Isle of Mull 2014 – Trig Bagging at Quinish
Written on 29/09/2014, Isle of Mull
It was all go this morning with an early outing to retrieve the remote camera (which captured absolutely nothing overnight, not even a sheep) finding us slap bang in the middle of a battlefield. To our left on the far side of the valley stood an impressive
Red Deer stag, antlers thrust forward, sun shining from its sleek coat and voice clearly in very good working order. For the first time in days there was hardly a breath of wind allowing his bellows to travel clearly across to where we stood. What, or perhaps who, were they aimed at though? We didn’t have to wait long for an answer with another stag moving into view on the horizon up to our right. He too bellowed a warning across the valley before moving further up the hillside with his harem. Dispute seemingly settled that was the last we saw of either animal but let’s hope for some more direct action before the week is out!
Testosterone induced antics weren’t the only delights to be had on this first truly sunny morning in several days. Oh no. First up was a male
Hen Harrier giving more superb flight views as it quartered the hillside before heading off in the direction of the deer (a rutting fan perhaps?), followed by a female
Yellowhammer on our bird feeders. They’ve usually been a reliable fixture but had been strangely absent this year so it’s good to finally have one turn up. Also of interest were a family of
Song Thrushes and four fly-over
Mistle Thrushes, a new species for us in the valley.
It was a tough decision as to whether or not we should stay and watch for anything else to unfold but with no further sign of either stag we figured it would be safe to slip away. The walk we had planned would take us from Dervaig out to Quinish Point, one of our regular jaunts and a decent outing at just over nine miles. As usual on Mull the route offers endless possibilities for just about anything to turn up with this Slow Worm being our first surprise of the day.
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