• January 2nd and New Year's Day 2009 Update - "It may be winter outside...

    ...but in my heart it's spring" (Love Unlimited Orchestra 1973).

    January 2nd message...just to say that I've just read a blog from Mark Thomas of our Investigations Dept about our campaign called 'Good Men Stand Up'. It's inspiring and I urge you to read it. It's on our RSPB web site and is the most recent blog posted. Hopefully the winds of change will blow across our countryside in 2009 and some more good men…

  • A Boxing Day treat

    Okay so we never managed the walk on Christmas Day but 24 hours later saw us heading for the heart of Mull for a picnic lunch of turkey sandwiches, mince pies and mulled wine. The skies were overcast but with the occasional ray of light breaking through. The air is completely still and has been for days now. The glen looked deserted. Not even a buzzard broke the skyline. Kids rapidly becoming disenchanted after the promise…

  • The holly and the ivy

    It used to be Blondie's wood. Regular readers of this blog may recall an earlier posting titled 'The blonde bombshell'. You can read it again in the archive blog section for September. It's the place where it all began for Scottish sea eagles. The place where the first wild bred chick began his life. At this time of year with the leaves all long since blown into the deep waters of the loch, the wood seems…

  • Love in the mist

    We've had some really bleak midwinter weather here on Mull lately but every now again, it all blows through and we're left with a stunningly beautiful day. There is invariably snow left behind on the high tops of the Ben More range and the clarity of the air can be breathtaking. It all makes you instantly forget the endless days of grim wet and wind which can make your spirits sag.

    That's why one day recently was…

  • X-Factor Eagles - The Result?

    It was a flat calm day, not a breath of wind. Not exactly ideal eagle weather you'd think. They just can't get the lift they need from the air currents to make soaring easier. Usually they sit around alot in conditions like that just waiting for the wind to pick up. But what do I know?

    Just as I was sitting there thinking nothing would show, first one, then a second golden eagle cruised through. They were both…

  • X-Factor Eagles/Midweek sat tag update

    News just in for Mara: a few days ago on December 8th he was roosting at Glencripesdale on the south side of Loch Sunart. He had travelled from Glengorm on Mull where he was a couple of days prior to that. The area he roosted in is one of woodlands and cliffs within a National Nature Reserve. He's clearly roving around between Mull and the mainland. Looking forward to news of Breagha soon. Conclusion to the X-Factor…

  • The buzzard's tale - the call of the wild

    Weekend sat tag update:

    As hoped our male sea eagle juvenile Mara has popped up with a good signal on 4 December. At 0723, as dawn was beginning to break, he was a few miles west of Tobermory in the north west of Mull not far from Glengorm castle. That is probably where he spent the previous night (in a Sitka spruce plantation not as B&B in Glengorm Castle which is very nice but he prefers to roost in trees). I'm heading…

  • The buzzard's tale

    Contrary to popular belief, it's not only eagles we care about here on Mull. Calls from islanders and visitors to our local bird hospital (at Wings over Mull), the police or me at the RSPB are about everything from otters to owls, from herons to gulls. On the mainland, the Scottish SPCA would respond but here on the island we have to make do as best we can. So when the call came in early one morning about a bird in desperate…