Highlights - May 2026

 A few of my birding highlights captured over the past month.

Isle of Iona, Scotland - 25th to 26th May 2026

From top to bottom: Meadow Pipit, Wheatear, Song Thrush, Skylark, Hooded Crow, Sanderlings

Hogganfield Park LNR, Glasgow, Scotland

Great Crested Grebes

RSPB Lochwinnoch Reserve, Aird Meadow, Scotland - 16 May 2026

From top to bottom: Shoveler, Little Ringed Plovers (record/distant shot), Common Sandpiper, Spotted Flycatcher (record shot in poor light)

Bingham's Pond LNR, Glasgow, Scotland

The first breeding pair of Canada Geese at the pond. The local male Mute Swan proved to be aggressive resulting in the geese spending most of their time out of the water. Only one gosling has survived.

Birding on Mull and Iona

 At last, after months of lockdown and being limited to where we could go, we finally escaped from Glasgow and stayed on Mull and Iona for a few days.

The weather wasn't great but we still had a grand time and saw some nice birds. A photo record from our days on Iona follows:

Iona - village

New Village Hall

Abbey

Swallow

Meadow Pipit

Road to the Bay at the Back of the Ocean

Rosy Starling (rarity!)

Wheatear

Twite

The Bay at the Back of the Ocean

Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover

Road to the north end of Iona and Ardionra croft

North end of Iona

Rock Pipit

Beach at the north end (in the drizzle)

View from Fionnphort, having left Iona (note the blue sky!!)

It was great to get away for a few days and especially more so with it being to Iona.

We did manage some birding on Mull, although it was too dull for any decent photos. We saw Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl in the 'usual' places and whilst on the ferry had distant views of various seabirds with Puffin and Manx Shearwater being the highlights.

Hopefully, we'll manage back later in the year.

Mull and Iona

We travelled up to Fionnphort on Mull last Wednesday to stay a couple of nights in the superb Staffa House B&B. The current owners do a wonderful job - Gillian and Ali are very welcoming, provide excellent breakfasts and their accommodation is comfortable and spotlessly clean. We also really admired their environmental ethos. Sadly they hope to move on and the business is currently for sale.

We were joined by Mike and Judith and on the Wednesday afternoon we walked from Fionnphort towards and around Fidden. We had a  good start with a small flock of Dunlin and Ringed Plover followed by c30 Whimbrel and 9 Black-tailed Godwit.

Ringed Plover and Dunlin

 

Other Highlights included Great Northern Diver and Twite not to mention a calling Corncrake! The Mountain Hare was a good sighting, as well............

Mountain Hare

On the Thursday we spent most of the day on Iona where, after a poor start weatherwise, it soon turned into a spectacular beautiful day.

The colour of the sky and sea kept changing - blue through to turquoise - whilst the white sandy beaches could have been from the Caribbean.

Lots of waders - Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Sanderling and Whimbrel; more Twite; a Peregrine; confiding Skylark and Wheatear; and an actual sighting of a Corncrake! There are apparently only four on the island just now so we were privileged to see one. Hopefully, more will arrive over the next day or so.

Whimbrel

Wheatear (female)

Skylark (video grab)

On our last day we travelled back to Craignure and birded in and around the local camp site and woodland. On the way, however, we had a surprise encounter with a male Hen Harrier - the first time I've seen one from the local bus!

At Craignure, the Bluebells were stunning ...

.... and we added lots of 'small' birds to our list with Wood Warbler, Goldcrest, Lesser Redpoll and Siskin just some of the many species seen. The key moment, however, was the sighting of an Otter by Mike. We watched it for a few minutes before it started to swim ashore. We got in position and had cracking views as it rolled amongst the rocks and seaweed. Watch out for a video which I'll be posting later.

Otter

Back in Oban we got close views of a Black Guillemot - up until then we had seen lots of these birds but all at a distance ...........

Black Guillemot

....... a perfect end to our 3 day adventure.

Mull's Wilds Hotter!

Please click on the photos to create a slide-show and enhanced viewing.

With a favourable weather forecast, four of us headed north to Oban, courtesy of our 'bus passes'. From there we caught the Oban to Craignure ferry and then the bus to Pennyghael (these bus passes are wonderful!)

We stayed at the Pennyghael Hotel for two nights and have to say it was very comfortable with good food and loads of bird feeders!

 

On the Monday afternoon we bird watched in and around Pennyghael. On Tuesday we travelled down to Fionnphort (bus pass!) and then over on the small ferry to Iona. Finally, on the Wednesday, we booked a birding trip with Bryan Rains (Wild About Mull - https://www.facebook.com/WildAboutMull)

Over the three days we encountered wall-to wall sunshine, temperatures of c25C and saw at least 71 bird species including White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier, Corncrake, Whimbrel, Whinchat and Twite. A few photos follow:

Meadow Pipit - Iona

 

Great Northern Diver - Mull

 

Tawny Owl - Mull

 

Whitethroat - Mull

 

Iona

 

A truly glorious three days and one we shall repeat, I am sure.

 

 

 

Mull and Iona Video

We managed two days on Mull and Iona last week - brilliant birds (67 species) including Corncrake and White-tailed Eagle.

I managed to photograph and even video a few of these species and here is the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GInax5ak8Uk

and a photo of an Iceland Gull (1st summer) taken on Iona ..

Mull & Iona - wilds better and wetter!

Last May I posted that Mull & Iona were also 'wilds better'. Last week we spent 6 days exploring these islands; saw 100 birds, if you count the Swift near Loch Lomond, and proved again that indeed they are wilds better but this year they were also 'miles wetter'!

On Tuesday 7 May 2013, the only dry day of the six, we headed for Iona and the Ross of Mull.

Iona, as ever, was beautiful with its white glistening sands and roaring seas proving hypnotic.........................................................................

This Sanderling was as equally beautiful as it ran like a clockwork toy along the shoreline...

We heard lots of Corncrakes and were lucky enough to see two, this one posed the best................

On leaving Iona we headed for Fidden, south of Fionnphort, in search of waders and we were not disappointed with breeding Lapwing, Ringed Plover and Dunlin all seen. Two flocks of Whimbrel (18 and 7) were an added bonus as was this Curlew Sandpiper, a bird more common in Scotland whilst migrating south in autumn .....................

 

Unfortunately the rest of the week was spoiled by rain and unseasonally cold weather, so no photographs of the Great Northern Divers, Golden Eagles, White-tailed Eagles, Hen Harriers, Merlin, Short-eared Owl, Barn Owl, Golden Plovers, Woodcock, Great Skua, Arctic Terns, Rock Doves, Whinchats, Stonechats, Tree Pipits, Twite, Lesser Redpolls and Siskins that were amongst just some of the highlights.

 

Roll on May 2014!