Scottish birds of prey & wildlife tours mcleanscotland bird watchers & wildlife enthusiasts all over Scotland

RED GROUSE SCOTTISH WILD BIRDS

MCLEANSCOTLAND CAN ARRANGE AND GUIDE TOURS

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN BIRD WATCHING OR WILDLIFE

HERE IN SCOTLAND.

We use very good and highly experienced guides for the bird watching & wildlife tours. Being Maclean's, we know Mull quite well, as you may expect, we can deliver excellent bird and wildlife tours here and many other superb locations all over Scotland. Drop us a note and we will get right back to you.

Tours auf deutscher Sprache werden auch angeboten. Many ideas and many alternatives to tours on Mull and Argyll! Try us for size, we can arrange a wildlife and birdwatching tour for any number of people, any language (almost). Mull is one of the best places in Britain to spot Otters, Golden Eagles and Sea Eagles. Red deer and common seal, buzzards are commonplace, also Hen Harriers, Kestrels, Merlin, Short-Eared Owls and many other land birds. On the surrounding seas we have all three types of diver, oyster-catchers, cormorant, shag, razorbill, puffin, and several species of duck to name but a few!!!

Does that not whet your appetitie?

12th-19th May 2010

The festival encourages people to enjoy wildlife in a sustainable way

We can assist you in travel and accommodation to the festival.

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First for UK as black and red kites produce two young IT HAS been a well-kept secret in the world of ornithology, but it was revealed yesterday that for the first time in Britain a rare migratory black kite has bred with a native red kite. The "unique" hatching of two hybrid chicks at a secret location in the Highlands last year was monitored by experts from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Details were kept a close secret because of concerns about the risks posed by eager "twitchers" trying to get to the site. The red kite, once virtually wiped out in Scotland, has been reintroduced over the past 20 years, particularly in areas where it used to be common, including the Highlands, central Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway. Mr Etheridge said the RSPB usually recorded one or two black kite sightings a year in Scotland. The birds migrate between Africa and countries such as France and Spain, though red kite are resident, he said.

OSPREY 'AFFAIR' ENDS HAPPILY SCOTLAND'S most famous bird of prey has laid a second clutch of eggs after her mate unceremoniously evicted others following a dalliance with a rival male. Wardens at the Loch Garten reserve in the Cairngorms were dismayed after the female osprey known as EJ - who had paired with an old flame called VS - laid four eggs only for them to be destroyed by her regular mate, Henry. He had flown back late from spending the winter in Africa. But Richard Thaxton, manager of the RSPB site near Aviemore, said: "This is an extraordinary turn of events for the osprey story as a relaid clutch of eggs has only been known once before in Scotland, 25 years ago." Henry returned to the nest yesterday. Mr Thaxton added: "To our huge relief, he settled down to incubate the egg, clearly knowing this time that it was his."

MULL The entire island is bursting with wildlife-watching opportunities and the chance to see some of our most exciting species including otters, golden eagles and white-tailed sea eagles

The RSPB will undertake bird monitoring and it is expected the Western Isles Fisheries Trust will also carry out monitoring work on fry and parr numbers in mink-affected fisheries. About 230 mink were caught in the Uists and over 300 have been trapped on Harris. A recent report indicated that the purge was working, with evidence of birds breeding successfully again in areas where mink had been eradicated. In December, RSPB Scotland monitoring work found that Arctic terns were breeding more successfully in areas where the voracious predators have been trapped and shot on the Uists. Nest survival of Arctic terns was found to be more than three times higher on the southern islands compared with that on Lewis and Harris to the north. A survey found that the average hatching success for the species was about 40 per cent across the islands. However, there were significant differences for hatching success between islands, with 59 per cent producing chicks on the Uists compared with just 18 per cent on Lewis and Harris. Of 86 nests in which the cause of failure was established, 62 per cent were eaten by predators.

Getting up close and personal with a white tailed eagle, also called a sea eagle, is an awesome experience. With an average wingspan of 244cm - that's nearly 8ft - they've been dubbed "flying barn doors" by the bird watching fraternity, and at the world's only live and direct viewing site in Mull, visitors can appreciate first hand the sheer size, power and beauty of these massive raptors. A bird of prey that size has no natural predators to worry about, but human activity involving shotguns, poison and egg-stealing, collectively saw off the last of Britain's native sea eagles around a century ago. The last recorded native white tailed eagle was shot in Shetland in 1917, and to add insult to injury, it was a rare albino. The Northern Isles don't have a good track record when it comes to this kind of thing - the last Great Auk in Britain was killed on Orkney's Papa Westray in the 19th century. A couple of decades later, hunters in Iceland finished off the job completely by slaughtering and stuffing the world's last two Great Auks for collectors. Fortunately, sea eagles survived in areas like Scandinavia and a reintroduction programme began in the mid 1970s, when imported Norwegian birds were released along the west coast of Scotland. Conservationists started off by giving Scotland's newly introduced sea eagles dignified, geographically related names like Skye and Frisa. Three generations on, they sport more down-to-earth monikers. The current chicks are Haggis and Oatie, and last year's fledglings were dubbed Itchy and Scratchy. In Mull, it's all been organised so well that a decision was made to feature one particular eyrie near Loch Frisa as an eco-tourism project, opening it to visitors, with a special viewing hide during the breeding season. The eagle watch project is run by Mull and Iona Community Trust, together with SNH, the RSPB and the Forestry Commission (who own the land round the eyrie.) The well-established breeding pair, Skye and Frisa, don't appear to be at all bothered by their celebrity status (they featured in BBC's Springwatch with Bill Oddie and Kate Humble) and seem to accept the click of cameras as part of their everyday environment. According to the RSPB, these feathered stars have their own 24-hour guard, in the shape of Strathclyde Police, a dedicated band of island volunteers and the latest surveillance technology to protect the nest from illegal egg collectors.

