A trip over to Mull...

Whenever we visit this part of Scotland we like to have a day trip over to Tobermory on the island of Mull. We take the small roll on roll off ferry from Kilchoan as foot passengers and have a stroll around the picturesque harbour at Tober.

Kilcoan is a very remote part of the world, so much so that a barman in Tobermory said to us, 'Its like London over here compared to there!' Maybe not quite, but Kilchoan is quite out of the way, its probably easier to do your shopping after this ferry trip than to drive over to Fort William.

On these trips we are generally lucky with the weather and this year was no exception, being sunny, but cool.

Almost as soon as we stepped on to the ferry, Jane noticed a bird coming from behind me and pointed it out. It was a nice adult White-tailed Eagle, very close. By the time I got the camera out, the bird was going in an opposite direction to the ferry, it was just a speck, but soaring right over where we had left the car! Bugger.

Tobermory

White-tailed Eagle over Kilchoan.

Harbour Porpoises

Well thats enough of the holiday snaps for one trip, what with small parties of Curlews arriving to the fields next to home, you know whats just a short few weeks away...

Holiday time...

Well that's our last week's holiday of 2013 finished. We have been up to Allt Beithe, Arevegaig near the Ardnamurchan peninsula for the week.

The weather was mainly good with sunny,clear days except for Wednesday and Thursday when overcast skies and rain took over. Our time was spent exploring the area, a place we know quite well now, this being our third visit since 2007 and just getting into a relaxed mood away from it all.

When avoiding the omni present scottish midgies, I was on the look out for the usual specialities of the region and trying to get an introduction to the fungi, something that is quite new to me. A few were identified but many more were admired and left unnamed. Highlights of the week included a young White tailed Eagle on the Morvern peninsula that soared from cloud height all the way down to eventually land on the hill opposite us giving great scope views. Two Golden Eagles gave similar views near the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse, both showed similarly well, perched yards apart on a rock not too far from the road ( well scope range anyway).

An Otter fed in the bright sunlit, oily calm, waters of Loch Sunart one day, but our garden Pine Martens refused to play ball. They came each night and cleared the food, once while we were watching TV, but we didn't see them. 35 Red Deer hinds and calves were on the mire outside the garden gate. A group of Bottle nosed Dolphins were off Kilchoan shop one day, while later a group of Porpoises, 4 adults and 4 young fed in a bay more suited to otters than cetaceans well up into the loch.

These plus Rock Doves that looked just like a Rock dove should, daily Ravens, Buzzards and Hoodies, Common and Grey Seals, flower dotted verges and damp, ancient oak woods made for an excellent trip.

The moth trap came with us, the results of which go into detail here.

So, now back home and work, its time to get back out to see if I can add to the patch list, autumn is racing away now...

    

Our cottage, Allt Beithe nestled in the trees with no neighbours. Excellent!

View from the drive.

Our nearest neighbour..what a landscape.

The Lochaline Ferry to Mull. We visited from Kilchoan.

Trapoleum or something, a climbing nasturtium in the garden.

Highland Darter, a lifer or maybe not...

Peacock on Devils Bit Scabious

Tree Lungwort, Lobaria pulmonaria, a scarce epiphyte covered the Sunart Oak trees.

Plums and Custard

Hoof Fungus

Angels Wings

Common Lizard with two Ticks under its foreleg

Flat calm sea across on the ferry to Mull