Frisa, Fish and Frolics.

June 30, 2016June 30, 2016 / rangerservice / Leave a comment

It has been a bit of a busy couple of weeks and only just getting time to draw a breath. We had a work placement student Tom Hilder, with us for three weeks and he was a pleasure to have as part of the team. Luckily he saw the best of the weather and the wildlife, with trips to our public viewing sea eagle hides with rangers Stephanie Cope and Debby Thorne, joined the eagle tag and ringing party with David Sexton (RSPB), out with Sea Life Surveys on a couple of boat trips and joined the Ranger Service on a couple of our guided events, including the evening trip to Staffa. He also had time out with wildlife ranger James Greig, learning about deer management, and we put him to work tidying up and inspecting recreation sites, also strimming and beach cleaning. Tom is welcome back anytime!!
On Saturday we had our annual fishing competition on Loch Frisa. Fishing is from the bank and the competitors have 5 hours to catch as many trout as they can over 8 inches using one fishing rod. Plenty trout were caught but none particularly large.

Brown trout

Guy Bolton won the adult section and a visiting youngster, Fraser from Appin, won the junior section. It was lovely to have some ‘new kids on the block’, some who were total novices, but all the juniors came away with a medal, a prize and a couple of fish.
I headed off with my camera for a wee while. The MacDowell’s fields at Lettermore were full of wild flowers and it could not have been a nicer day, slight breeze, sun, lovely landscape and NO midges.

Flag Iris

wild Flower meadow with Tikka

The generosity of the local business that sponsor the event really make the day and I appreciate their generosity.

Loch Frisa looking towards Ben Taladh

Sunday was a different kettle of fish (pun not intended) all together. It was planned to have a tidy of Calgary Bay in time for the summer holiday rush, luckily the beach had little litter on it so in rather ‘damp’ climatic conditions, Matthew and Julia Reade and I spent time sorting picnic tables, tidying and strimming the camping area and plunging the wash hand basin in the gents, too much information I am sure).
To conclude my run of three events we held a guided walk at Ardmore yesterday afternoon. We were joined by retired wildlife ranger Steve Irvine and the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. The weather had threated us again but miraculously the sun came out and there was a small breeze. We had a lovely companionable walk with views of an otter relatively close by the shore, a golden eagle flew overhead and then surprisingly a mole crossed our path which we would not have seen had it not been for Tikka, my vizsla, giving it a helping hand.

Otter watching

Now the summer holidays have just started watch out for a wide variety of events for lots of different ages and interest, over the next couple of months.

by Jan Dunlop:

Going Wild on Treshnish

June 21, 2016June 22, 2016 / rangerservice / Leave a comment

Each spring, I look forward to the succession of plants and animals that emerge with the warming weather on Mull.

Now, on the back of beautiful sunshine throughout May and June, the banks of wildflowers are a riot of colour and industry. Myriad insects go about the business of pollination and procreation, crackling the air with acetate wings and fueling the blue-black halo of swallows above.

For interesting wildflowers, Treshnish Farm is a destination with much to offer. The site boasts certified Coronation Meadows, which were in full bloom at the time of our visit and an absolute joy to walk through.

We were joined by members of the Bunessan Gardening Group, who proved to be tremendously goods fun; in addition to a selection of other island residents from north and south.

Carolyne Charrington led the way, through the farm and out to fields brim-full of pignut and native bluebell. Burnet roses flowered in clusters alongside the track, and greater butterfly orchids poked their white heads out between the waxy green of bracken and hard fern.

It was fascinating to learn about the effect of different grazing regimes on wildflower diversity, and there were a number of rarer species present. Some – like wood bitter vetch – were completely new to me.

We finished the outward stretch of our walk at a huddle of restored fishermens’ cottages.

Goldfinches twittered sweetly from the fuchsia bushes, and popped down for titbits left out by guests. In a small burn, marsh marigolds and cress flowers nodded by the gurgling water. Orchids – such as heath spotted and northern marsh, grew in pink profusion along the banks.

I’m told that there are still people on Mull today whose families lived in these houses. Though I’m sure it was different in times past, now they are an idyll of quiet stone and windy reflection.

Bright plastic buoys and fishing boxes filled with flowers adorned the cottage gardens. Washing flapped in the breeze, adding a homely note to the peaceful atmosphere.

