Ray Collier Country Diary- Nest boxes

28th April - Nest boxes

The current trend of large nestboxes being erected around Inverness started with the first nestbox successfully used by goldeneye in 1970 at Loch an Eilein, Rothemurchus. In the following 20 years around 100 nestboxes were in use by this attractive diving duck. Now there are around 150 pairs of golden eye breeding in Scotland and this success has largely been because of the nestboxes. The distribution has, for some reason, been mainly localised to Speyside with few pairs breeding outwith that core area. The nestboxes around Inverness were never used by goldeneye although they did attract others birds such as tawny owls and mammals such as pine martens. The nestboxes eventually fell into disuse and fell to pieces. The problem is that old trees that provide natural large nesting holes are few and far between and there is much competition by birds and mammals for the few holes still present.
Then in 1993 a few of the nestboxes were erected near the River Nairn at Farr mainly because a pair of mandarin ducks bred nearby the year before in a large natural hole in a large tree. In 1994 two pairs of mandarins nested in the nestboxes so a few more were erected and used. The photograph is of a pair of mandarin ducks feeding on a garden bird table near Farr and near a nest box they were using. Now there are a large series of these nestboxes around Inverness, mainly to the south of the City. Some of the nestboxes are on trees by the sides of rivers or burns whilst others are on trees at the edge of lochs or in woodland. Whilst there was surprise that the goldeneyes did not originally use nestboxes in the area it was also a surprise just how many other bird species used them. Then there were the two mammals and the first one, the pine marten, caused quite a stir. Someone checking a nestbox in the breeding season put his hand inside and was promptly bitten by a pine marten who obviously objected at being disturbed. Red squirrels occasionally use the nestboxes along the edge of Loch Ness near Foyers.
Two owls have utilised the nestboxes with the main one being the tawny owl that are now on eggs and will soon have chicks. They have taken full advantage of the increase in brown rats around the City in recent years and this prey is commonly taken by them. The rats are active at night and the owls have no problem in detecting them because of the combination of their ears and eyes that are so sensitive. The other owl is the much rarer barn owl and the new book "Birds of Scotland" sums up the situation in a sentence about this bird "Nestboxes will remain an essential conservation tool for the foreseeable future". Another bird that has utilised the nestboxes has been the goosander, a bird that has caused considerable controversy over the years. Hundreds have been killed under licence for allegedly adversely affecting game fish numbers by eating small fish but the evidence is scant.
Another bird that uses the nestboxes is the jackdaw and despite their size and black plumage they can be surprisingly secretive and go undetected. Mandarin ducks have no problem getting in and out of the nestboxes because their body to wing ratio is well fitted to flying between trees and their branches. The mallard has a different wing ratio and is nowhere near as agile but just occasionally they do use the nestboxes. Feral pigeons and stock doves complete the current bird list.

Ray Collier Country Diary- Food for Free

21st April - Food for Free

"Food for Free" is a phrase that became commonplace on the publication of the book of that name written by Richard Mabey and published in 1972. These days it means different things to different people such as collecting blackthorn sloes to make sloe gin. Others collect brambles - as blackberries are called in the Highlands - to make tea, cordial, wine or syrup. Fungi grow for most of the summer and autumn although you have to be absolutely sure of identification and there are many pitfalls. Rowan berries produce a delicious jelly much loved by people that like venison whilst the nuts of the beech mast make a good coffee. There has been an upsurge of interest in these foods - so often widely available - particularly as a few more books have been published in recent years on the subject. In contrast there is one source of food from the wild that seems to have declined in recent years and these have been in use for a few thousand years - namely shellfish. Many of the early colonists in the Highlands would have settled along the coast where the weather was relatively milder. Various types of shellfish would have been abundant and easily collected between the tides and, when the contents were eaten, shells were discarded and often formed large heaps called middens. Middens on the Isle of Rum have been dated back to a few thousand years and many contained shells and limpets which , in some cases, outnumbered others such as mussels, whelks and cockles. It seems from the evidence of such middens scattered around the coast that limpets were an important source of food. These days you cans still buy cockles and mussels in shops in Inverness - but there is a mystery here as nobody these days seems to be bothered with limpets. This is despite the fact that limpets have twice the calorific value of oysters and four times that of cockles. There are plenty of recipes in old books suggesting this source of food was much valued - so why the disinterest these days? The answer seems to lie in the fact that limpets are time consuming to collect and you only have to try to prise one off the rocks to see why. Limpets may seem to be permanently glued to the rocks and they are so firmly attached that over the years - they can live up to 16 years - the stout shell actually forms a depression on the rock. This slight depression matches the outline of the shell perfectly and this has two main advantages. The strong muscle within the shell holds it firmly in place so that no predatory bird, such as an oystercatcher, can prise it off the rock. The other advantage is that the close fit means water can be retained - albeit a small amount - within the shell so that the animal does not dry out between the tides. Intriguingly, when the tide is in, the limpet goes wandering off, up to a metre, feeding on algae and seaweed but must return to their own exact spot on the rocks. If limpets are killed off by an oil spillage the rocks soon become covered with young, bright green seaweeds. Equally intriguing is the fact that most limpets start life as males - and change later into females. The spawning occurs between October and December and the young settle below the tide level but gradually move up the shore. Limpets are found anywhere around the coast of the Highlands and Islands where there is a rocky shoreline. The photograph was taken at low water on a rocky shore at Rosemarkie just north east of Inverness on the Black Isle.

