Firstly I would just like to introduce myself as it’s my first ever ranger service blog. I’m Cian the seasonal ranger for this year. Primarily I have been working on the Mull Eagle Watch project, however I have also been running and planning my own events too.
The first solo event I did was actually covering for our friend Kerry over at the Glengorm wildlife project.
This was a guided wildlife walk around the estate for a lovely couple from Australia who were staying in the castle. They had expressed how much they wanted to see an Otter so I  felt obliged to try my best! As many of you will know Otters can be very elusive and difficult to watch even if there are hundreds on Mull so I did feel a bit of pressure. It was a beautiful day so the stroll down to the shore was filled with sunshine and a variety of birds such as meadow pipits, wheatears and skylarks.

 

Once we were down at the coast we scanned the shoreline for wildlife. The couple were new to most of the species here so the shelducks, shags and oystercatchers were all really exciting to see.

 

Now the hunt for an otter really began, I was scanning and searching every area we could see but no luck. As I cast my gaze slightly further out to sea I noticed a large blondey brown lump on a rock… It was a white-tailed sea eagle! As I scrambled to set the scope up for them to have a look it disappeared. I started ferociously scanning to see where it had gone when something else popped up in my binoculars, an otter!
As we watched it swimming around near a small tidal island we realised there were in fact two there. We continued to watch them swimming around and scaring the gulls as they clambered onto the island. They eventually went out of sight after 45 minutes or so. A real success and relief to have found what they really wanted to see. A great day even if I didn’t get a pic of the otters.

My next event was back up at Glengorm for a very early dawn chorus walk. A couple of early birds ventured up to join me and we definetly caught the metophorical worm. It was a clear and still morning, perfect for tuning in to the songbirds morning choir. On our way to the woods we spotted a group of mountain hare lounging in a field, this was a real treat as I had only ever seen a one or two in my life.

Once in the woods the birds did not disappoint, blackcaps and chiffchaffs stole the show. We then meandered to the coast to see what we could find lurking in the sea. On the way there was a whitethroat  calling out from the scrub, sounding like a tiny chainsaw. When we got to the shore we were greeted by some sleepy seals just about waking up. We sat and watched them for a while and they slowly got more awake and then inquisitive. They proceeded to get closer to have a look at us.

 

We then left the seals to walk further along the coast, as we did we found a couple of eider ducks to cap off a magical morning.

A week later we had a meeting at the office. Before the meeting I had my lunch break at Aros bay, I was watching some red-breasted mergansers when a couple of curlew flew in. I don’t see these birds as much as I have done in other areas so it was quite enjoyable. They suddenly started calling and both took off, as did the gulls and other birds that were on the shore. As I looked up I realised why, a white-tailed sea eagle was flying overhead.

Once this had flown out of sight I tucked into my sandwich only to put it down again as all the birds started calling and flying again. I was anticipating another eagle and sure enough there was another big bird in the sky heading towards me. Although this didn’t look like an eagle through my binoculars, it was really white… an OSPREY! What a lunchtime treat!

Our meeting was about how the Mull Eagle Watch pair of white-tailed eagles clutch had failed due to an intruding eagle. So we thought we would see how the Tiroran pair were getting on. They had more success so we thought that it would be a great idea to do a ranger service event there. So this week I took a group there with some exciting views. The nest was in full view and we even had one of the pair come and perch in a tree even closer to the hide.

Another great wednesday doing my ranger service duties. Stay tuned for the next few events. For those interested I will be running a guided walk at Fishnish on June 6th. I hope to see some of you there and for those who can’t make it i’ll fill you in on my next blog installment.
Keep your eyes in the skies, Cian.