AA Office - Isle of Mull branch

White tailed sea eagle being hassled by a hooded crow -over the back garden!

Oh dear - all the best laid plans and that! It has been quite a bright, sunny day here and you could actually feel the warmth in the sun - our nights are starting to lenghten noticeably. Arrived home at 2.30 to find hubby finishing his tax return :( so decided I would pop up to Loch Frisa to see how Skye and Frisa are doing - not been there for a while! Before I go on, some things to mention - I drive a VW Polo, Mull's road are awful, full of pot holes, the Mull Rally was held at the weekend, part of which used the track up to Loch Frisa - there is no road to Loch Frisa it is a forestry track and finally mobile phone signals are hit and miss - depends on your provider and where you are on the Island - so with all that in mind - having driven thru a large pothole a couple of days ago (no obvious sign of damage) I set off up the track to Loch Frisa with camera bag, bins, scope and tripod. After a couple of miles along the track, I turned a bend to meet a huge tractor that looked as if it was ploughing the track - deep furrows across the track - the driver kindly pulled over into the trees to let me pass - I had no choice but to go forward across these deep furrows - still had a couple of miles to go to where I wanted to be - then the steering felt really weird - but in true female style kept going hoping it would go away -kept crawling along - the furrows seem to disappear then reappear - so decided to pull into a the nearest thing to a layby - thought I would try and walk the rest of the way and not put my car thru any more stress - as I got out the car, I noticed my front wheel was flat and the hub cap missing - oops! what do I do? took my phone out of my pocket knowing what I would see - not a single pip "No Service" - I wasnt sure how far I had to go - but took all the gear and started heading off to where the hide used to be - I knew you could get a phone signal there! After a mile I encountered another huge tractor - this time with a roller behind - ah ha! could he be off to flatten the furrows? Got to the hide site - then I was faced with a dilema - do I ring home first or look for the eagles? yes your right - set up the scope and scanned the trees and hills - then a large flying barn door with a white tail came across the glen - you cannot miss that white tail with the sun on it - stunning - it was Skye the male - he flew into a spruce tree - then noticed something in a tree near to him - it was Frisa, his mate! Bingo! Skye then flew up did a huge loop and landed next to Frisa so they were sitting side by side, basking in the late afternoon sunshine - a beautiful sight. Then I rang home with my tale of woe - started walking back to the car to be met by hubby - changed the tyre - the flattening tractor had repaired the track - damaged done by the rally cars - finally made it back home - luckily I knew that one spot where I could get a phone signal otherwise about a 10 mile walk home with all my gear - but it was worth catching sight of Skye and Frisa - just need to get a new tyre now - that will be a challenge in itself!