I am on Mull*, and it is lovely. In contrast to festive London, it has been shirt sleeves up here, and I have seen eagles. It gets better though, as from our cottage I can see breeding Wheatears. Yes, from the window I can see the fledglings. There are also breeding Swallows and House Martins. These are actually on the cottage. I had no idea about any of this when I booked it. The booking decision was a) it was still available, and b) it didn't have a telly. These two facts are likely related, but if you had told me there were breeding Wheatears I would have paid at least double. Mull property tycoons take note.
It was an extremely long drive, but it was worth every one of the 538 miles between here and Wanstead. I was woken up this morning by some urgent shouting: "Hen Harrier!!!" "Female Hen Harrier!!!" Mrs L, a noted bird enthusiast, lay fast asleep next to me, so who could it be? Hah! It was of course Muffin, and naturally** he was spot on. I staggered out of bed, and could see nothing. Then he called it again, and sure enough, banking over the irises no more than fifty yards away was a spanking ringtail.
We're up to fifty species now, at the end of our first day. Tomorrow we're off to Lunga, a seabird colony to the west. There are Puffins, and I might take my camera.
* no point burgling me, I have all the good shit with me
** he has a great teacher
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