Ray Collier Country Diary- Emperor Moth

14th April - Emperor Moth
One of the most fascinating moths in the Highlands, the emperor moth, will soon be on the wing and it is normally found over open moorland even at some altitude in the hills. The female is the largest with a wingspan of over three inches whilst the male is slightly smaller. The male has orange under wings and grey upper wings with intricate markings. The female is generally grey with wings that also have intricate markings. Both male and female have four large and conspicuous false eyes, one on each wing and there are two theories about these unusual and striking markings. One is that if a predator sees the moth it strikes for the false eyes thinking they are head markings and while the wing or wings may be damaged the moth can still fly. The other theory is that a bird will mistake the false eyes for the eyes of a small mammal such as a stoat or weasel and will leave it alone.
Another fascinating feature is the way in which the males find the females. The antennae of the males look feathery and they have a well developed sense of smell. Newly hatched females that lack the feathering of the antennae give off large amounts of insect hormones and the males can smell these at a distance of several hundred yards. Victorian moth collectors who needed to breed this moth through to obtain pristine specimens for their huge collections used this to their advantage. They would place a newly emerged female in a container capped with muslin and then watch for the males to home in. On a good day you can see the males from some distance quartering the open moorland as they get nearer and nearer to the scent.
The emperor moth is one of the largest moths that fly by day although, intriguingly, it is only the male that flies by day as the female flies by night although they can sometimes be found sunning themselves. This may be a survival factor as there are fewer predators at night for such a large moth. The caterpillars feed mostly on heather so it is important that muirburn is carried out correctly every year so that the heather regenerates and does not die off with age. The young caterpillars look black with spots but the older caterpillars are brilliant green with black bristles. Fully grown caterpillars are over two inches in length but they are surprisingly well camouflaged when resting in heather clumps. Whilst the main food plant is heather they will also eat the leaves of bramble, elder, loosestrife and blackthorn. There are a few other large moths that fly by day in the Highlands such as the fox moth and oak eggar. One of the commonest day flying moths in the Highlands is a small but conspicuous sooty black moth aptly called the chimney sweeper. Its caterpillars feed on pignut which is why it is so often flying low over grassland.
The photograph is of a female emperor moth that surprised everyone in Farr village hall, south of Inverness, last week when it flew into the kitchen one evening. It was collected to take away to safety and on the journey to the nearest moorland it laid three eggs in the box. These hatched a few days later and are now feeding on their own patch of heather and they will eventually fly back to the wild. The thin antennae can be seen and the red marking on the outer edge of the wings is missing on one side through damage.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Green-Veined White Butterfly

5th April - Green-Veined White Butterfly

The green-veined white is probably the commonest and most widespread butterfly in the Highlands plus the Western Isles and Orkney but not in Shetland. It was first recorded in Orkney in the mid 1930s where it is now common. Later this month this butterfly will be seen flying in and around Inverness including gardens, large and small. The upper wings are whitish and the males have four spots, sometimes none at all, whilst the females have eight spots. The diagnostic feature of these butterflies are the underside of the hind wings as they have veins outlined in green, hence the name, although in fact this is a combination of black and yellow scales. The wing span is about 1 ¾ inches but occasionally dwarf specimens can be found only 1 inch across the wings.
There are three "white" butterflies in the Highlands and unfortunately gardeners often refer to all of them as "cabbage whites" because their caterpillars readily eat members of the cabbage family especially the cultivated ones. Traditionally it is the large white that was called the cabbage white because its caterpillars do so much damage to the garden cabbage patch. The small white does the same sort of damage although it is not so serious as their numbers are far fewer than the large white. It seems ironic that whilst many people will plant nectar source plants and shrubs to attract small tortoiseshells and red admirals the same people will think nothing of killing the caterpillars of both small and large whites or squashing their yellow eggs. In contrast the green-veined white is blameless as although the caterpillars will eat plants of the cabbage family it is only the wild varieties that are involved. The list of food plants for the caterpillars is one of the longest for any species of butterflies in the Highlands and includes cuckoo flower, hedge mustard and water-cress. This is one of the few butterflies in Britain, including the Highlands, where the numbers and distribution has not changed to any marked degree. In some areas it is often the only butterfly to be seen and perhaps this is a reflection on the wide range of food plants the caterpillars utilise.
Two of the white butterflies, namely the large and small whites, are regular immigrants to the Highlands from the continent and sometimes, particularly with the large white, the numbers can be huge. Two years ago white butterflies were seen coming across the sea to the east coast and numbered in their tens of thousands and as they were landing along the coast exhausted the various species of gulls were eating them. Whether the green-veined white is such an immigrant has long been open to debate. It seems likely that although in the north they are fairly sedentary and even form colonies some immigration takes place in some years but on nowhere near the scale of the other two whites.
The photograph was taken of a green -veined white taking nectar from an alpine aster in a garden near Inverness and the greenish veins on the underside of the wings contrast with the whitish and black spots of the upper wing It was sharing the nectar source with two small tortoiseshells and a painted lady. The advantage of such small plants is that they can be grown in pots and moved around the garden even on a daily basis to make sure the flower are in sunshine all the time.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Inverness

31st March - Inverness

Just in the same way as birds have adapted to living within the boundaries of the City of Inverness so have mammals although in general they are more cautious and often go undetected. Some such as otters and fox and to a certain extent roe deer are only active under the cover of darkness although this depends to a certain extent on weather and availability of food. If the weather is bad then food is more difficult to find and then, particularly if young have to be fed, the adults will throw caution to the wind and come out during daylight. Some mammals are active during the day but are still quite difficult to see and the red squirrel is a good example.
Perhaps the most obvious mammals to see during the day are seals in the River Ness and they can be either grey seal or the common seal and they have lead to one of the biggest wildlife controversies in recent years. At one extreme people say that the increasing numbers of grey seals in Scotland in general are having a dramatic affect on stocks of game fish such as salmon. Opponents say that there is no evidence of such damage and in any case if the game fish had not been over exploited by man in the first place the problem would not be there. It is difficult to know what to say in Inverness when you see an angler flogging the water to no avail and not far away a grey seal is throwing a sizeable salmon in the air and eating it.
What must be everyone’s favourite mammal in the city is the red squirrel and there are records from many areas such as the Ness Islands, Balloch and woodland near Ardconnel Terrace. At a meeting at Great Glen House, the new office of Scottish Heritage, staff were intrigued to see a red squirrel running along the top of a fence just outside a window. Road casualties unfortunately happen and along the road by the Ness Islands there are squirrel signs warning drivers that there may be squirrels crossing the road. There is a survey going on at present to find out where these attractive animals are still present and any records would be welcome, not only for Inverness but anywhere in the Highlands. The contact in the Forestry Commission at Dingwall is Juliet Robinson, Red Squirrel Conservation Officer. Tel. 07920213704 and her website is http://www.blogger.com/www.highlandredsquirrel.co.uk.
Another rather secretive mammal in the city is the otter and they are associated with the River Ness and Muirton Lagoons. In this area they are mainly nocturnal but one was seen at first light one morning in the summer crossing one of the bridges. Roe deer are also seen and in recent years they have caused damage to some gardens by browsing on trees and shrubs and debarking them. Fencing would seem to be the answer but unfortunately no fence has been designed that can keep roe deer out as they are so small and agile. They have even been known to have their kids in larger gardens and they often have twins that are hidden away in shrubberies and go un-noticed. There are other mammals too and some unwelcome such as the mink along the River Ness and the brown rat that seem everywhere and are now seen even in the day. A stoat was recently seen in the Inverness Railway station and other mammals in the city include mice, voles, rabbits and moles and with a few exceptions this is more or less a cross-section of those mammals in the surrounding countryside.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Rookery

