Our Eagles and other wildlife enjoy Mull's great Easter weather

The weather this Easter week has been fantastic on the Isle of Mull. Iona, the hen bird has been busy sitting on her eggs in the warmth of the sun incubating. Fingal the male has been busy too, making sure the nest is kept fresh with larch and melina (white hill) grass .

He has also been bringing in food for his mate, in the form of large fish and small mammals each day.
There have been several change overs which we have witness at the hide with Iona going off to have a break and feed herself.
Our visitors have been treated to a number of great sightings and yesterday afternoon they witnessed Fingal on the nest calling out for Iona. This was a new noise to many of the children and adults visiting the hide, who had never heard eagle conversation before.

We have also had the delight of a visiting sparrowhawk at our woodland hide, who boldly flies through the hide to the amazement of our visitors! Other visiting wildlife include a small robin at the hide who greets us on a daily basis, whilst we are keeping our eyes peeled for the Scottish Crossbill that is resident in these woods too but no sightings as yet.

Other birds of interest are the local buzzards ,who nest near by and the regular female hen harrier who cleared all of  the chaffinches off the feeders at the reception hide on Tuesday with ease. The male chaffinches are in abundance too on the spruce tree on the feeders in their bright red colour, just like Christmas baubles.

The weather for the week is looking very good so if you are planning a visit to Mull, don't forget to book a trip to the Eagle Hide.

Mull Eagle Watch a Five Star wildlife attraction

Our new site at Glen Seilisdeir has proved to be a wonderful venue with great views of our Sea Eagle nest, a very popular open-air viewing hide and plenty of happy visitors.

We were delighted to receive our Silver accreditation from the Green Tourism Business Scheme, and now the icing on the cake is that we have been awarded five stars from Visit Scotland, making us one of only two wildlife attractions in Scotland with five stars.

Today is my last day for this season, although as I live on Mull I'll be keeping an eye on our eagles during the winter months - it's impossible to stay away! Fingal, Iona, Buidhe and Gorm are doing well (as are Skye, Frisa and Sunda) and all the other Sea Eagles on Mull - it's been a record year. Other raptors on the island have done well too, thanks largely to the lovely summer we have enjoyed - for once Scotland's west coast has enjoyed better weather than the rest of the UK.

Once again, thanks to our visitors, community groups on Mull and Iona will benefit from grants given out from the Eagle Fund. Around 50% of the hide income is divided between good causes on the island, with the remainder helping to protect all the Sea Eagle nests on Mull, and keeping the hide running.

So I hope you enjoy the pictures, with a wonderful sequence of a Sea Eagle fishing courtesy of one of our visitors - Chris Stone - who kindly gave us permission to use his fantastic shots. Goodbye for now, and all being well I'll be back next spring. Do visit us and enjoy one of the most spectacular wildlife experiences in the UK.

 

With best wishes, Sue Dewar, White-tailed Sea Eagle Ranger, Mull Eagle Watch





Mull School children with their life-sized eagle nest and, after all their hard work, relaxing on the eagle bench