Sea eagles soar to recovery The sea eagle success story was underlined when it was revealed Scotland's population is continuing to soar with a record 29 chicks having fledged from nests this year. The figure outstrips last year's record of 24 chicks. The sea eagle - which goes by the romantic Gaelic name of Iolair suil na greine (eagle with the sunlit eye) - is one of the country's most prized and yet vulnerable species. Scotland's largest and rarest bird of prey has had a chequered history. Revered as a bird of kings in the Bronze Age, but then persecuted to extinction in many European countries, including Scotland, by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it has recently been on the rise again. Ten young birds took off from Mull where the eagles have now become an established sight for visitors. One pair of sea eagles in Skye has also produced three chicks, a rare event which has been recorded only twice in the past 30 years - although one of the youngsters later died in bad weather. Mull and Skye, the birds' strongholds, now have almost two-thirds of the Scottish sea eagle population of 33 breeding pairs.
Two of the 2006 Mull fledglings, named Haggis and Oatie by local schoolchildren, attract a number of visitors, including celebrities. Veteran broadcaster John Craven visited recently and Oscar-nominated actor Tom Conti saw the island's sea eagles as part of an upcoming BBC series, Saving Planet Earth. The BBC Springwatch programme has also raised interest in the iconic birds. David Sexton, the RSPB's Mull officer, said over 5,500 people watched the birds this year at the Forestry Commission Scotland's Loch Frisa plantation. Sea eagles, also known as white-tailed eagles, were once widespread throughout the north and west of Britain in the early 19th century. But shooting and poisoning wiped out the species, the last pair being shot in Skye in 1916 and the last surviving bird killed in Shetland two years later. Between 1975 and 1985, 82 young eagles were brought from Norway and released on Rum.
Disappearing kestrels on danger list

SCOTLAND'S most common bird of prey has been placed on an endangered species list following a dramatic decline in its numbers, it was revealed yesterday. The number of Kestrels north of the Border fell by 31 per cent between 1993 and 2003, according to figures compiled by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Over the same period, the decline in kestrel numbers across the whole of the United Kingdom was just 4 per cent. The BTO also revealed that kestrel productivity - the number of young the birds produce - dropped by between 25 and 50 per cent over the past year. The decline has now led to kestrels being added to the Nest Record Scheme Concern List, which was published yesterday by the BTO. The kestrel is a member of the falcon family and feeds mainly on small mammals and insects. Latest figures suggest that there are now about 38,000 pairs of kestrels in the UK. The kestrel is one of five species that have been newly added to the concern list due to reduced nesting success. The other four are the tree pipit, whinchat, bullfinch and corn bunting. Sixteen species already placed on the list are moorhen, ringed plover, barn owl, skylark, yellow, grey and pied wagtails, dunnock, wheatear, willow warbler, spotted flycatcher, starling, house sparrow, linnet, yellowhammer and reed bunting.

Future's rosy as Capercaillie comeback really starts to take off THE capercaillie, one of Scotland's most iconic birds, is making a dramatic comeback in the dense pine forests of the Highlands, Strathspey and Perthshire where the original native populations were completely wiped out three centuries ago. A report released recently (10.12.06) has shown that capercaillie have enjoyed their best breeding season for almost 15 years. And the summer survey revealed that at one breeding site alone - a Strathspey forest managed by the Forestry Commission - 13 hens reared 40 chicks in a remarkable change of fortunes for the threatened species. The huge woodland grouse became extinct in Britain in the 18th century, but capercaillie were reintroduced from Sweden 200 years ago. A census of capercaillie numbers in 1999 found there were only 1,000 birds left in the whole of Scotland. But the last official survey, carried out in 2004, brought the first ray of hope for the bird, indicating that capercaillie numbers had doubled to around 2,000.

Bird-killing pesticides outlawed in Scotland EIGHT pesticides used to kill rare birds of prey are to be outlawed in Scotland from next month. Those caught with the banned substances face six-month jail terms and fines of up to £5,000, said Lewis Macdonald, the deputy environment and rural development minister. The new law - introduced by ministerial order, without the need for legislation in parliament - aims to offer greater protection to birds such as the golden eagle, buzzard, red kite and sea eagle. The step follows reports over many years of these species being found dead beside the remains of rabbits or other prey which had been deliberately laced with poisons. The Executive said the ban did not include pesticide products commonly used for gardening. Anyone caught in possession of the specified substances, which officials say have a very limited conventional use, would be required to show that they were held for legitimate purposes as stated on the label.

MCLEANSCOTLAND CAN ARRANGE AND GUIDE TOURS

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN BIRD WATCHING

HERE IN SCOTLAND.

GOOD WEBSITES:

www.rspb.org.uk

www.rspb.org.uk/scotland/index.asp

www.seabird.org/home.asp

www.projectpuffin.org

www.jncc.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=1548

www.turusmara.com on our favourite isle; MULL. We can design a tour around this break on Mull.