24th March 2008 - Rookery

For the last few months in the Highlands rooks have gathered with their relatives the jackdaws, hooded crows and carrion crows to form large winter flocks sometimes numbering over a 1,000 birds in such place as Munlochy Bay and Ardersier both near Inverness. A few weeks ago all this changed as the hooded crows and carrion crows went their own way to nest as single pairs with their nests high in the forks of large trees although sometimes much lower. Jackdaws are more innovative, nesting in colonies and occupying a variety of nest sites from old buildings to crevices on cliffs. Rooks are much easier to see at this time of the year as they have gone back to their collection of nests, often very high in trees. They are conspicuous and very vociferous and we now have the chance to see more into their secret lives before the leaves grow on the trees and the birds are hidden away.
Now it is well worth watching the Inverness rookeries such as the large one along Culduthel Road near the Royal Academy School or the one out at Inshes. The Culduthel rookery is fairly contained in one large area of tall woodland whilst the Inshes rookery seems to sprawl out to the east and up the Drumossie Road so that it is difficult to see where it starts and ends. You can stand near either of them and the birds are so used to people that they just carry on with their often frantic looking activities. Whether or not nests remain from previous years is at the mercy of the winter storms but many pairs of rooks start from scratch as if not trusting the remains of nests after winter gales. At the start of nest building there is a great deal of stealing of other birds twigs even from the nest but by now the birds have settled down a little and it is normal to see one bird sat next to the nest and just see the head or tail of the other bird on the nest. The photograph was taken at the Culduthel rookery last week and you can just see the head of the rook on the right hand nest whilst its mate stands guard.
The rook has probably given its name to more places than any other British bird although in some case the word crow is used which, confusingly, is another name for
rook. Perhaps the best example in the north is the ancient rookery in Crow Wood, once known locally as "Craa Wid", at Hatton Castle, Aberdeenshire. As recently as 1957 it contained over 6,500 nests and although in recent years these have dropped to 2,600 nests, spread between 16 groups, it is still Britain’s largest rookery and, in fact, our largest breeding colony of any land bird. The Scots names of barefaced crow and white faced crow refers to the white, naked skin of the cheeks of the adult birds. Other Scots names include corbie, or Corby, ruik or ruke. The Gaelic name is Rocas which means rook. Over many years one of the biggest controversies has been whether the rook is harmful to agriculture but, whatever the answer, the control of rooks goes back a long way in Scotland. As early as 1424 there was legislation that landowners had to control the numbers of rooks. In the times of Elizabeth I bounty payments were paid by parish wardens at a penny for three adult rooks’ heads and a half penny for three young or three eggs. The young and eggs must have been difficult and dangerous to get in the high trees.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Migrating Birds

17th March 2008 - Migrating birds

At this time of the year everyone wants to see or hear the first bird migrants such as the swallow that will have crossed the Sahara desert or the cuckoo that will have wintered in central and southern Africa. The wheatears that will soon be perching on rocks on moorland have been in central Africa whilst the house martin, soon to building under eaves of buildings, has also been to Africa. The urgency of wanting to see the first migrants is reflected by the fact that in most County Bird Reports there is a section giving the first and last dates of these birds. One of the first is one of the larger birds namely the osprey which may be a reflection of the fact that it will readily find its food, mainly fish. Other early birds are much smaller such as the swallow and sand martin and in normal years some have arrived as early as the last week in March.
On arrival the smaller birds such as the swallow and sand martins have a problem as they need plenty of insects, their main food. In the Highlands insects are in short supply in the winter months which is one of the reasons why the birds go south in the Autumn. In April and early May there is still a shortage of insects although some places are better than others. Lochs with plenty of aquatic and marginal plants and surrounding scrub, woodland and grassland are good places and there are two near Inverness. One is Loch Flemington east of Inverness and the other are the lochs either side of the A82 at Dochfour. In the next two weeks both these should have large numbers of sand martins and swallows endlessly quartering the water picking off insects, sometimes even off the surface. Their communal roost is often in reed beds. Later they will break up with many of the adults going back to breed where they did last year, sometimes on exactly the same building. Birds that hatched last year are more likely to wander to new breeding areas and sites.
Warblers, such as willow warblers and chiffchaffs, have also spent the winter in Africa but when they arrive back in the Highlands they do not have the advantage of being able to cope with insects over water so they have to turn to another, seemingly less likely, source of food. Blossoms attract insects but at this time of the year there are very few blossoms in flower but one source is the two willows, the goat willow and the grey willow. Because so little else is in leaf or flower both these willows, with their yellow male catkins, were used to decorate churches at Eastertide as "palm". These two willows, often called sallows or pussy willows, have male and female trees and it is the yellow male catkins that attract so many insects. These male catkins were also called "goslings" because their texture and colour were like newly hatched geese and this can be seen in the photograph. This is where the warblers will gather to feast on the insects and this is where you are likely to hear the first song of the willow warblers and chiffchaffs. They will later be joined by whitethroats, blackcaps and garden warblers all desperate for a good insect supply to build them up for the breeding season ahead. Fortunately these are two of the commonest and most widespread willows in the Highlands and for that matter in Britain.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Guided Walks

