On Mull you are never far from the mountains and therefore never far from the domain of the golden eagle.

Since they spend much of their time soaring through their territory, making use of updrafts from hillsides, then scanning along ridges gives you the best chance of seeing them isolated against the sky.

Young golden eagles leave their nests in mid-summer, staying within their parents territory until early winter and are separated from adults by their white patches in wings and tail.

They feed on fish as well as many other items such as ducks and seabirds and can often be seen on or near the shore of the more sheltered parts of the coastline or sea-lochs.

Both species haunt the lower lying areas such as bog and scrubland, also taking advantage of increased prey populations within in young forestry areas.

Sparrowhawks are fairly common, taking advantage of plantation forestry and native woodland alike, but they are very secretive during the breeding season and more likely to be seen in late summer and autumn when breeding is over. Peregrine and merlin are much rarer on Mull with only a few pairs of breeding each year.

The seabird colonies around Mull are mostly on the outying islands. However shag and fulmar both breed on steep sea cliffs at many points around Mull and herring, greater-black backed, lesser black-backed and common gull colonies are also spread throughout the island.

While smaller numbers of arctic skua, great skua, manx shearwater and storm petrels can be seen around the islands or on the crossing to them.

Although not abundant in huge numbers there are signifcant populations of wader species breeding in the area. The whistling call that announces the arrival of the common sandpiper is one of the sounds of spring, breeding close to the edge of lochs and coast.

In areas of pastures or machair grassland, lapwing are common while the wetter margins of such areas are the haunt of redshank and, much rarer on Mull, dunlin. The higher areas of bog on the hills are the breeding areas of golden plover, who often feed on the fields at lower down.

Meadow pipit and skylark are the most abundant passerines and are found throughout the islands on moorland and bog. Stonechat, wheatear and pied wagtail are also abundant, while yellowhammer, whinchat, linnet and twite, all breed in low numbers.

The dipper is a wonderful bird, feeding on aquatic insects it captures by diving into the cold, clean waters of Mull's streams and rivers. Some streams are also home for the grey wagtail.

Mull is a stronghold for the largest and finest of corvids, the raven. The hooded crow, the grey bodied sub-species of the carrion crow is very common while there is a small number of rook and jackdaw colonies.

The corncrake, is a very rare British breeding bird. It was once widespread through much of Britain, but increasing agricultural intensification means that it is now only found in western areas of Scotland and Ireland. It spends much of its time in deep vegetation, the males often spending all night calling - an extraordinary repetitive rasping sound. Iona has an increasingly healthy population of corncrakes.

The Treshnish Isles are the prime seabird islands and are always worth a visit from June through to the end of July, the thousands of puffins, guillemots and other species are unforgettable. Trips to Treshnish and Staffa can be arranged through John, with one of the birdwatching packages available at Seaview.

All year round sea eagles frequent the shore of sea lochs and golden eagles soar across the mountain ridges behind. Grey heron, shag, reb-breasted merganser, eider and oystercatcher are also present all year. Summer visitors include common sandpiper,

All year round interest include golden eagle, raven, hen harrier, buzzard, kestrel and short-eared owl. Summer sights include cuckoo, meadow pipit, whintchat, wheatear, curlew. Winter may see flocks of snow bunting.

In summer breeding species include redshank, oystercatcher, lapwing, shelduck, linnet, skylark, snipe, buzzard, raven and gulls. In passage peregrine, godwits and whimbrel are amongst those that can be seen. Winter can see flocks of barnacle geese.

All year round interest includes shag, cormorant, guilliemot, gannet, eider while summer also sees kittiwake and terns feeding in the Sound.

In summer the beaches at Ardalanish and Uisken have oystercatcher, ringed plover and common gull. In spring and late summer passage species such as turnstone, whimbrel, sanderling and dunlin.