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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pam_m" data-source="post: 1827753" data-attributes="member: 18672">5th May.Hooray!! My first sighting of a Red Squirrel early this morning at the bungalow! It scurried about so quickly that I had a job getting a decent photo of it, so I gave up with the camera and just enjoyed watching it hurriedly breaking open the monkey nuts and scurrying off to bury it's treasure...the nuts!! A delightful little creature!Portpatrick, New England Bay and Mull of Galloway were on the agenda today. Black Guillemot nest in the harbour walls at Portpatrick and today we watched 6 pairs as they rested on the water, flew to their nests and belly flopped into the water from their nests! A delightful little Auk! A lifer for me and a much enjoyed one! A pair of Eider were spotted close to shore also Oystercatcher, Manx Shearwater and Gannet were scoped offshore, Herring, L B B and G B B Gulls were to be seen around the harbour and cliffs. I can recommend the Fish & Chips that we bought at the harbour, delicious! The proprietors deep fried some battered haggis for us to sample, I must say I was pleasantly surprised how tasty it was, though the batter would have to be walked off later.lol!! On to New England Bay and what a delightful bay it is too! Goldfinch, Stonechat, Pied Wagtail, Martins, Swallows, Gannets, Cormorant, Oystercatcher and Gannets being highlights! The Stonechats were a delight to watch as they picked off flies and caterpillars on the vegetation. After a short (ish) stay and a delicious ice cream we headed for Mull of Galloway.It was 4.00pm by the time we arrived at RSPB Mull of Galloway. A Wheatear  and Rock Pipit put in a brief appearance as we drove to the carpark. The visitor centre was still open and the very friendly volounteer told us of the c 5,000 Gannets that breed on the rocky islands that you can see jutting out of the sea, these are the Scar(e)s. We viewed through the scope in the Centre, with literally hundreds fishing...what a sight!We began to walk around the whitewashed perimeter wall of the lighthouse, I reckon it was the whitewash that was attracting the flies...swarms of them, in my hair and hitting my face as we walked...I can stand so much but these flies were getting rather irritating! So it was decided that the less of two evils would be to walk down the cliff steps to 'Foghorn', a viewing point! It was ok walking down as long as you fixed your eyes to the steps and did not raise your eyes to see the view!!!! Once down on to 'Foghorn' and solid walls surrounding you it was a treat! Gannet, Fulmar, Guillemot, Shag and Cormorant on the cliffs and over the sea! The sight and sounds were well worth the 'butterfly in the tummy' churning of the walk down the cliff. A Rock Pipit posed nicely for a pic and I spotted the head of a Grey Seal bobbing about in the sea but once I took my bins of it I lost it! Doh!! The walk back to terra firma was not as bad as the descent as long as you glued your eyes to the steps once again until almost at the top, oh and it was also a bit of a huff and a puff too, so a few intakes of breath were needed.lol!! Please don't anybody be put off by my ramblings, I was just being a wimp.lol!!A flock of Twite in the fields bid us farewell to Mull of Galloway! It had been another wonderful day today.</blockquote>

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