10th March 2008 - Guided Walks

There are many guided walks in the Highlands covering a wide range of subjects but one of the most innovative is the Inverarnie Esker Trail near the village of Farr just south of Inverness. A few years ago this area was covered with conifer plantations but the Forestry Commission carried out surveys and then brought in machinery to carve out rides and glades. This enabled visitors to see the size and extent of the eskers that are glacier deposited ridges of gravel and sand. The eskers are impressive enough as they trace the passage of the ice but so are the kettle hole lochans formed by melting ice. There are also large boulders called erratics that were originally carried along by the ice. There are three esker trails with the main red trail being 2.6 km, the blue trail is 1.1. km and the yellow trail is 1.4 km. and these are marked by posts appropriately colour coded. Each walk can be joined together and there is a range of interpretive boards along the routes.
There are rides, glades and large open areas plus the lochans and the area is maintained by the Forestry Commission to keep open the scalloped margins to the rides and glades. This leads to sunlit and sheltered areas so that the geologists, naturalists and the wildlife itself will benefit. The area is a Site of Scientific Interest. Access to the trails is off the B851 road just over a kilometre east of Inverarnie and there is a small parking area on the south side of the road. There is an interpretive panel just inside the gate with a map with the three trails clearly marked. A separate small sign indicates that the trails were opened by Farr Primary School in June 2004.
The main lochan, probably more likely to be a loch as it is over 2 acres in extent with a small island, is unusual in that it does not have a name, not even on the largest scale of O.S. maps. It supports one of the two very large colonies of toads in that part of Strathnairn, the other being even larger at Loch Farr five km to the south. The breeding adults seem to hibernate in woodland just east of the loch whilst immature toads spread out over the lower ground of the strath at this time of the year. The photograph was taken in late summer and shows the extent of the loch with no name. Although nobody seems to have carried out a survey of dragonflies there are several species such as damselflies, darters and dragonflies. The huge and impressive golden ringed dragonfly is still on the wing until the first frosts will kill them off. There are still some butterflies around and one of the best places to see them is the large glade at the start of the trails as on the lower slopes it is well sheltered.
This is a good time of the year to see family parties of siskins and lesser redpolls and later in the year mixed flocks of both these attractive woodland birds. The Scottish crossbill also nest in the conifers but these are early breeders as, depending on the seed crop from cones, they can nest as early as January. If you go early in the morning you may well see roe deer grazing in areas outwith the trees, foxes crossing rides and the elusive otter on the lochans or along burns. Red squirrels are found in woodland throughout this strath but the best way of noting their presence is the stripped cones as the animals themselves are very elusive.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Puffins

3rd March 2008 - Puffins

The publication of the two volumes of "The Birds of Scotland" in December of 2007 by the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club has, quite rightly, been hailed as a major step forward in the existing knowledge of birds. The accounts give the up-to-date knowledge of the various species with detailed information on such aspects as Scottish range, distribution and status plus trends and population. In a sense it is a celebration of the knowledge of very many people apart from the 157 authors co-ordinated by a team of nine editors. There is another aspect of the book that may be, by some, overlooked and that is the fact that it is a very important document for the conservation of birds and, for that matter, other wildlife. One of the most fascinating aspects of the accounts of each bird is the very important section simply highlighted by one word, namely "Threats".
One of the most important of these is briefly mentioned in the beginning of Volume 1 under the section on "Seabirds". It states that in the early years of the 21st century many species of seabirds are experiencing food shortages and links this to over fishing and lack of discarded fish by trawlers. It also mentions that a rise in sea temperature, particularly in the North Sea, may also be having an effect on the food supply chain. Whatever the reason, and it seems likely to be a combination of events rather than a single one, it could be disastrous news for seabird colonies around the coast of the Highlands. The numbers of many of these are of international importance and there is now a serious cause for concern. The signs were there some time ago such as Volume 2 reports for July 1959 when 8,000 four to six week old puffin chicks died on St.Kilda. This was explained as a dearth of sand eels and sprats. In the last two years there have been reports of many puffin chicks dying with pipe fish at the entrance to the burrows. Pipe fish are nutritionally far less value as food to seabirds as opposed to whitebait or sand eels. Other seabirds have also suffered such as kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots.
This may, on the face of it, seem fairly straightforward but the situation is made more complex by the predatory great skua. These large seabirds are about the size of a herring gull but even bulkier and it has a powerful looking partially hooked beak. It was renowned for its piratical behaviour with other seabirds such as puffins by harassing them until they dropped the food they were carrying, particularly sand eels. The great skuas were so quick they could often catch the discarded fish before it hit the sea below. They occasionally took adult birds and also fed extensively on fish discarded from trawlers. When the fish stocks such as sand eels decreased and trawler discards were lowered the skuas started taking the adult birds instead.
The skuas have even begun to prey at night under the cover of darkness on the small petrels such as the Leach’s on St. Kilda. Volume 1 give some facts about these rare petrels on St. Kilda where the skuas went from 42 pairs in 1986 to 229 in 1996. In recent years it is estimated that the skuas take well over 14,000 petrels each year. The books highlights these problems and many others such as brown rats, pike, pollution, mink and other predators on a wide variety of birds. It will be interesting to see what is to be done about all these problems many of which are, needless to say, man made.

Ray Collier Country Diary - 50th Local Nature Reserve

25th February 2008 -50th Local Nature Reserve

The Merkinch area lies in the north west part of the City of Inverness and it has an ancient and chequered history. At one time it was involved in the shipbuilding industry and distilling was important with a number of distilleries in the area. Perhaps even further back is the association with farming as the name Merkinch is derived from the Gaelic meaning "island or meadow of the horses". Many people’s memories of the area involves the Kessock Ferry that crossed the Moray Firth from a pier in South Kessock. The short trip was notable for the fact that one or two grey seals often used to follow the ferry backwards and forwards. The last ferry, the Rosehaugh, stopped in 1982 when the Kessock Bridge was opened.
Now the area has another claim to fame as it has become the 50th Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in Scotland and the first permanent one in the Highlands. There was a LNR at Munlochy Bay which lasted from 1975 to 1985 but it was de-designated because of access problems for ther general public. There is a LNR at Findhorn Bay and another on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles so it seems incredible that with so many outstanding wildlife areas in the Highlands as such, that Merkinch is the only one. A number of organisations have been involved including Merkinch Greenspace, Greeninverness, the Highland Council and British Waterways. The development is even more important to those people who were involved in the proposed waterfront centre that, unfortunately, had to be abandoned.