It was a lovely afternoon, and I would like to thank Carolyne for both her time and her enthusiasm. I certainly learned a lot!

Why not join Emily on Burg for more flowers and burnet moths on Wednesday 25th?

Stephanie Cope

A Busy Week!

June 20, 2016June 26, 2016 / rangerservice / 2 Comments

Good morning from the Ross of Mull! We’re enjoying a day in the office for the first time in a while after a busy week last week.

We kicked things off on Sunday with our Thistle Camp Volunteers who were staying at Burg for the week. In the morning we carried out some habitat management, clearing overgrown bracken which was hiding many of the old farm dwellings from view.

Before

After

After lunch, we moved onto beach cleaning and removed over 10 black bin bags full of ropes, plastics and other interesting items including several shotgun cartridges from Burg’s shoreline. For the remainder of the week, the Thistle Campers carried out various other tasks such as moth surveys, path and road repairs and gorse removal. Their effort throughout the week was greatly appreciated and we can’t thank them enough for their help!

On both Tuesday and Friday, Emily and myself carried out seabird surveys of the many islets around the coast of Iona with the help of the Mull Bird Club and aboard the ‘Birthe Marie’.

The ‘Birthe Marie’ of Alternative Boat Hire

Sea bird colonies around Scotland have been in decline for a number of years and therefore, it is important that we monitor our populations on an annual basis. During our two days surveying, we recorded numbers of shags, fulmars, gulls, kittiwakes, oyster catchers and puffins and Emily is currently in the process of writing up the results and I’m sure they will be published shortly.

A ringed fulmar about to be released on Soa.

On Wednesday, we teamed up with tour operator ‘Turus Mara’ and the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust to organise an evening trip to Staffa. Although the weather wasn’t as pleasant as the previous week, our guests had an extremely enjoyable evening. Staffa’s puffins were in great spirits and were often seen feeding mouthfuls of sand eels to their pufflings!

A few of Staffa’s puffins

Whilst our guests were on Staffa, I carried out a count of the fulmar population on Staffa with the help of Izzy from the HWDT. We counted 94 pairs of fulmars on the island – a slight decrease in comparison to 2015.

On our way back, ‘Turus Mara’ skipper Colin spotted a Minke whale and we had the pleasure of watching it surface for around 10 minutes before it finally disappeared from view heading south towards the Ross of Mull. If that wasn’t enough, we also had the pleasure of enjoying another fantastic sunset!

On Thursday, we carried out our annual goat survey on Burg. The goats here are feral and are believed to descend from those left behind during the Highland Clearances. We monitor the goat population so that the grazing on Burg can be managed appropriately. In total, we counted 115 goats, whilst we also had the pleasure of encountering two golden eagles and several red deer!

Some steep scrambling on Burgs north coast

Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable and productive week and we thank the Thistle Camp volunteers, Mull Bird Club , Turus Mara, HWDT and Mark Jardine of Alternative Boat Hire for their assistance throughout the week.

Next up, we have our Moth and Wildflower walk on Wednesday at Burg. We will be meeting at the NTS Car Park at 10am. Booking is essential and can be made via email (ewilkins@nts.org.uk) or by phone (07717581405 or 01681700659).

I look forward to meeting you in the near future.

Daniel

Sunny highlights

June 2, 2016June 2, 2016 / rangerservice / Leave a comment

We’re enjoying weeks of almost unbroken warm sunshine here, time to give you a snapshot of what we’re up to in south Mull and Iona…

Thanks very much to the cheery NTS Thistle Camp volunteers, what a good-natured bunch of hard-working folk. They are seen here checking out the results of all their efforts shifting boulders by giving the new stepping stones the ‘prancing test’!

Next a great group of students from George Watsons college in Edinburgh, on Mull for a John Muir Award week, who helped us out with a seaweed survey, Marine Conservation Society litter survey and beach clean up at Carsaig.

Iona and Bunessan primary schools teamed up for a visit to Tiroran Community Forest and Mull Eagle Watch, learning about our nesting sea eagles, measuring and identifying trees and minibeasts and having plenty of time to explore.

Not to be outdone, afterschool nature clubs at both schools have been collecting wool caught on fences and brambles, which was then washed and mordanted. They also collected a selection of plants to produce their own dyes, and have carded the dyed wool reading for felting into pictures. Can you guess some of the plants we used from the photos?