Scotland Holiday 2018 Day 9 : 21st June Glengorm and Loch na Keal

Today we fancied trying a trip north to Glengorm Castle. We thought that we would stand a good chance of getting some birds of prey on the cliffs there and also perhaps some woodland birds. We also thought – incorrectly – that the castle might be open for viewing or at least have a garden (as advertised) that Anne would like. Our day din’t exactly work out like that but it was still a good day.

Glengorm is show on the map as having a coffee shop, gardens and a castle. Well we did find the castle but it appeared to be an executive hotel or such and wasn’t open to the public. That left us with the gardens which turned out to be a rather modest place with shut gates and a barking dog behind. The welcome at the coffee shop wasn’t much better !

We thought that we should still take a walk out to the cliffs but we got about a third of the way there before the cold and wind got to us and we thought that we were on the wrong idea. We returned and decided to look for the standing stones which we did eventually see. On our way back from there we did see some birds of prey and I fancied that one of them might have been a Hen Harrier interacting with some Buzzards. We could not get close enough to see and I wasn’t carrying mu scope so we just assumed they were all probably just Buzzards.

Somewhat disenchanted with Glengorm we decided to head back to Loch na Keal in the hope that we could see the Lady Jane from the southern side of the loch at about the time she would be out. This was a bit like getting a free show but there are other sites along that side of the loch that are supposed to be good for both birds and Otters.

We stopped off first near the recycle centre just outside of Tobermory which is reputedly good for Ravens and we did find a few.

We parked up on the grass near where Scarisdale River drops down into Loch na Keal. (56°27’56.0″N 6°

01’51.5″W) where there is room for a few cars and looked from there. We saw some birds but could not locate the Lady Jane. We drove further back towards the Benmore Estates and found another parking spot (56°28’40.3″N 6°00’10.7″W or 56.477870, -6.002967 ) which was just opposite the Kellan Old Farm on the other side. There was already a birder there but he was asleep in his car.

After a bit suddenly the Lady Jane was there but it looked a long way away. I got the scope out and started looking. Eventually I got the Eagle we had seen the day before coming from the trees out to the boat. I spent the next fifteen minutes following this bird. Eventually the birder in the car woke up and asked us what we had been looking at. We told him it was a White-tailed Eagle and he was made up with the views he got. He told us that he could not get on with looking for Golden Eagles which he had had six fruitless days trying for. We suggested he tries the big layby near Aros Park – the one labelled Loch Frisa that is really a truck access for the plantation. We told him how reliable we had found it (perhaps we were too generous about this site0 but rather happily we ran into him later and he had seen a Golden Eagle shortly before we ran into him. He was happy and so were we.

Back at the place where we first met him, however, we decided to try to walk to Loch Ba from the Glenmore Estate entrance. This is actually quite a short walk to the end of Loch Ba but the sign is for the far end and could be off-putting. Loch Ba is also supposed to be good for divers but we could see a long way down the loch and there was hardly anything on the water apart from common species. We did see a perching Hen Harrier though at reasonably close range.

As I mentioned above, we stopped briefly at the layby we had recommended and had a chat with the birder who was just leaving. We waited another hour and then drove further up the road adjoining the Sound of Mull towards Tobermory. We stopped again and waited a bit longer for a Golden Eagle to come flying up the Sound but it wasn’t to be so we returned home.

We stayed in again that evening and, as ofte, it poured with rain in the evening and overnight. Happily for us, it wasn’t so bad during the days and, if it was, at least we had our ultra comfortable “cottage”.

Bird Sightings : Mull 21st June 2018

Species	Count
Greylag Goose	10
Mute Swan	4
Mallard	10
Grey Heron	1
Hen Harrier	1
White-tailed Eagle	1
Common Buzzard	2
Eurasian Oystercatcher	8
Black-headed Gull	2
Herring Gull	30
Great Black-backed Gull	1
Eurasian Collared Dove	1
Common Raven	4
Sky Lark	2
Barn Swallow	6
Common House Martin	4
Willow Warbler	2
European Robin	1
Northern Wheatear	6
Eurasian Blackbird	6
Song Thrush	1
Common Starling	7
Pied Wagtail	3
Meadow Pipit	3
Common Chaffinch	3
House Sparrow	10