Archived Decemeber

monthly reports for December

Latest Reports for December 2021

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Latest December reports for 2020
27th along the Grasspoint Road was cold, but we had the male Kingfisher once more, and a pair of Goldeneye.
Andrew Oldacre
28th: Java - Great Northern Diver, Greenshank.
27th: Java - Barn Owl on my window sill in the early hours! 4 Red-breasted Merganser in the Bay.
26th: Java - Tawny Owl (male) calling in the early hours.
25th: Java - Goosander, 2 Whimbrel, Curlew, Greenshank, (and approx 30 Bottlenose Dolphins!) 7 Curlew in the 'hospital field'.24th: Java - Great Northern Diver.Nancy Somerville
23rd Craignure. The 'resident' Nuthatch in a local Craignure garden is still coming to feed almost daily. Alan.
23rd Scallastle Bay - 9 Heron, 4 Wigeon, 6 Mallard, Red-breasted Merganser, 2 White-tailed Eagle.
22nd:Java 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Turnstone, White-tailed Eagle flying over Scallastle forest path - Kestrel (male).
21st: Garmony - Great Northern Diver, 5 Wigeon, pair Mallard.Nancy Somerville
21st Bunessan Pier. 3 female common scooter just off the pier at Bunessan this afternoon. Peter skinner
15th c25 Bar-tailed Godwits on the high tide roost at Craignure golf course. Ewan Miles
15th: WeBS count of Craignure Bay - Great Northern Diver, 14 Cormorant, 2 Shag, 3 Heron, Goosander, 5 Oystercatcher, Curlew, Greenshank, 2 Common, 4 Herring and 2 Great Black-backed Gulls, Rock Pipit, plus 6 Hooded Crows. Craignure - Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, 2 Jay. Scallastle Bay - 8 Mallard, 2 White-tailed eagles (adults) 10 Bar-tailed Godwit? (check photos), Turnstone, 2 Redshank, Greenshank.
14th: Java - Curlew in 'hospital field'. Grasspoint - pair of Stonechat.
12th: Craignure Bay - Great Northern Diver. By Scallastle forest path - Sparrowhawk, 2 Ravens.
11th: Java - Dipper. Nancy Somerville
16th Female Blackcap, Tobermory, at our feeding station, briefly on nut feeder Mike Wagemakers

15th a mal Brambling back in our garden at Ardrioch this afternoon Pam & Arthur Brown
12th monthly BTO WeBS count for Loch na Keal:
Oystercatcher 43; Curlew 8; Redshank 10; Turnstone 19; Greylag geese 85; R B Merganser 39; Heron 13; Mallard 45; Great Northern Diver 38; Goldeneye 2; Shag 30; Wigeon 3; Slavonian grebe 16; Red throated diver 1; Teal 30; Cormorant 11; Black Guillemot 1; Grey Plover 1; Greater B B Gull 15; Black headed Gull>5; Herring Gull >100; Common Gull >40; WT Eagle 5; Otter 1; Jogging Santa 1. Merry Christnmas Steve, with Felicity, Linda, Richard and Jacqui.Steve Littlewood
12th Female Merlin hunting Rock Pipits on the south side of Loch na Keal. 57 Barnacle Geese at Balmeanach. Ewan Miles
11th Lochdon Bridge Kingfisher seen again above the bridge this morning by Andrew Oldacre
10th: Java - 2 Curlews, Greenshank. 9th: Java - 2 Red-breasted Merganser, Goosander, 6 Turnstones.8th: Java - Red-breasted Merganser, Goosander.7th: Craignure - Greenshank, Greenfinch.
Nancy Somerville8th Went out at dawn on the morning of the 6th at Lochdon (Gorten side):
64 Canada Goose, 2 Whooper Swan, 1 Shelduck, 1 Goldeneye (lifer for me). 3 RB Merganser,37 Oystercatcher, 14 Curlew
2 Turnstone, 1 GBB Gull, 3 WTE, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Hen Harrier (flew right over me, photos attached). Jamie Morton
7th Peregrine Falcon at Cailaich Point 2 WTSE’s here as well. At Dervaig 4 seperate Wrens by Skyran
At Ardrioch 2 Jays visiting garden daily, Woodcock in our wood. Pam & Arthur Brown.

