Ray Colliers Highland Country Diary - Recording Group

30th March
Recording Group

There are various ways for visitors and residents to find out about the wildlife and prime places to visit in the Highlands. One of the best sources for beginners and more advanced naturalists alike is to join the Highland Biological Recording Group. The Group started up in 1985 and apart from bringing like minded people together one of the main objectives was to record wildlife with various co-coordinators for different groups and species. From the outset it was decided to cover species that are easily recognizable and over the years the recording has covered, amongst many others, fish, orange tip butterflies, red squirrels, frogs, corn marigolds and hedgehogs. The most successful have been those involving school children especially with species that were the easiest to identify and included hedgehogs and orange tip butterflies. As far as butterflies are concerned the Group has been responsible for plotting the spread of two species namely the speckled wood and orange tip and without the Group such changes that took place before the latest national Atlas was being produced would have gone unnoticed. Birds and plants are not normally covered as there are regional organizations that take care of these and it would be duplicating their efforts. The annual newsletters and indoor and outdoor meetings are the forums for exchanging information and recording and distribution maps are an essential end product. Who would have thought in those early days that the Group would actually publish distribution atlases but it started in 1998 based on one of the most popular groups namely butterflies. It was entitled "Highland Butterflies - a provisional atlas" and was provisional in the sense it would be up-dated. That update is due out this year when a new atlas will have up to date maps and a text revised as necessary. The latest atlas is "Highland Bumblebees" published in March this year and it covers their distribution, ecology and conservation as well as their identification. The next atlas is on "Highland Mammals" and it seems as though this will be published in 2007. The newsletters, indoor and outdoor meetings are the life blood of the Group with the newsletters not only indicating what recording has and is taking place but also listing the field trips and contact people. Non members and beginners are very welcome at any meetings, indoor or in the field. The AGM took place in March this year and the main talk was by Dave Hetherington on "The feasibility of re-introducing the Eurasian lynx to Scotland". It is a sign of the enthusiasm that over fifty people were at the meeting. At a time when the application for a license to re-introduce the beaver to the Highlands has been turned down by the government and the discussion of others such as wolf and bear, the talk was timely. The general conclusion was that the lynx idea was feasible although there would be problems over them killing sheep rather than roe deer and young red and sika deer. As with all such re-introductions including the success of the sea eagle and red kite programmes there are the important elements of finance and time to be taken into account. It is not only the question of bringing in birds, or mammals for that matter, but also the follow up work. It is no good bringing in various species if they are not monitored afterwards to see whether the programmes are successful or not. So why not join the Group as the annual subscription is only £4 and the Membership Secretary is Saranne Bish, Croachy, Farr, Inverness IV2 6UB. The newsletter and meetings will keep you aware of what is happening in the world of wildlife in the Highlands whether you live there or just come for holidays.

Ray Colliers Highland Country Diary - Waders

23rd March 2006

Waders

At this time of year the various firths and estuaries throughout the Highlands hold large numbers of wading birds. Some of these are about to depart for other shores to breed but the so called resident birds will soon start moving onto open moorland and fields particularly on the lower parts of straths. My wildlife diary tells me that last year the first wader moving inland was a curlew on 8th March followed by an oystercatcher later the same day. No doubt the snow and cold last week will have deterred the birds but the lengthening in the day light hours will not be denied. These early calling birds may be simply moving through and it will be some time before any courtship displays take place. These and other common waders all nest on the ground and this gives them real problems as there are so may bird and mammal predators ready to take advantage of the situation.

On of the most attractive of these waders is the lapwing, which is unique in the Highlands and for that matter in Europe in having an upswept crest. They are at their best when their display reveals the orange red feathers under the tail. Considering the fact that the eggs are often laid either on very short grass or a ploughed field it is amazing how difficult they are to see as they are so well camouflaged. As with the other waders the four eggs are pear shaped so that they can fit into the smallest area possible to be adequately covered by the brood patch for incubation. The chicks also have a special form of cryptic colouring for camouflage and the pale line round the neck is important. This means that the outline of the young chick is broken into two roundish shapes, the head and the body. The chick then appears as two round pebbles and is very difficult to see as it camouflages so well.

The curlew is by far the largest of these common waders and its huge curved beak is one of the longest of British birds. The length if the beak is significant in these birds as it means they do not compete for the same food as different animals live at different levels in mud or wet ground that the birds frequent. In the hide overlooking Udale Bay on the Black Isle there is a graphic illustration on the different levels that waders cover. Curlews have the most haunting call notes as in their courtship they plane down on stiff wings and they seem to epitomise open moorland and wild places.

One of the most fascinating waders that breed in the straths and elsewhere is the common snipe. They have the habit of standing still for long periods and their camouflage is so good they are extremely difficult to see. The beak is very long and has a very sensitive tip so that it can detect various forms of food in the mud and silt or marshy ground. Its courtship flight is spectacular as it rises up to a great height and then plummets, at an angle, to the ground. The noise it makes when diving has been likened to the bleating of lambs at one time it was thought to be vocal. In fact it is the outer tail feathers of the tail that is extended so that the air rushing through them causes the vibrating noise.

