Scotland Holiday Day 7 – 12th July 2012 : Mull

Scotland Holiday Day 7 – 12th July 2012 : Mull

On our seventh day of holiday – our sixth day on Mull – we decided to have a more leisurely day and to drive around a few parts of the island that were on our “to visit” list that we hadn’t seen yet. We decided to start with Loch Frisa which is, of course, the home of the original pair of White-tailed Sea Eagles that were introduced on Mull. We took the Dervaig road from Tobermory and parked the car just off the road in a little car park and started to walk down to the west end of the loch. The left side of the path was rocky hillocks and the right hand side was brambly scrub land and bog. The time of year was not particularly good for birding it being a little late in the season but there were still plenty of birds popping up briefly from the undergrowth.

These included Wren, Willow Warbler, Bullfinch and Meadow Pipit ; there were also Robins and, atop the trees, Siskins. Chaffinches were common as usual as were Hooded Crows. There was even a solitary Common Sandpiper at the edge of the loch. We walked for a couple of miles along the side of the loch but only once got a glimpse of a bird of prey crossing the width of the loch and disappearing into the forest but whether it was Eagle or Buzzard was impossible to tell from the brief look we got. It was till a lovely walk down the side of the loch but it would have taken us most of the day to walk to the bottom of the loch and back so we contented ourselves with a taste of the place.

We returned to Dervaig and as we were riving along Anne spotted a large bird of prey in the sky above the trees at the top of a mountain. As it happened we were passing the Bellachroy Hotel so we pulled into the car park and I jumped out and quickly got the bird in my scope. It didn’t hang around for long but we were confident that it was a Golden Eagle – but again just a fleeting look before it disappeared into the trees. We had a drink anyway and then headed off to our next “must see” place, Calgary Bay.

Calgary Bay is regarded as one of the most scenic locations on Mull, the location for many a beach wedding on the island. The approach to the sandy bay is beautiful “machair”, that is meadow growing on calcareous sand.In fact this is the derivation of the Gaelic name” Cala ghearraidh”, which means “beach of the meadow”. As the meadow falls to the sandy beach there are sand dunes/ bunkers in which we saw many Sand Martins come and go from their nests mere inches from picnickers. We stood and watched for quite a while getting very close views of these fantastic little birds.

We continued on the path that runs to the north of the bay and leads to the old pier that was once used to bring sheep from the Treshnish Islands to Calgary Bay for grazing on the meadows. In the bay there were seals and we spotted a couple of Black Guillemots there as well as a few Common Terns dashing around. There were the usual Pied Wagtails everywhere. It was a lovely day and we just ambled about taking in the sunny atmosphere, the clean air and enjoyed watching the wildlife.

We continued by driving down the rather difficult coastal road that runs from Calgary down past the Ulva Ferry. As usual for Mull this is all single track but it is very steep and there are very few passing places. There are great views, though, so it was quite a fascinating route. We came around the side of Loch Na Keal on the lookout for Eagles but all we saw was a single Buzzard. As we turned north again at Salen we stopped for a bit to take some photos of the much photographed derelict boats in the bay and whilst there we saw Common and Lesser Black Backed Gulls and some Common Terns

From Salen we returned to Tobermory. We had had a full day of fantastic weather and we had ticked off a few more of our “must see” sites and had some great birding. Perhaps the best for me was the Sand Martins at at Cargary Bay and the – oh so brief – sighting of the Golden Eagle. We had by now had several sightings of Golden Eagles but all had been tantalisingly distant. We only had one more day left on the island so we still had one last chance for a really good view !

Bird Sightings : Mull