Well, September is certainly proving to be a saviour in terms of weather. We are enjoying lots of warm sunshine and blue skies - you could almost be fooled into thinking it was May or June. Tee shirts have come out of winter storage and its lovely to feel the warmth of the sun on your face. Our family at Loch Frisa have been enjoying the warm weather too. Skye and Frisa are spending long periods, perched on the larch trees in front of the hide, looking so relaxed now the majority of this year's parental duties are done. They will still be feeding Heather but the majority of their work is done. They seem to be enjoying some "me" time before the whole process starts again.
The golden eagles have been enjoying this weather too and our visitors have been getting great views as they fly across the hide, trying to steal the limelight from Skye and Frisa. The buzzards are still a joy to watch - the youngsters now hunting on their own but occasionally taking 5 minutes out to play tag with a sibling! We still have butterflies and dragonflies around and just occasionally, we glimpse the odd swallow - so we can still pretend its summer.
Calgary Bay this week - white sand, blue sea and blue skies - Photo Debby Thorne
After tomorrow, we start a new phase at the Hide. Previously, we would now be planning to put the hide into mothballs until next Spring but from next week we are going to keep the hide open through autumn and winter, running our trips at 10.00 am and 1.00 pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Bookings can be made through our friends at the Tourist Office in Craignure (Tel: 01680 812556). We are fortunate that our eagles do not migrate and are here all year round so if you are planning a trip to Mull come and see us! Details of our Eagle Watch project can be found here http://www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature/sites/mull/index.asp. The leaves on the trees are starting to turn, the heather is in bloom and the bracken starting to die off - autumn on Mull is stunning - the colours breathtaking and as for the wildlife, well ........ you will just have to come and see if for yourself!
This Sunday also sees our "Fledge" party at Loch Frisa - a chance to raise a glass to all our chicks and to say thank you to everyone involved with these magnificent birds. We are meeting at the hide at 1.00pm and the gates at both ends of the Loch will be open - if you are around, do come and join us.
Debby Thorne, White Tailed Eagle Information Officer,
Isle of Mull
BBC news has details of the Sea Eagles in Scotland this year. news.bbc.co.uk/.../8270703.stm.
Birdies LG DU update.
Yes Jillian we have a nice ending to a sad story.We have several fishing lakes that we often walk around and a pair of Swans hatched just two cygnets unfortunately a male intruder we think killed one and the other must have hidden until the coast was clear.With the help of fishermen and bird lovers feeding it when possible it is now a lovely Swan but still Grey at the moment but we have seen it mixing with older Swans so surely now a happy ending to this tale.
Glad you had a good party.
Not a good evening last night (Tuesday) when I was checking my many wildlife webcams I check each day.
Firstly I had been following 3 owletts in a manmade nest in a Cornish barn through the Barn owl trust and they said that the eldest, male owlett had been found dead about 2 miles from the barn at the weekend. He left the barn for good on 10th August and they think he had starved to death. Next on checking my local paper I had as I expect Sooty and Sweep had also been following the adventures of a femal bottlenose whale which had been swimming/diving etc, just opff Bournemoth/Poole beach for a week. At the weekend she was not seen and it was thought she was making her way down to the Bay of Biscay. Unfortunatly she was found dead just offshore on Tuesday morning an an autopsy has been carried out. She had many cuts on her head and stomach which they think possibly came from a net or rope recently causing her to drown. We will know more next week. Very sad as you soon get attached to wildlife which you want to do well and live for many years.
JILLIAN-Hopefully someone has a positive wildlife story to tell.
PS Dave-any news of the swallow?
The fledge party was a great success and its a great opportunity to catch up with people that you normally just wave to as your cars pass on the single track road! Skye and Frisa were a bit shy but we had a great display from the goldies - there were some ravens hassling them and at one point, one of the goldies gave chase and told one of the ravens off in no uncertain terms - fantastic to see - you should have heard the ooohs and aaahs! As I type this comment, there are strong winds raging outside and the rain is lashing against the window - a complete contrast to last week - oh well - as they say on Mull, just wait 5 minutes and the weather will change - and quite often it does.
Thanks Debby. Sorry, I don't know why I missed this update.
Welcome from Finland Auntie, what a great number of sea eagle chicks
Mull sounds lovely and one day..... Hope the party went well:)