The total area of the site is 54.7 hectares and includes part of the Beauly Firth with extensive mudflats at low water, freshwater lagoons, tidal pools, salt marsh and scrub. One of the best places to see the firth is from the car park at South Kessock and many waders and wildfowl can be seen there including greylag geese shown on the photograph. When the tide is out grey and common seals can be seen on the mud banks and the bottle nosed dolphins can often be seen fishing as the tide flows. The freshwater and tidal pools attract large numbers of herons, teal, mallard and common snipe and it is the most likely place in the Highlands you will see a kingfisher. At this time of the year the scrub attracts flocks of finches including bramblings and other visitors from Scandinavia such as fieldfares and redwings. People like to visit the area as a walk whilst others take their dogs, hopefully on leads. Bird watchers haunt the area especially the water bodies looking for the elusive water rail that is so secretive. There have even been records of otter there but at such a site they are likely to be completely nocturnal. Botanists visit the site to see the attractive beds of bulrushes, an aquatic plant that grows in a few sites around Inverness but virtually nowhere else in the Highlands. So what does the designation mean to the very many people that visit the area already and to the rich wildlife to be found there? One essential part of the plans for the area is the production of a Management Plan and funding has already been earmarked from a number of bodies including the Scottish Natural Heritage. A consultant will be appointed to produce a management and interpretation plan plus a website. Due regard will be taken for facilities for the disabled. The steering group has also secured enough funding to pay for a launch event, probably in the spring of 2008.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Bird Identification

21st February 2008 - Bird Identification

Marking birds can take many forms from tiny leg rings to sophisticated miniature transmitters whereby you can follow individual birds by various means. There are other means of marking such as wing tags and these have been extensively used on birds of prey in the re-introduction programmes of the red kites and sea eagle. Tags have large letters or numbers that can be read in the field by using binoculars and telescopes. The movements of many bird in these programmes have been followed and used to work out their whereabouts. Tiny transmitters have been extensively used in the red kite programme but these have also lead to unexpected results. Tracking such individual birds means that if the bird literally stops moving there is something wrong. The high percentage of poisoned and shot red kites, particularly in the north of Scotland, including the Highlands, has been revealed by such transmitter programmes.
As regards small birds the only way in which a bird can be identified is if the bird is caught again or dies and then the age of the bird, its origin and other aspects can be determined. With larger birds such as swans and geese neck rings and leg rings can be so large, still minute for the bird, that the letters or numbers can be read in the field with binoculars and telescopes. In the Highlands this has particularly been the case with whoopers swans that breed in Iceland and come south for the winter. Such flocks, known as herds, frequent the field around the Tain area and people with telescopes often search the birds for the leg and neck rings. The birds seem to use that part of the Highlands but sometimes using it as a stopping point before going on to Ireland. Some of these birds are ringed in Iceland where for a while the adults and juveniles are flightless and are caught up.
One method of identifying individual birds started at Slimbridge in south west England in the 1960s when Peter Scott realised that he could identify individual Berwick’s swans by their yellow markings on the beak. This research and other studies came to the remarkable conclusion that some birds pair for life. At first this was thought to be the case with only the larger, long lived birds but now it is thought that very many birds do, even the small familiar ones in gardens such as blue tits and great tits. In large seabird colonies this may seem even more remarkable that one bird can identify its mate. Perhaps even more so with night birds such as petrels and shearwaters when they come to the colony under the hours of darkness.
What seems even more remarkable is what happens if a bird cannot fly. Sometimes large birds such as geese and swans fly into overhead cables or are hit by shotgun pellets. It sometimes means they cannot fly and therefore cannot join the rest of the birds when they fly north to their breeding grounds. Their mate will often choose to stay with them for the summer. Such was the case with a pair of whooper swans in South Uist a few years ago and a nest was built and the female actually laid eggs. A pair of greylag geese did the same thing at Loch Flemington a few years ago. More recently just after the New Year a mute swan hit overhead cables in Strathnairn. The bird broke its neck and for a few days its mate flew up and down the strath trying to find it.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Goldfinch

18th February 2008 - Goldfinch

The distinctive face pattern of crimson, white and black means that the adult goldfinch cannot be confused with any other bird in Britain. This delicate looking small finch has a sandy brown body with a white belly and black wings with a conspicuous broad yellow bar. The tail is black with white markings and the beak is quite long and thin, and is pale with a dark tip. The female is similar to the male but slightly duller and with less red on the face. The flight is undulating and is particularly bouncy and because of this the colours on the black and yellow wings are not always easy to see. Outside the breeding season they are usually seen in small groups, often a family party, but large groups often form around an abundance of food. They are frequently seen feeding with other finches in gardens, parks, cultivated land and even roadside verges wherever there is seed.
Historically goldfinches have suffered for a variety of reasons with one of the main ones being the trapping of large numbers for caging. Huge numbers were involved in this trapping with one estimate of 132,00 each year from an area in Sussex. This was one of the early fights at the door of the Society for the Protection of Birds, later to become the RSPB. "Saving the goldfinch" was one of its first tasks. Legislation against the sale of wild goldfinches came in 1933 and further legislation against trapping for personal use came in 1954. Small scale trapping still takes place today despite the fact that the only birds in captivity should be those bred in captivity and ringed as such. This and agricultural changes plus severe winters reduced the numbers and distribution and by the end of the 19th century the birds were no longer breeding in the north of Scotland. The protection laws changed this and by the 1960s the birds recovered in many areas. Some bad winters meant another decrease but the recovery came again until these days the birds are increasingly breeding in the Highlands. A series of milder winters have helped but in the last decade another factor has led to increased numbers and a wider distribution. Goldfinches and other birds, such as siskins, have taken advantage of relatively new garden feeders and feed. Nyjer seeds and special containers mean the long thin beaks of both can take this tiny food through tiny holes. The photograph was taken on such a feeder in a garden near Inverness.
Although goldfinches can be seen in Britain throughout the year about 80% of them move south in September and October to Belgium, France and Spain returning in April and May. In much of this wintering range there is food available all the year round although as supplies of nyjer seed in gardens becomes more widespread this migration may slow down. From a conservation viewpoint it seems as though the future for goldfinches is assured particularly as more and more people are feeding birds in the garden throughout the year. With such an attractive bird it is not surprising that it has a number of local Scots names such as goldie, gold pink, thistle finch and thistle warp. Its Gaelic name is Deargan-fraoioch which means "red stained one of the heather". The latest bird report for the Highlands indicates it is an "Increasingly common breeder, especially in the east; uncommon in winter". At this time of the year small roosts can sometimes be seen such as 35 roosting in an oak tree in the Dingwall Business Park. Feeding flocks around Inverness have been seen at Ardesier, Chanonry Point, Cromarty and Milton of Leys.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Mackerel

