What’s the Story?

The picture is of the harbour at Tobermory (or Balamory if you are under seven), the main town of Mull. The rainbow tells the story of my week there, the weather was changeable but the experience; totally brilliant. My wife and I hired a camper van and straight after the exhibition at Fountains we headed north. September is not the month you would choose if you were intent on seeing the greatest range of Mull’s birdlife but as the permanent residents include Sea Eagles and Golden Eagles we kind of hoped it would provide a memorable moment or two. We visited the famous Sea Eagle Hide at Loch Frisa on our last full day more in hope than expectation. The Warden met our group and escorted us to the hide and began with an interesting overview of the Sea Eagle project. Despite a couple of false alarms (Buzzards) the Sea Eagles refused to put in an appearance but the Warden did a super job, with anecdotes and a DVD to educate and entertain. Between showers I went outside with Helen, a visiting RSPB warden, to scan the skies, when a beautiful Golden Eagle flew slowly over the top of the hide! I will never forget the thrill of seeing this bird which was not a speck in the distance but just above the treetops. The Warden called everybody out and just about everyone (except my wife) saw the Goldie before it dropped below the tree line. My holiday was complete, since then I have mentally re-played the sighting again and again.

The Exhibition at Fountains was just as enjoyable as my first, and this time I included some pencil drawings, these seemed to create quite a bit of interest so I started a drawing of an Osprey. Although the drawing is still to be completed I include a detail of the work in progress.