Like the other common waders the redshank is declining for the same reasons, changes in agricultural practices. It has never been very common on the mainland of the Highlands but they come into their own in large numbers on the machair in the Western Isles. How ironic then that their numbers were, and are, threatened by the introduced mink and hedgehogs. They have the charming habit of calling out their rather strident notes when they are on a perch such as a fence post. For some reason when they are sat on the post they can be comparatively tame.
What these waders all have in common are predators, with one of the worst being the carrion and hooded crows. They have the trick of luring one bird away from the nest whilst the other bird will raid it. Foxes, badgers, stoats and pine martens all have their toll and it is little wonder that many of these waders manage to rear any young at all. There is one hope for the future and that is those farmers and crofters that come under the Rural Stewardship Scheme who are encouraged to include rough grazing and marshy areas on their farmland.

Reproduced with kind permission of Ray Collier and The Inverness Courier and Highland News Group.

If you would like a copy of “Highland Country Diaries” written by Ray Collier please contact Ray Collier on 01808 521256 who has a small supply left. £5.00 plus p&p. or email corinne@wildernesscottages.co.uk

Ray Colliers Highland Country Diary - Arctic Fox

16th March 2006

Arctic Fox

There has been a great deal of discussion in recent years on re-introducing various animals back into the Highlands. At the centre of the most controversy is the question of the beaver as, despite the recommendations of the governments own advisors, Scottish Natural Heritage, no licence has been issued by the Scottish Executive. It will be interesting to see what happens with the proposals to re-introduce animals to a huge “park” in Sutherland. The animals will possibly include bear, lynx, wolf, moose and wild boar although a re-introduction may not be the correct term as it will be like a very large “reserve”. It seems that such re-introductions are the norm these days.

There is another animal that seems to have been overlooked as a possible re-introduction, the arctic fox. Historically in the Highlands these have had a fascinating series of events starting with the famous “bone caves” at Inchnadamph. The bone deposits in the four cave systems give an insight as to what was living in the area during the last ice age around 11,000 years ago. The animals include brown bears, polar bear, reindeer, lynx, lemming and arctic fox. The birds include grey plover, red grouse, barnacle goose, long tailed duck and eider duck. These birds suggest a much wetter countryside and this is also indicated by the bones of frog, toad and two types of newts.

There is no date for the extinction of the arctic fox in the Highlands but it is likely that as the ice retreated so did the foxes. They still occur in parts of Scandinavia including Iceland and Greenland although there is cause for concern as the numbers continue to fall for a variety of reasons. All the more remarkable then that there have been some comparatively recent records from the Highland and near Inverness. In the Inverness Courier of February 1878 there is a record of one being taken at Gairloch and another one was shot in Inverness around the same time. Both specimens could be seen in Mr Macleay’s shop, presumably the local taxidermist. Much more recently in March 2000 a keeper was out on an estate to the west of Inverness when he saw an animal near some red deer hinds and deer saw it off. Then the animal started to bother some sheep and was shot. The keeper later found out it was a white arctic fox. Three months later someone studying breeding birds on remote moorland to the south west of Inverness was outside their tent cooking an evening meal when an animal started zoning in on the smell and it was another artic fox. The meal was taken into the tent and fox was scratching the flaps and only went when the observer hid inside his vehicle. Despite exhaustive inquiries the origin of the latter two foxes was never resolved. All four foxes were presumably released or escaped from captivity.

Arctic foxes have two colour phases, one greyish brown in summer that turns white in winter and a blue phase that has brown fur in summer and blue grey in winter. They feed on birds and their eggs, voles and carrion and will also scavenge along shore lines. There is a long history of them being harvested for fur both in captivity and in the wild. They are remarkably tolerant of the cold and only start shivering at -40 degrees C.

Reproduced with kind permission of Ray Collier and The Inverness Courier and Highland News Group.

Ray Colliers Highland Country Notes - Droving

Droving 16th March

Three of the more fascinating aspects of the history of the Highlands are ice houses, doocots and droving. Each played their own essential part in the fabric of the countryside in varying ways and each has made their mark on the landscape. There are still plenty of doocots around that are a reflection of the times when the doos gave food in the form of eggs, and meat from adults and chicks called squabs. Some are ruinous like the one on the side of Loch Ness at Foyers whilst others are well maintained such as the one at Gordonstoun which is a beehive design, probably dating from the late 15th century. As for ice houses they too have had mixed fortunes with many in disrepair whilst others are not only well maintained but used as centres for displays such as the one in Findhorn and at the entrance to the River Spey.

