The Patter of Paws and Claws

Loch Frisa - home of Skye and Frisa and my office

Matt - our new addition

Well its been a while since my last blog but finally found some time to sit down and catch up.

We now have a new addition to the family - Matt - a 2 year old rescue springer spaniel. He's not had the best start in life - his owners had taken him to be destroyed - I wont go into detail but the fact he can trust humans ever again is a miracle. He just wants some love, a walk and his ball - not much to ask. The cat isnt quite so sure but they seem to have come to an understanding - they just ignore each other.

The Eagle Hide at Loch Frisa opened on 6th April and we have had streams of people through! The eagles have given some great performances and the latest news is that we have chicks! Two little white fluffy heads have been seen in the nest - they are now about 16 days old, so just changing from white fluffy things to the drab, grey colour before the feathers start coming through - Mum and Dad (Skye and Frisa) are great parents - to watch them feeding is such a privilege - they are so gentle and tender.

Apart from the sea eagles, we have been entertained by a male hen harrier, a cuckoo which landed on one of the fence posts in front of the hide and our sand martins who are busily working away making their nests in the quarry wall by our car park. The buzzards have been great entertainment too providing some great displays. We had a black throated diver and red throated diver on the loch last week and the resident Red Breasted Mergansers are a treat for people who dont get to see them.

We get such a huge variety of people visiting the hide, from real dedicated bird watchers to people who are just looking for a way to pass a couple of hours - but at the end of the day, when they catch a glimpse of the sea eagles, I just love hearing the excitement and joy at their first sighting of these magnificent birds - and do I ever get bored of seeing them? never - the hairs on the back of my neck still stand up when I see them - still take my breath away.

If anyone is planning a visit to Mull, come and see us at the Hide - details as follows:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature/sites/mull/index.asp

It's been a hard day's Night!

Well - what a week! Left Mull last week to travel to the Borders for my RSPB Induction Course. A great bunch - about 20 of us and we instantly gelled - sometimes on courses you get a personality who upsets the apple cart, but this bunch were great - there was actually one point where I laughed so hard I thought my ribs would crack - havent laughed that much for ages. Whilst there, we were treated to a pair of buzzards, a tawny owl outside my bedroom window and a dipper. It was lovely to see magpies and squirrels - neither of which we have on Mull - forgot how stunning a magpie is!

Picked up the Eagle Van in Glasgow - had a quick tour round the Kelvingrove - what a beautiful building! before heading back to Oban to see the Red Hot Chilli Pipers! What a disappointment! We were told they would be on stage about 8 - as we had to leave about 10.00 to get the last boat back, we were told we would only miss the last 15 mins or so. They eventually came on stage at 9.40 - so we saw precisely 20 minutes - boy I was grumpy! Finally made it back to Mull about midnight - what a great feeling getting into your own bed - it was bliss!

Did my stint for Eagle Watch and had a great view of our female - against the blue sky, she looked stunning as always - I'm sure she came over just to say, welcome home! Tonight as we went to shut the chickens in, a barn owl was hunting out the back - then the phone rang from one of our neighbours to say a short eared owl had been out our way for the last 4 nights. Finally, remember to check in our nestbox which has a camera to discover a resident - a blue tit!

Its great to be back home!