. I remember when we first moved to Mull and were doing up Ulva House in Tobemory and all the tradesmen sitting on the edge of the terraced lawn having their lunch in warm sun and enjoying the panoramic view that we had there too.

16/01/2012

What a desperate life it must be living in Watford, or anywhere else in suburbia, when you are missing scenes like this. As many of my friends know it is one of the best views in the world if not the best from here. A couple of hours ago it was a vast expanse of magenta sky filling the horizon above Iona and the south of the Island, with smokey grey clouds above. Now the sun is dropping and clearing the clouds as it is setting and we have a horizon full of an almost metallic golden sky. It will all finish in an hour with a red red sky. I think the foreground also adds to the picture, with black islands, headlands, sea cliffs off to the left and the gnarled remnants of silhouetted trees. I understand perfectly why people of the past were so seemingly romantic and yet haunted by what nature can do here.

15/01/2012

We are in a nice 'easy' spell of weather but tomorrow has some rain I believe but then clearing up for the rest of the week. So yesterday was tempting to go and check on some of my eagle friends and straight off one of the Killiechronan sea eagles came gliding over putting up lots of birds. The Ben Taladh golden eagles are fine and displaying to each other until an immature sea eagle flew into their territory and got a telling off. A hen harrier was hunting at low tide on Loch Scridain but I saw no otters until Loch na Keal and which was clearly a youngster. The two golden eagles from Gribbun were dramatic and swooping around each other. The young female there seems insistant on attempting nesting in a very exposed and hopeless site again this year, when the more mature and wiser male knows best and should take her to have a look at his old site at the start of the Gribbun area.

13/01/2012

It's a beautiful silver day here and there was no one on the journey right up the west coast to Calgary Bay, though we did see a young White Tailed Sea Eagle gliding from close to across the other side of the bay. She had a transmitter on her back and so could be from the east coast of Scotland. I love York, Cambridge and so many parts of Britain but I think that whether you are young or old, life in the suburban/city environment seems much the same each day. Whereas here in the Hebridean Islands with its vast, empty and varied landscape of sea, islands, mountains and ever changing coastal terrain, every single day entertains and excites the senses. I don't really see how anyone can compare city life against true country life like this and still come out in favour of the former.

10/01/2012

I am doing everyday jobs at the moment, like washing our vehicles. Needless to say the inevitable happens here and two sea eagles came gliding over. Do you think they are doing wildlife trips to see me too? For heavens sake I have enough people copying my trips !! The thing about having a dirty car here is that it doesnt stay dirty for long because the very clean soft rain cleans it for you. I usually wash my vehicle in the rain around 3 times a year and never bother rinsing it because the rain does it naturally for you. Very eco friendly don't you think? In fact I am seriously thinking of showering the same way. I just need a large bucket to stand in.

09/01/2012

Its been very grey, cold and wet the last couple of days but today has clear blue sky, no wind and the sun is shining on a golden landscape. There is a dapple of snow on the highest mountains and I see only a prawn fishermen bobbing out on a big empty sea. We are going to get out there and enjoy it too, but not on the sea !! Yesterday a young sea eagle swept in and landed 50m from the house and then swept out to sea again chased by hooded crows and ravens. The Hebridean Islands is the most inspirational and romantic place. Why would anyone choose to live somewhere else ??!!

05/01/2012

Well it was a lovely festive holiday in York for us in a very nice apartment within the city walls and of course York is like being a character in a Charles Dickens novel anyway and so it was very apt for Xmas. All our family gathered there and Timmy lives there anyway. Trips to Whitby, Robin Hoods Bay and Filey brought back lots of childhood memories and it was odd actually to be among all those Yorkshire people at the seaside again, having fish and chips!! Out and about I saw marsh harriers, sanderling and merlin, but of course coming home through the Scottish Highlands and its open empty roads, gigantic black mountains dusted with snow, sunshine and golden landscape, plucked at my heart strings as usual. It's overwhelmingly beautiful here isnt it?

29/03/2004

A full trip today but we saw no otters again. Did it matter though, when we had such spectacular views of sea eagles sitting and flying, great northern divers, twite, goosander, mergansers, greenshank, goldeneye and more in that vein. Big big encounters though with a male hen harrier engaging with two seperate females as they repeatedly swooped around low forestry and in and out of the clearings. Then a big moment with three golden eagles at the highest point of the Island. Initially one came off a craggy peak and then its mate joined it and soared over us and under the sun together and then dashed off to harass another eagle on their territory. It was one of those golden eagle sightings in the emost fantastic setting and how everyone should see their first golden eagle. We also came caross another very low adult sea eagle as we went o look for otters.

David Woodhouse - Isle of Mull Landrover Wildlife Expeditions