Senses Overload!

Its amazing how we drag ourselves through winter with the long dark nights and then all of a sudden, its Spring! 

Skye and Frisa are now well and truly into the routine of incubation.  Frisa tends to do the night shift on the nest, with Skye taking over for a couple of hours first thing in the morning while she has a preen.  They then take it in turns throughout the day though if its wet, the bird on the nest will stay put rather than risk getting those precious eggs wet and cold.   As you can imagine we are chewing our fingernails down to the quick hoping all goes well this year.  They have certainly been putting on some spectacular flying displays for our visitors, sometimes just soaring above the nest but also doing some stunning fly overs!  Don' t forget if you are coming to Loch Frisa this year, the meeting point has changed - this has moved to the north end of of Frisa on the Tobermory to Dervaig Road.  You can book a trip by calling the Craignure Visitor Centre on 01680 812556.  More details on the trips can be found here [DWN]  You can now also follow Skye and Frisa on Twitter with regular updates - their Twitter address is @skyeandfrisa

Today, at our new meeting point at the north end of Loch Frisa, we were treated to the beautiful song of a willow warbler and just caught sight of it darting about in the bushes.  Then as we headed down the track, a beautiful male hen harrier was spotted quartering the moorland on the far side of the loch.  Added to that, butterflies and bees seem to be in abundance all at once.  Of course our feeders are  full of chaffinches and siskins with the occasional visit of a couple of redpoll.  Above the hide, our ravens are still incubating their eggs too - it will not be long before we hear the screech from the chicks when Mum and Dad return to the nest with food - certainly noisy neighbours indeed for us at the hide.

No two days are ever the same at Loch Frisa - whether its the weather with one day glorious sunshine to the next rain and mist or the wildlife - today we had Skye being mobbed by a peregrine who in turn was being chased off by 3 buzzards. 

Its just amazing that at this time of year, everything is so active, so colourful and abundant. 

Siskins at Loch Frisa - photo Debby Thorne

Just to add that today Dave saw Kellan who had managed to find a deer carcase he had managed to find himself - what a result!  A real fighter for sure!

Debby Thorne

White Tailed Eagle Information Officer, Mull