6th 2 Short-eared Owls at dusk alongside Loch Spelve. 7 Ptarmigan (2 seperate groups) and a lone Snow Bunting around the Benbuie range. Also 2 Meadow Pipits 400m up and 3 Golden Plovers at 700m. Ewan Miles
6th: Java - Curlew, Greenshank.
5th: Garmony - Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Goosander, 10 Turnstone, Redshank. Scallastle Bay - Great Northern Diver, 21 Ringed Plover, 10 Turnstone (possibly the ones from Garmony seen an hour and a half earlier), 3 Dunlin. 2 White-tailed Eagles flying above the ridge of Dun da Ghaoithe with approx 6 Ravens below them. Craignure/Java - Goosander, Jay.
3rd: Craignure/Java - Great Northern Diver, Peregrine, Greenfinch.Nancy Somerville
3rd Loch Na Keal Lots of Great Northern Divers and several Slavonian grebe. There was a group of Whooper swans near Eorsa we counted 17 which included 3 Juvenile. Jacqui and Mike Murphy
3rd Lochdon Kingfisher was above the bridge in Lochdon again today.Saw it on its usual rock, plus on the power line further upstream. Andrew Oldacre
2nd: Java - 3 Goosander. above photo from Nancy Somerville
1st Craignure - Greenshank, Goldcrest. Garmony - 2 Wigeon, 5 Mallard, 2 Goosander, immature White-tailed Eagle, 8 Curlew, Greenshank. Nancy Somerville

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Latest December reports for 2019
31st Fanmore - The Mistle Thrush was singing and a Coal Tit. Dervaig - Eleven Little Grebes, 2 Greenshanks, 5 Redshanks, 3 Snipe and the Otter frolicking about again.Loch Meadhoin - A Cormorant and a Kestrel.Tobermory Tip - 420 Herring Gulls, 45 Great Black-backed Gulls and 35 Ravens.Aros Park - A drake and two female Goldeneyes on Lochan a Ghurrain. Tim Dixon
30th Lagganulva - 12 Lapwings.Killiechronan - 7 Great Northern Divers, 6 Slavonian Grebes, 12 Mallard, 7 Wigeon, 8 Teal, Goldeneye, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers and a drake Goosander.Ulva Ferry - A Sparrowhawk.Fanmore - Two Golden Eagles (one went off to Ulva the other back east), a Mistle Thrush, a Coal Tit and a Goldcrest. Tim Dixon

25th 4 male Ptarmigan, 700m altitude on Christmas day. Also male Stonechat at 700m and 4 Meadow Pipits at 500m. 15 Woodcock at dusk on the Salen - Dervaig road. Jack Snipe flushed alongside loch Cuin on xmas eve. Ewan Miles
28th In between the dreich we managed -Dervaig: A Little Grebe, a pair of Wigeons and two Otters. Great prolonged views of one of these eating eels.Calgary: 33 Oystercatchers, 9 Curlews and three divers which were distant but looked like Red-throated.between Ensay and Reudle: A Peregrine.Torloisk: Seven Jackdaws - a Mull tick for us. Tim Dixon

25th Lochdon bridge. I managed to photograph the Kingfisher this morning. Alan
24th Loch Cuin Dervaig, 16 Common Snipe, 7 Redshank feeding on the margins. Alan
24th A female Merlin at Ardmeanach, Mull yesterday. About 110 Barnacle Geese lifted up by a WT Eagle on Inch Kenneth. RT Diver at Grasspoint and 13 Bar-tailed Godwits on Lochdon on Mull Winter Tour. Ewan Miles www.naturescotland.com
22nd Tobermory Nuthatch still coming to feeder at Theatre car park first seen 16th November. Debbie Thorne
21st Dervaig. a Nuthatch visiting a local garden. Clare and Andy Fellows
15th Dervaig: One Greenshank, 9 Redshanks and 8 Snipe. Eas Fors: A Sparrowhawk. Tim Dixon
4th A few bits from yesterday. Fanmore: A Golden Eagle.Dervaig: Two Greenshanks, 7 Redshanks, 2 Curlews, 120 Common Gulls and 25 Rock Doves.Tim Dixon
13th Lagganulva: 5 Great Northern Divers, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, a Curlew and a Bar-tailed Godwit .Loch na Keal: 13 Slavonian Grebes, 15 Great Northern Divers, a Black-throated Diver, 20+ Wigeon, 17 Red-breasted Mergansers and 2 Black Guillemots.Knock: A Sparrowhawk. Clachandhu: A Merlin chasing Rock Pipits. Tim Dixon
13th: Java/Craignure - Great Northern Diver, 2 Curlews, Redshank, Jay. Craignure-Torosay coastline - Great Northern Diver. Hen Harrier (male) over field by hospital.Nancy Somerville
11th Dec A male Hen Harrier hunting the land between the fish farm at Ulva and the Ulva Ferry road today and a Dipper on the shore side of the Laggan Burn bridge.
9th Dec A Velvet Scoter seen from the pull off with a seat in front of Aros Castle. Two visitors were there and I showed them the bird through the scope and I went and told Jacqui from Enjoy Mull and she went down and confirmed that it was indeed a Velvet Scoter. Pam & Arthur Brown