11th February 2008 - Mackerel

The silver underside and iridescent blue green stripes over its upper parts may make the mackerel conspicuous to our eyes but it camouflages the fish well in the open sea. Sometimes the usual striped marking are absent and the fish has a scribbled pattern although this is unusual. Apart from the normal dorsal and ventral fins the fish has a number of smaller fins called finlets that act like aerofoils. Everything about the fish is streamlined so that it can swim faster either for chasing prey such as sand eels and whitebait or avoiding predators such as seals. The fins are slender and crescent shaped and can be pulled into depressions and flattened against the smooth scaled body to reduce drag through the water. It even has a jelly like surround to the eyes, again to reduce drag. The whole body is designed for long periods of high speed swimming with minimum energy. The fish normally grow to 16 ins long although larger ones up to 26 inches have been taken.
Spawning takes place in the summer months peaking around May and June when large shoals can be seen anywhere around the coast. A female mackerel will lay around 500,000 eggs with each one having a large drop of oil to make it buoyant. The eggs float among the plankton for a couple of days before sinking to the mid water level where the baby fish hatch, The tiny fish absorb the yolk and then start feeding on animal plankton. Even when they are only half an inch long they start to resemble adult fish. The young fish do not leave the coast until the autumn when they join the adult fish to deeper water for the winter when feeding virtually stops.
It is difficult to over-estimate the importance of mackerel as for centuries they have been an important source of food. It must be one of the easiest of sea fish to catch and many a sea angler has started off with catching them. If you put white or coloured feathers on hooks and drag them through the water when a shoal is around then you may catch a fish on every hook in every cast. Fortunately even at this time of the year here are plenty of mackerel in the shops. In the past huge commercial catches have been made and there are stories of trawlers losing all their gear when their nets were choked with enormous numbers of mackerel. There are fewer mackerel now but unlike those two other great food sources, the cod and herring, they have not suffered the same catastrophic decline in numbers through over fishing. There is one small but very important problem with mackerel and that is although when fresh they can be as delicious as any other fish they rapidly lose their taste and freshness. The fish do not travel well and cannot be frozen and even after a relatively short time they are almost inedible because of a build up in toxins from bacterial decay. At times it has even been illegal to sell the fish on Sundays as that was the day fishermen did not go out so the fish could not be fresh. In some places round the Scottish coast mackerel were shunned because it was thought they fed of the bodies of people who drowned at sea. The fish has a place in weather lore as there is a cloud formation known as a mackerel sky as the small ridged clouds resembles the back of the fish. Hence the lines ‘Mackerel sky, mackerel sky / Never long wet and never long dry. Mackerel clouds in sky / Expect more wet than dry.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Walking Sticks

4th February 2008 - Walking Sticks

At this time of the year in the Highlands the red deer are lower down on the hills and in the glens and straths as the weather forces them to low ground. They are as iconic as salmon leaping up seemingly impossible waterfalls or red grouse calling their notes sounding like "go back" when you invade their territory. The red deer stags can now be seen almost anywhere with the best time just before dusk or at first light. Last year they were filmed at great length on the Isle of Rum and broadcast to the nation. Unfortunately it gave the impression that it was all the stags did day and night in the rut in the Autumn was fighting virtually all the time. Admittedly there is a great deal of vocal activity but serious fights are not the norm and there is much strutting around with no physical contact.
Stalking red deer is big business and the shooting and stalking industry is worth £100 million to the Scottish economy and helps to support 3,000 full time jobs. A long stalk for a good "head" to hang on the wall, the trip back with the carcase over a Highland pony and the welcome hunting lodge is the projected image. However there are problems in the deer stalking world and whilst some of them start before the deer are culled other start afterwards. Some years ago nearly all of the animal was used from the venison down to the offal that produced tripe that not many people will remember. Then prices for venison from the dealers fell and at one time there was even talk of culling the deer, essential to keep the herds in good condition, and just leaving the carcases on the hill. In the last few years there has been a campaign supported by many organisations to get the average housewife to buy and eat venison. Whilst there has been some measure of success there is still a long way to go. The marketing also needs a closer look as who would, for example, expect to find in the middle of the Highlands a large superstore in Inverness selling venison , in various cuts and form, from Ireland.
The pairs of "eye" canine teeth were at one time fetching up to £10 each mainly to the German market to make into brooches, tie pins, hat decorations and cuff links. The market collapsed when a glut came in from New Zealand and it never picked up again. These along with the liver, heart and kidneys plus skin, feet and antlers were a part of the stalkers "perks" and made up for low wages. Antlers fetched good prices and the market is still there although lower and they have a variety of uses from hat racks to walking sticks.
At the Moy Fair near Inverness each August a number of stands have collections of walking sticks of various shapes and sizes. The photograph was taken at last years Moy Fair and these were selling around £20 each. It is interesting to note that the top of the antler has been shaped into a whistle and the holes can be seen in the photograph. Whilst all these perks were important and are to a lesser extent today it really is the venison itself that can make or break the industry in the future. The main problem is the myth surrounding venison in that the housewife thinks it is tough and gamey and needs marinating in wine. If the carcase has been prepared well this is far from the truth and it can be as delicious as good beef.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Roe Deer

