Birding and CityLinking!

On Tuesday we travelled with Mike and Judith up to Oban, courtesy of CityLink and the Scottish Government! We hoped to see some white-winged gulls before boarding the ferry to Mull but sadly none were seen. However, on leaving the harbour we saw at least one white-winged gull, probably an Iceland Gull, but just too far to clinch the ID.

On arriving on Mull we took the local bus to Salen and walked towards Loch na Keal observing a good range of garden birds - most gardens had bird feeders! One garden had an impressive number of Chaffinches and I could but wonder about their bird food bill!

It was a lovely walk with Ravens, Hooded Crows, Buzzards and distant eagles for company, although almost missing the bus back to Craignure was not part of the plan!

View from the Salen to Loch na Keal road

 

To Salen

 

Back at the ferry terminal we added a Great Northern Diver and Black Guillemot to our bird list before heading back to Oban ..

 

From the ferry to Oban

 

... and a stunning sunset.

 

Despite a great day there was the nagging question - what was that white-winged gull?

 

So the next day, with nothing else planned, Lynda and I decided to utilise our bus passes again and travel back to Oban! And thanks to Lynda, we saw a 1st winter Iceland Gull - possibly the only photo taken of an Iceland Gull on the roof of a newspaper building follows:

 

Iceland Gull - Oban Times Building