9th: Java/Craignure Bay - 2 Great Northern Divers, Red-breasted Merganser (male), 4 Goosander (1 male), Curlew, Redshank, Black Guillemot. Craignure/Torosay coast - 5 Great Northern Divers, 2 Black Guillemots. Nancy Somerville

Juvenile white tailed eagle December 2019. photo by Carol Bennetto

8th I saw a male snow bunting on Erraid this afternoon, just below the community gardens. Peter skinner

7th: Craignure/Java Bay - Great Northern Diver, Greenshank. Nancy Somerville
6th: Java Bay - 3 Red-breasted Mergansers (2M, 1F), Goosander, Greenshank.

Common Scoter on Loch Spelve photo by Carol Bennetto

5th Female/juv Common Scoter still on Loch Spelve. Whimbrel in Salen Bay. Ewan Miles
3rd: Craignure/Java Bay - Black-throated Diver, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers (2M, 1F), Curlew. Adult White-tailed Eagle over hospital field.
4th: Java Bay - 2 Red-breasted Mergansers (1M, 1F), Curlew. Nancy Somerville
2nd: Java - (male) Red-breasted Merganser, Goosander, Curlew
1st: Scallastle forest path - Jay calling and flying over. Nancy Somerville

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20th Lone juv Whooper Swan been on Loch na Cuilce all month. Around 50 Teal dropped in last week as well. Ewan

juvenile black guillemot on loch spelve by regular visitor Carol Bennetto (often a hard one to ID)

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Latest sightings for December 2017

Mulls second Glossy Ibis, photo by Mike Murphy. last recorded was in 2009

21st Ardnacross: Glossy Ibis at Ardnacross, Mull (NM545493) ca 4 miles N of Salen on B848 Mike Murphy

19th Suidhe farm Bunnesan Grey wagtail foraging by the lochan at Suidhe farm Bunnesan Tony Jeffree
11th Dec Loch Scridain 1 Black-throated Diver. Glen More 1 Snow Bunting seen flying up from the edge of the road and then heard calling but not seen again.. Bryan Rains

White tailed eagles on Loch na Keal by Nancy Somerville

10th On a day when a frozen Loch Na Keal was steaming in the brilliant sunshine, a sample of today’s sightings at Killiechronan round to Kellan: 33 Golden Plover; 31 ringed plover; 3 Sea eagles; 6 red breasted merganser; 4 Goosander; 6 Teal; 54 Mallard; 4 Slavonian Grebe; 12 Great Northern diver; (1 Otter); 7 Redshank; 20 Greylags; 38 Canada geese; 22 Curlew. Steve & Linda Littlewood, Nancy Somerville, David and Felicity Pollard. Steve Littlewood

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19th : Knock Hatchery area. A Carrion Crow was feeding with Hooded Crows and an assortment of ducks and gulls at the hatchery this afternoon. It had previously been seen at Kellan by others. Stuart Gibson and Ewan Miles

26th. Female GoldenEye loch Uisg. Jay at Strathcoil. Mrs Rebecca J Burton
25th Dipper on shore at Pennyghael, opposite junction the Carsaig. Seasons Greetings. Rebecca
19th - Loch na Keal Diver Roost Count: Great Northern Diver roost, East of Eorsa, counted this late afternoon, but fewer than anticipated number of birds recorded: build up from two individuals at 16.00 hrs to a maximum of 45 at 16.35 hrs, when light levels prohibited further counting. Twice as many birds were anticipated, but there does seem to have been fewer birds throughout the island this Autumn and early Winter. Two Slavonian Grebes were counted on the sea and a further two flying West during the diver count.

Elsewhere: 23 Teal on North shore of loch at Kellan; a further 20 were present at the Knock Hatchery. A total of 104 Mallard and 24 Goldeneye were also at the latter site, but no sign of the Gadwall pair previously reported; Twenty-three (23) Turnstone, 24 Curlew, 56 Oystercatcher and 15 Ringed Plover at high-tide at head of Loch na Keal, but no sign of either Golden Plover or Bar-tailed Godwits that were expected; three drake Goosanders were feeding at the confluence of the River Ba and Loch na Keal; single Greenshank at both Aros estuary and Inverlussa, where there were 19 Wigeon; five Razorbills were in the Sound of Mull, near Craignure Golf course, where there was a flock of 12 Redwing. Stuart Gibson and Ewan Miles

11th Hope you are enjoying Oz. Male blackcap feeding on apple and peanuts 2 days running now in the garden. Debby

8th. 3 Whooper Swans on Loch Cuin. We hope you are having a great time down under.