28th January 2008 - Roe Deer

The most widespread deer in the area around Inverness is not, as one might expect, the red deer but the roe deer. Part of this small deer’s success is down to the fact that it can occupy a wide range of habitats from farmland to woodland and large gardens to river banks. Roe deer are opportunists, simply needing some cover and a supply of rich food that may take the forms of bark, buds and growing shoots. The summer feed includes broadleaf trees such as ash, hazel and oak whilst in the winter they will seek out heather, spruce, bilberry, hazel twigs and grasses. They are mainly a woodland deer but in recent years they have been found more and more on open ground even way out on moorland.
The life cycle starts with the rut in late July until the middle of August and kids, sometimes called fawns, are born in the following May or June. The reason for this long period of gestation is that there is a delay in the implantation of the egg, this is the only deer species that has this phenomena. The implantation does not take place until the end of the year, more than four months after the rut. At first the kid is brownish black with longitudinal rows of white spots along its back and flanks. The black on the upper lip is very distinctive. This cryptic colouring leads to excellent camouflage in even short vegetation. The spots begin to fade after six weeks and disappear by October, at the latest. Milk is given to the kid until winter and even after mating the kid continues to nurse and stays with the doe until next years kid is about to be born and then it is chased off. Twins are common and triplets occasional but the latter seldom survive.
Mortality is highest in the few weeks after birth, as high as 65 %, and there are a number of reasons. If the weather is bad in the first winter some may die of starvation or infections. Road casualties are heavy in some areas and more than we realise as kids killed on the road are often taken by scavengers such as foxes, gulls and crows before we see them. Agricultural machinery also takes its toll particularly of young kids. Natural predators include fox and larger birds of prey. In areas where there are large numbers of roe deer young deer may die of they fail to set up their own territory. Domestic dogs are an increasing problems in woodland around Inverness and not only large dogs are involved. Some people’s idea of having a dog under control is to let the dog off a lead at the entrance to a wood and call it to heel when leaving the wood. Many roe deer, young and old, are savaged by such dogs and the deer are often left with horrific injuries. The photograph was taken in the last two weeks shows the distinctive features of a roe doe in the pale rump patch, the black nose and the foxy red coat. The doe lives in a wood just to the south of Inverness and here she is in the garden of a nearby house. There is no stalking in the wood and the house owners have just been accepted by the doe.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Osprey

Osprey - 14th January 2008

There are various ways in which birds in the Highlands are studied and surveyed, sometimes by professionals although the majority are by people who undertake this important work in their own time. Wintering flocks of geese, ducks and waders around the coasts and firths are of international importance and the areas are counted on set days so that the figures can be compared with previous years. Breeding surveys vary from national counts of herons to aerial photographs of gannetries. The various re-introduction programmes of birds such as sea eagles and red kites have to be backed up by intense monitoring often with miniature radios involved. Although there is a great deal of expense in releasing such birds the follow up work is equally important. One of the success stories of the Highlands is the comeback of the ospreys and much of what we know about them is from radio tracking.
There is one scheme that forms the basis of, amongst other aspects, knowledge of the movements of birds whether they are on migration or shorter movements because of weather. The essential requirement of such studies is to be able to recognise individual birds and one important way of doing this is to ring birds. In the Highlands these studies are undertaken by the Highland Ringing Group and the ringing varies from birds in gardens to long term studies on islands such as Canna in the Western Isles. The Group has about 30 dedicated amateur ornithologists and the main aim of ringing the birds is to further our knowledge of survival rates, dispersal rates and migration. Many readers will have come across a ringed bird at one time or another such as a bird in the garden. This is not surprising as the Group rings around 35,000 birds each year comprising of over 100 species. These vary from over 2,000 siskins to 8 golden eagles.
Ringers have to undertake a thorough programme of training and initially for some time under the instructions of a qualified ringer. The welfare of the bird is paramount at all times and studies have shown that the ring or rings cause absolutely no inconvenience to any bird at all. At one time ringing was virtually confined to the world of the ringers themselves, and the birds, but these days ringers get involved with local communities throughout the Highlands and increasingly schools are given demonstrations and the thrill youngsters get on seeing birds close too makes it all worthwhile.
Ringing can give an insight into a bird’s life and such was the case of an oystercatcher that hatched in 1976 and was ringed in Inverness at the Longman in 1978. It was caught again at Alterlie Point just east of Inverness in 1991 and as the ring was worn it was re-ringed. It was found freshly dead near Farr, just south of Inverness in 2004 so the age at death was a staggering 28 years. Many birds do not live this long and many small birds may only survive for a couple of years. The ringing scheme only works if the birds are found or seen again and readers can help by examining any dead or injured bird they find. The number of the ring should be carefully noted plus the location with a grid reference if possible. If the bird is dead then the ring itself can be sent off. Other details can include the species of bird and the cause of death. Do not forget to put in your own name and address and whether you want the ring to be returned to you. Information should be sent to British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk. IP24 2PU.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Otter tracks

Otter tracks- 7th January 2008

In summer, Loch Farr, that lies a few miles south of Inverness, is vibrant with wildlife such as fish, birds, mammals and amphibians. The richness is partly because of the very large numbers of smallish brown trout and partly because of the aquatic plant life. The loch is comparatively shallow so the aquatic plants grow almost all over the loch and these support very large numbers of insects. The insects attract large numbers of birds and the fish that seem constantly rising to them. On a calm day, with the trout rising and toads and palmate newts coming up for air, the water seems teeming with life. In contrast at this time of the year the loch appears lifeless as if stopped in time and yet the wildlife itself must still be there.
The changes for wildlife to winter starts in the late autumn when the yellow fringe to the loch is larch trees needles that have changed colour before being shed. The changes are brought about mainly by the length of daylight hours and temperature and whilst some wildlife leaves the water others stay and survive as best they can. The brown trout lies near the bottom for the winter and it just slows down some of its body functions so that it does not need to eat although just occasionally it may feed on whatever it can find. This makes the fish sluggish and no doubt makes it easier for otters, that have no choice about winter feeding, to catch them. The otters are secretive but tracks in the sand give them away. By the end of the winter the brown trout are very thin and so much so that many anglers do not fish until well into the season to give the fish a chance to feed up.
The very large numbers of toads in Loch Farr simply leave the water and hibernate on land in a variety of places. Normally they all move to roughly the same area but at Loch Farr the toads are so widespread they appear to spend the winter virtually all around the loch. Holes in the ground, cracks in peat and under stones are used and in some places such as sand or loose soil they may even bury themselves. The reason toads leave the water is that they have to come to the surface to breathe and if the water was to ice over they may well suffocate. Unfortunately, at the west end of Loch Farr there is a short stretch of road and some of the toads move across it to their hibernating place. The movement in the autumn is staggered so few toads get run over but in the spring if the conditions are right such as a sudden warm night with rain hundreds of toads may be on the move. One year well over 200 toads were run over in the space of two nights.
In contrast frogs can breathe in oxygen through their skin and extract it from water so they do not have the need to keep going to the surface. Therefore many choose to stay in the water to hibernate although they move to land via feeder burns if the water freezes too much. The palmate newts also leave the loch and hibernate under stones or in crevices and sometimes many hibernate together in a communal place. So the wildlife is still there, whether in the water or on land, although unseen to our eyes. It is all waiting for the longer days and increasing temperatures and then the life cycle will start all over again and the loch will be vibrant once more.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Pied Wagtails

