Mull Sep 22 - Oct 1

 I never book a cottage which doesn't have WiFi. Our Mull cottage, 6 miles from Craignure, had a broken phone line, which was not fixed during the whole of our stay. I missed my daughter's birthday in Australia, couldn't download Kindle books, write my Blog, read Emails etc etc. Very frustrating - and indicative of my reliance on the internet.

A shorter  version of events.

Isle of Mull and Ardnamurchan

September 22 – Oct 9 2022

 

Thursday Sep 22

Leaving home shortly after 9 a.m. we had a smooth, traffic friendly journey to Penrith TraveLodge, where we spent the night. We had a little rain, but it was mostly dry and sunny. As we drove north, we started seeing small skeins of Pink-footed Geese making their way south.

A surprising first for me tonight. Firstly, I’m not fnd of Burgers, secondly I’ve never eaten a BurgerKing meal. I thoroughly enjoyed it – both burgers and a portion of chips cost a mere £4.99. Amazing.

Friday Sep 23

Not many miles over a hundred to travel today, so we made a small diversion to Caerlaverock WWT. We added a year tick in the car park, a Goldcrest, which had eluded us so far. There was also a Chiffchaff which led me a merry dance trying to photograph it. To no avail, my card was empty – a failure somewhere.

Four Belgians on super motorbikes had parked in the blue badge parking area at Dumbarton TraveLodge whilst they had a coffee in Starbucks. Maybe they couldn’t read English.

Saturday Sep 24

What a lovely morning to be driving past Loch Lomond and then Glen Coe. We’ve never driven the Glen in sun. Tourists were out in force, all the parking areas were full of coaches, cars, Campavans and motor bikes. This is one of my favourite roads, the scenery is spectacular, nut-brown Autumn moorland, rushing streams, spectacular waterfalls dropping off the high mountain top via deeply incised gullies, like teardrops down a giant’s face.

Only a short wait before driving onto the Corran ferry, a short crossing so most people stay in their vehicles. 

To our astonishment, the attendant said that we had a free crossing as she’d noticed the blue badge. It wasn’t on show, just stored in the dashboard well.

On reaching Argour, on Ardnamurchan, we turned right in order to check the old pier for Black Guillemots - and to get out of the race through Ardnamurchan to the Lochaline - Fishnish ferry. No Black Guillemots on the pier, nor in the Sound of Mull. Plenty of Shags though. Many of them perched on all the available buoys.

 

 

We set off west along the coast road, looking carefully at each bay and inlet. The sight of a large group of small dots in the water encouraged me to use my scope, we once saw a sizeable collection of Slavonian Grebes along here, when we visited with Heatherlea on Pam's 75th birthday. These were a hundred plus Red-breasted Mergansers, all looking like the females. Lovely birds, some of my favourites.

First view of one group

 

Enlarged

 

By prevaricating, we arrived during the midday lull, so had to wait an hour for the ferry from Lochaline to Fishnish on Mull. Not a hardship. We enjoyed a hot chocolate from the ferry shop and watched the Sound for birds. We did have to pay on this ferry. Dealing with the concessionary ticket involved the collector in so much clerical work that I thought that the previous one had decided that a free fare was the easier option. 

A mere six miles from Craignure to the Loch Buie turn off. Our cottage was the second one on the right after crossing a hump-backed bridge. The cleaner was still there. Our notes said after 3, she insisted that it should be after 5. No problem, we drove on to the shores of Loch Spelvie. We sat and watched a Curlew and a Grey Heron going about their daily lives.

 

There was a small stream running into the loch near our resting place. Pam noticed a Grey Wagtail tripping along over the stones.What a lovely start.
Back to the cottage which was good in many ways - but not ideal for two oldies. The furniture and beds were low, as were the loo seats. It makes one realise how much we have adapted our home to suit our aged needs. We made a  few adaptations and managed the rest. I reported the lack of WiFi to Gaynor, the housekeeper, she could do nothing until Monday, when the offices opened again. This went on. 

We had a group of Peacocks and their hens living round the cottage and the nearby barns. One wet individual huddled up to the barn wall for shelter.

Sunday September 25

We started the day by opening the moth trap. The habitat at the back of the cottage looks good - the weather is not conducive. Cool and wet. We had a few moths, the best of which was an Autumnal, identified after much perusing of Lowen's excellent book. Without WiFi and also Satellite signal for my phone, ObsId is not an option.

We then made our way to Salen Spar for basic shopping, stopping at various places along the way. Another Grey Wagtail at Garmony, always a delight. 

Then, Loch na Keal, sure fire for sightings of eagles in the spring. Not to-day - apart from two White-tailed Eagles rising from the clump of conifers behind us before speeding away. Best was Pam's delight at finding an Otter, almost immediately after she'd said that she was no good at finding them. The first sighting often looks like this......

 

This large dog Otter proceeded to delight us, and one other couple, by going about his daily life in front of us for almost an hour. He dived and caught food almost every time, usually eating it where he was if it was small enough. Larger prey, we saw a very large crab, was taken ashore to be munched, on a pile of seaweed covered rocks. I took a few photos between the side mirror and the windscreen, he never came very near. 

 After a quick look at Ulva ferry, we retreated, driving home in the start of the onslaught of gales and torrential rain brought in by Storm Ian, which has caused so much damage in Florida. No trap out tonight.