10th. 2 Purple Sandpipers, 2 Ringed Plover, Lainne Sguier, 4 Great Northern Divers, 1 Black-throated Diver and 1 Red-throated Diver, Calgary Bay. Arthur & Pam Brown. Discover Mull

6th Dec - Loch na Keal/Lagganulva. Thirty (30) Golden Plovers and five Bar-tailed Godwits at Killiechronan and 11 Lapwing at Lagganulva. Stuart Gibson and Ewan Miles
4th Female Merlin at Caliach this morning. 15 Woodcock counted at dusk between Tobermory and Calgary last night. Ewan
Dec 1st Knock Hatchery Outfall - Amongst all the usual a pair of Gadwall although no ‘white-winged’ gulls on this occasion. Good numbers of Turnstone, Goldeneye and Black-headed gulls. Mike Wagemakers Carol Marshall

12th Lochdon. four Yellowhammers amongst Chaffinchhes eating seeds in my garden today. Alan

12th A family of whooper swans on the small pond at Arle yesterday 2 adults 3 cygnets. Martin Mull Charters
11th Oban Bay. The 1st Winter immature Iceland Gull was still present today, Alan
11th - Loch na Keal (North shore) A pair of Goosanders; the 1st Winter immature Rook is still to be seen feeding in pasture near Ulva ferry Primary school; and a single Red-throated Diver was at Lagganulva. Stuart, Ewan and Andy

4th 10 Teal on a small drainage pond at Sgriob-ruadh Farm, Tobermory. Woodcock overhead at dusk. Ewan
4th This morning we recorded a juvenile Gannet in Ardmore Bay. Given the date we thought this maybe of some interest. Ian and Michelle Walker
3rd 2 hen harriers hunting along the ridge overlooking the north side of Loch Frisa, towards the Dervaig end, and 2 male hen harriers over the new hide on Loch Torr. One was chasing the other away, perhaps it had strayed into it’s territory? 5 whooper swans, 2 juvenile and 3 adults on the Mishnish Lochs. Juliet, Felicity and David.

2nd 1 male and 4 female gadwall at Knock hatchery today, Felicity & Juliet. Felicity Pollard. (Gadwall are very scarce on Mull)

2nd The Goldeneye drake that has been hanging out on our lochan since 20/11/15 has been joined by a female for the last couple of days. Suidhe Farm, Bunessan.Tony Jeffree

30th Dec. - East Mull: While walking in East Mull, a female Hen Harrier rose from the bracken in front of us and flew a little way offshore. It loitered in the area for some time and as we watched it two tiny dark 'blobs' could be seen high up and in the far distance, sharing the same field of view as the harrier.

These dark 'blobs' were identified as 'eagles' but seemed to be soaring high above the Argyll mainland, immediately to the south of Oban, so which species wasn't yet apparent. These birds were obviously together and as they drifted high over the island of Kerrera it appeared that they were intent on crossing the sea to the Isle of Mull.

At this point, it became clear that they were White-tailed Eagles and an apparent pair. The reversed sexual dimorphism of White-tailed Eagles isn't always apparent, but it most certainly was with these birds! The female was either excessively large or its male partner was on the small side, or so it seemed, as neither of us had ever encountered such an obvious size difference in these birds previously.The birds continued to cross the Firth of Lorne between Kerrera and Mull, making contact with East Mull near the entrance to Loch Don, somewhere in the Grasspoint area, at which point they were lost to view.At first, we speculated that it could have been the long established Grasspoint pair indulging themselves in an away day to Kerrera, but at no point were we able to identify these birds as adults, effectively ruling out that possibility. Of course, the greater likelihood was that these were peripatetic immature birds, but from where? Had we witnessed the arrival for the first time of these birds to the Isle of Mull or were they more regular in their commuting? We will never know, but the experience was an exciting one for the observers. We wonder if the eagles shared this excitement at seeing us watching them? We very much doubt that!We had observed these birds from a very long way, the distance from Kerrera to East Mull being around 4 miles and the possibility is that they were, indeed, further afield when they were first spotted over the shoulder of that Hen Harrier!. Stuart Gibson and Ewan Miles