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Message: <blockquote data-quote="joannec" data-source="post: 1262899" data-attributes="member: 30076">Thanks guys!Part II:  The Ross of Mull, Iona and a Treat to ComeWe had decided before coming to Mull that we wouldn't go on any 'wildlife tours', not because they're not good but because we like finding birds ourselves, the Treshnish trip being the exception for obvious reasons.  It's easy when someone else points things out but not as satisfactory, not as much fun. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> Also they're expensive.  So....two days later we decide to travel the southern breadth of the island, go to Iona and look out for golden eagles.  We've been scanning the crags and ridges ever since arriving but so far nothing that we can be certain is a GE, plenty of buzzards throughout the day though.  We stop several times along Loch Scridain, first at the head.  It's low tide and we find a small flock of golden plover, a few ringed plover, common sandpiper, dunlin and lapwing. Young  eiderduck in small groups on the rocky bits diving and preening are a nice treat.  All the time we're scanning the ridges in hope.Iona beckons......I was last here some 30+ years ago when the 'ferry' was an open boat with an outboard engine and a single skipper; now it's a CalMac roll on roll off car ferry! LOL. I know which I prefer.  Rock pipits are at the harbour edges both sides.  We make the short walk to the Abbey and ruined 8th century Nunnary  which has the most beautifully simple garden set among the glistening pink granite of the old ruins.  All the while I am searching and listening unsuccessfully |<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite3" alt=":(" title="Frown    :(" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":(" />|for corncrakes in the irises and after visiting the Abbey we content ourselves with watching the commic terns diving for fish in the sound.One of the problems with Mull we've found  is that places to have an evening meal are few away from Tobermoray and are mostly expensive and we decide on one of only two in Bunessen on the way back to our lodgings but it turns out you need to pre book in August so we end up spending far more than we intend at the expensive one. :eek!:  These long late evenings are great and there is still a few hours birding before dark.  The head of the loch at high tide is bereft of the plentiful waders seen earlier but we find some wheatear on the rocky shore...all the while scanning the ridges....only buzzards and more buzzards.Other half and I take it in turns to drive, as you do.  My eagle eyed husband, while driving through  Glen More suddenly shouts for me to stop.  'I think it's an eagle' he says.  And perched on the crag it is indeed a golden eagle!!!:king::king:  It's looking just how you expect against the sky in the evening light, a silouette on the crags.  We get out of the car, no one else is around for miles and it is a wild and free moment.  We watch it for perhaps 10 minutes, getting eaten by midges the whole time I discover later.  I'm thinking, 'I wish it would fly' when it drops down out of sight to a lower crag but a minute later it is up and soaring, a single flap and it glides slowly like a small plane above us and across the glen! WOOOOO, absolutely fantastic and we are on a high for the rest of the evening!:t:A few more pictures; I decided to leave the golden eagle picture uncropped to show the huge expanse as well.Joanne</blockquote>

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