Pied Wagtails - 31st December

Last week there was a pied wagtail foraging on the pavements of Union Street, Inverness, and it simply ignored the passers by who probably did not see the bird. It was picking up food too small for us to see but then it flew up onto the front of a parked car. It had seen the dead insects on the radiator grill and picked them by the beakful. Sometimes it would land on the grill, somewhat precariously, but it also hovered and picked up the dead insects in the process. Meanwhile in the middle of the Inverness station a herring gull was striding around amidst all the passengers waiting for their trains. These birds do not moult into their adult plumage until they are four or five years old and with such a close view it was easy to see by the brown markings on its head and neck that it was in its fourth winter.
If you exclude parkland, the River Ness and gardens that are, in their own way, an extension of the countryside, there are a number of reasons why so many birds are attracted to the city. In the case of the herring gull and other scavengers such as crows we leave so much litter around that it makes easy pickings. Another reason is the temperature within the city as opposed to the countryside. Sometimes, for example, the city is free of snow but the surrounding countryside, if it has snow and ice, is often around 8 or 9 degrees C. colder that the city. So the city provides food and warmth and for many birds breeding sites in the summer and predators are few although no doubt cats take some birds.
The most conspicuous of the City’s birds is probably the herring gull that now seem equally at home on a sea cliff or rock as they do on streets and buildings. This bird causes more headaches to local authorities than any other since it frequents the cities, towns and villages. Apart from the mess the adult birds are very protective of their young and will willingly attack people. At this time of the year they can be seen virtually anywhere from the car parks of supermarkets to wandering amidst the people even in the Victorian Arcade. They will eat almost anything and you only have to look at the streets in the city to see the rubbish on which they thrive.
Another conspicuous city bird is the feral pigeon and here again they can be seen almost anywhere from pavements to Falcon square. Sometimes they are in pairs, this is one of the birds that has been found nesting in every month of the year, or in large flocks. Next time you walk down Academy Street or Church Street look up and there is always a good chance of seeing large flocks of feral pigeons wheeling round. They may not have the grace of motion of large flocks of starlings but they are still impressive. It is amazing to think that all the colour varieties of these pigeons came from one source, the native rock dove, that now seem to have been bred into extinction in the Highlands. There are other city birds such as house sparrows, blackbirds, carrion and hooded crows, robins and dunnocks. They, in turn, attract birds of prey and a good example is the sparrowhawk. Last week one was seen hunting a side street and suddenly it turned sharply and was headed for a fence with narrow slits. At the last moment it flipped sideways through ninety degrees and was through the fence after a house sparrow.

Ray Collier Country Diary - Moths

24th December - Moths

Different moths have various ways of overcoming the winter months with its vagaries of weather. Some moths, such as the aptly named winter moth, the mottled umber and the spring usher, actually emerge during the winter months and most of these have a special adaptation in that the females either have no wings or the wings are so stunted they cannot be used for flight. The lack of wings may have evolved so that the females are not blown away by winter gales. There is also the advantage of not having to find the food plant for the caterpillars as the female is resting on the plant on which she hatched. Another theory is that being wingless they are at less risk from birds as they would be more noticeable in flight. The wingless females release insect hormones as soon as they hatch and this attracts the flying males from some distance.
Some moths such as the garden tiger spend the winter as caterpillars, sometimes in crevices and sometimes underground. The photograph of an attractive adult garden tiger was taken in a garden near Inverness. Other caterpillars like the large emerald over winter by securing themselves to a pad of silk attached to a twig. Some of the larger moths over winter as a chrysalis and spend the cold winter months underground. The recent run of milder winters may have helped many moths survive the cold but unfortunately the down side is that in milder weather the many types of parasites also thrive. One of the larger moths whose chrysalis stays underground for the winter months is very attractive and is a very unusual colour as an adult as it is predominantly pink. The elephant hawk moth has pink wings, body and antennae and this overall colour contrast strongly against its white legs. As if to enhance the colouration of the moth even further there are olive green markings on the body and wings and a black patch on both the hindwings. The males and female moths are similar and there is very little colour variation.
These attractive moths have an intriguing distribution in the Highlands as prior to 1990 there were very few records and those were well scattered. Then the Highland Biological Recording Group started moth recording and the results were quite remarkable. New records show the main distribution centres on Inverness, the Black Isle and Easter Ross right up to Lairg and to a lesser degree around Skye and Lochalsh. Either the moth has been overlooked in the past or it is rapidly extending its range for some unknown reason. The adult moths feed on nectar at night time and they have a long flight season from May to early August. They can occasionally be found at rest during the day but they fly from dusk onwards feeding on the wing like miniature humming birds on long nectar flowers such as honeysuckle. The spectacular looking large caterpillar is more often seen than the moth particularly when they are found wandering before they pupate. Unlike most moth caterpillars there are two colour forms. The usual one is brown grey but there is also a green form but both are able to protect themselves from would be predators by changing their shape which causes the false eyes on the head to expand and then it looks menacing although it is quite harmless. Around Inverness the moths and caterpillars can be found in a wide variety of places including rough grassland often with disturbed or burnt ground where rosebay willow herb occurs as this is the main food plant of the caterpillars.