Well, what an exciting day we've had. Me and my two residential volunteers, Pam and Roger, bundled into the car to head up to the Mull for 8.30 a.m. this morning to catch the 'Black Streak' rocket being launched by a team from Bolton Science and Technology Centre (well not literally to catch it). The team brought half of Bolton with them, and they were all busying about like worker bees putting their rocket together and…

Thank you to everyone who came along for our 10k for Kittiwakes sponsored walk. We had a fantastic day, and raised an amazing £371! What generous people you all are.

This money will go directly towards out work up here at the Mull of Galloway, which includes protecting the kittiwake colony, monitoring their numbers each year, and raising awareness about the kittiwakes and our wider marine work. 

Here's a picture…

Yes that's right I was on the radio today, joyously singing with the kittiwakes. It has to be heard to be believed. Here's the link, I'm at just after 53 minutes in.

Also, there is a video of me and the kittiwakes 'on location' at the Mull of Galloway on the BBC News South Scotland website.

If you caught me on the radio you'll have heard me waxing lyrical about our 10k for Kittiwakes sponsored walk…

Kirsty enthralled us all with tales of wonderous record breaking birds today. It was a glorious day - here are pictures of us chilling in the sun...

...walking like penguins....

...flapping the biggest bird ever to live (what was it called again, Kirsty?)....

... and generally having a giggle....

In other news, we decided to start a very interesting ecological survey of our snails on the lighthouse garden…

There's lots to keep you entertained up at the Mull of Galloway over the next couple of weeks.

On Monday 15th, Kirsty will be leading a Summer Club workshop on mammals of the Mull - she'll be setting up friendly traps so that we can get up close and personal to small mammals - we are hoping to find voles, shrews, maybe even stoat babies! She will then be helping you take apart owl pellets, to identify small mammals…

Highlights of the week:

Basking shark on Saturday

Pod of 30 bottlenose dolphins also seen on Saturday

9 amazing beach mobiles

Peregrine falcon seen a few times this week, once sitting on a post in the car park!

Assorted linnets, goldfinches, whitethroats and stonechats

Lots of six-spot burnets, cinnabar moths (and catterpillars), and rose-chafer beetles.

This intrepid adventurer on his way around the 5,000 mile…

Hello all, We made fantastic beach mobiles on Monday, as part of the Mull of Galloway summer club. Daniel, my new residential volunteer, helped me to collect flotsam and jetsam from Port Logan beach, and then on Monday we spread it out in the visitor centre for everyone to get creative. Here are the pics!

Photos: Daniel Tabor 2011

Join us any Monday until the end of the summer holidays for more beach, bird…

We've had  fantastic weather up at the Mull all week, and Rob and I made the most of it on Thursday by making a full count of our seabirds. At the moment, the best place to see the birds is just off the reserve along the cliff path from the cafe. Here, the birds are very close, and with a pair of binoculars you can watch tiny penguin-like guillemot chicks wobbling precariously on edges surrounded by big groups of over…

Here is my attempt to lift the mood after that last blog!

So - here's the good news - we are starting up a summer club for families up at the Mull, running on Monday afternoons from 1 until 4 during the holidays (starting this Monday, 18th July! Booking required). Kirsty, our Galloway field teacher, will be leading it, and she'll be helping all you lot to go wild with the butterflies, bugs and birds of the Mull, as well…

Shocking evidence of the damage done by fishing line in seabird colonies -  from Andrew's visit to Scare Rocks:

Photos: Andrew Bielinski

A wet and windy day at the Mull... and sad news - the kittiwake chicks that we had such high hopes for (yes the same one as I blogged about 5 days ago, plus younger sibling), dissappeared half way through the day. The parent kittiwake seemed as baffled as us, all afternoon she/he kept looking around her empty nest for the missing ones. No sign of the mate either this afternoon. It's a bit of a mystery, and Eleanor…

There are two new arrivals at Mull of Galloway - yesterday our new residential volunteer Eleanor spotted a kittiwake sitting on an egg with a visible crack running through it - we waited all day in hope - and today that egg has become a new life! There were big celebrations in the centre, as we were starting to get very anxious that we'd have no chicks at all this year. Hopefully this will be the first of many. We have…

NEWS FLASH!

We now have 14 puffins at the Mull! They were seen yesterday from Lagvag point, flying to and from the cliffs. But of course I STILL haven't seen them...

Here's a general knowledge titbit for you: the latin name for puffin is actually Fratercula arctica, which means arctic monk (or friar or priest or something) - I assume because of their fetching black capes. Manx Shearwaters on the other hand are…

There’s a lot of pink and purple things around at the moment – it’s that time of year. I love purple, so I’m happy. As mentioned before we have bell heather, orchids and wild  thyme out, but also cross-leaved heath, bloody cranesbill, purple milk-vetch and sea pinks amongst others.

Then there are the bright six spot burnet moths  and cinnabar moths – proof to anyone that moths don’t have to be…

Hello! Welcome to the new Mull of Galloway blog. This is my first full season as Community Liaison Officer at the Mull. I've been here for two whole months already, but what with keeping tabs on seabirds, swotting up on wild flowers, and the general fun of getting into the swing of a new job, I haven't had the chance to set up a blog page - until now.

So what's been going on on the reserve? Well, everything really…