A belated hello from me - the new Community Liaison Officer here at the beautiful Mull of Galloway. I am indeed living the dream, having spent the last couple of years working towards a career in conservation with the RSPB. My quest has taken me from Oxfordshire to Scotland, via Rathlin Island, Coombes Valley (Staffordshire) and then finally Leighton Moss in Lancashire. Three absolutely wonderful locations which have all won a corner of my heart but even so I can't get over how stunning Dumfries and Galloway is, why haven't I been here before now? It does seem to be a closely guarded secret, but I shall do my bit to try and spread the word.
Copyright: Sara Spillett
Enough about me - I need to let you know what's been seen at the Mull now that things are warming up slightly. In the few weeks that I have been here I have seen snow and storms as well as occasional bursts of sunshine. In my first couple of weeks at the Mull, it was relatively quiet on the wildlife front, I was happy to become acquainted with the local tysties and with the returning seabirds. I gave an inward cheer each time I spied a new returnee. Hooray for the guillemots and razorbills who started to appear on the cliffs. Good numbers of kittiwakes, such pretty gulls but that raucous shriek of theirs really doesn't match their delicate appearance! The fulmars are enjoying the strong winds more than I am and are gliding and wheeling about on those famous stiff wings. The gannets, they're easily seen flying low over the water and diving in their inimitable style. The shags are nesting now and we are lucky enough to have found a nest in full view of one of our cliff cameras - first egg was seen last Saturday. I haven't spotted any puffins yet but it must happen soon.
Turning the attention now to the precious maritime heath on our reserve, initially meadow pipits were my main neighbours, together with a flock of fieldfare and a couple of roe deer. Gradually other species have started to appear or make themselves more obvious - I could hear linnets in amongst the gorse and heather, then stonechats, wheatears, reed buntings... As of the last few days, we have started to see more migrants: swallows and housemartins, chiff chaff or willow warblers, it's all starting to happen! There's also been a sighting of a short-eared owl last Monday evening, hoping to catch sight of this myself, but I have saved the most dramatic sighting until last.
Some visitors who were staying in the holiday accommodation at the lighthouse came to tell us that they had surprised a peregrine (and themselves!) in the act of making a kill just outside their front door. The peregrine was now sitting on top of their chimney, trying to decide whether it still wanted the pigeon. We watched it for a while but then it took off and as we watched we soon realised that there were now two peregrines - her partner (the new bird was appreciably smaller) had joined her. They treated us to several minutes of aerobatics before finally heading off.
Copyright: Brian Nolan
I hope that the above has whetted your appetite and you'll want to come and see some of this for yourselves. It isn't just about feathered things of course: we have furry and finny creatures too - I forgot to mention earlier the porpoise that were attracting quite an audience yesterday, easily seen from the Visitor Centre.
Don't forget that we run guided walks all through the season, no need to book - just turn up at 1pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. More details here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-339234
See you soon!