You have to look a little harder to see what is left of the great droving days when large numbers of cattle were brought from even the remotest parts of the Highland including the Islands. They went to various trysts and fairs with one of the most famous in the north being at Beauly around 1820 but it was moved a mile to the north to Muir of Ord. Droving of cattle was taking place as early as the latter part of the 16th century and ended around 1900. These days some of the old inns remain and proudly state they were indeed old drover’s inns although some of them, I believe, are stretching the imagination a little. I like to think that the two or three small very green looking areas with a sheiling on the Dirrie More between Garve and Ullapool are areas where the cattle were kept overnight and droppings even now cause the green-ness of the sites. The ruined structure on the road running west from Braemore Junction is reputed to be an old drover’s inn and I can well believe it. One interesting relict is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of the area north east of Inverness. It is marked as a “Drove Stance” and this is where the cattle would have been kept overnight. To begin with these stances were free but then the local landowners started charging. Drovers coming into Garve from the north or west suddenly began to be charged for overnight grazing so they simply changed their route. Instead of going through Garve they went up over the pass between Ben Wyvis and Little Wyvis.

There were many problems encountered by the old drovers and on of these was the shoeing of the cattle. It seems unlikely this would have been necessary until the cattle were south of Inverness when they encountered harder roads. The problem was that cattle cannot be shod in the same way as horses. Horse’s legs conveniently bend so that the hoof can be tucked under the blacksmiths legs for shoeing. Cattle’s legs are different and do not bend the same way so it was a question of raising the cattle off the ground in some sling and hammering from underneath. Another way was to throw the cattle on their side and hammer sideways. The cattle shoes consisted of two narrow strips of metal for each foot although someone told me leather was also used. I cannot find reference to leather cattle shoes anywhere so if any reader can enlighten me please make contact.

The Highland cattle of the droving days were small compared with their present day ancestors. The cattle were not only small but mainly shaggy and more often than not black. It must have been quite a sight as the small herds went further south and met others on the way. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars the number of cattle sold each autumn at Falkirk, was about 50,000.

Reproduced with kind permission of Ray Collier and The Inverness Courier and Highland News Group.

Ray Colliers Highland Country Notes - Puffins

March 9th 2006
Puffins
During the winter months a small number of puffins can be seen in the Beauly and Moray Firths and sometime close to the shore. These are rather plain looking black and whit birds but with some colour on their beaks and the legs and feet bright orange. Whilst in summer the legs and feet are the same colour the beak and the colourful skin around the eye are transformed into a riot of colour with bands of yellow and red covering the massive beak. These colourful beak plates are shed after breeding and regrow for the spring and the forthcoming breeding season. In the next few weeks the puffins will start moving back to their breeding sites in the Northern and Western Isles plus a few mainland colonies on the north coats of Sutherland and Caithness.

When the birds are on the move large numbers can be seen from any vantage point jutting out into the North Sea such as Tarbetness near Tain and Burghead east of Inverness. This is a very busy time for seabirds in general as they stock up their fat reserves to get ready for the breeding season. Sea watches from the coast can produce a wide range of birds such as great skuas, terns, gannets and the various species of auks one of which is the puffin. These are one of the smallest of the seabirds that can be seen flighting past and they are often low over the sea and subsequently overlooked. Whilst breeding puffins have been well studied in various places around Scotland there is still the mystery as to where they go in the winter months. This is despite the very large numbers that have been ringed in the sometimes vast colonies. Recoveries of such ringed birds vary from being caught for food in various places such as Iceland to birds found dead affected by oil spills. What is fascinating is that such a colonial bird in the breeding season does not seem to gather in large numbers in the winter months. This has the side benefit of oil spills affecting relatively small numbers of puffins. The birds are great wanderers and for the second and third years of their life they visit several breeding colonies sometimes hundreds of kilometres apart as if assessing the suitability of each. Once they do breed they then remain faithful to that site for the rest of their lives which can be up to thirty years.

Many people know that puffins have been taken for eating for centuries in many places such as St Kilda and Iceland in particular. Less well know is the fact that they were classed, along with barnacle geese and scoters, as “bird fish” so they could be eaten during Lent. Local names includes mullet, tom noddy with most popular one being sea parrot. Two are after place names such as Bass cock and Ailsa cock after the islands. Scots names include norrie and sea coulter and there are at least three Gaelic names including buthaid meaning bird with a belly. As for the future, puffins have very many predators from other seabirds to mammals such as brown rats but now there is another threat namely tree mallow. This plant has covered colonies down south and prevented birds getting into their burrows. Fortunately the plant does not seem to have invaded any colonies around the Highlands and Islands but it is important that the situation is closely monitored.

Reproduced with kind permission of Ray Collier and The Inverness Courier and Highland News Group.

If you would like a copy of “Highland Country Diaries” written by Ray Collier please contact Ray Collier on 01808 521256 who has a small supply left. £5.00 plus p&p. or email corinne@wildernesscottages.co.uk

Ray Colliers Highland Country Notes - Blackbirds

March 2nd 2006.

Last November a large number of blackbirds were suddenly seen in and around Inverness which is not surprising as this is a regular event. The increase, known by birdwatchers as a “fall”, was unusual in that because of the mild weather, the birds do not seem to have flown on as they normally do. As is often the case with what we refer to as “garden birds” the origin of the blackbirds we are seeing in gardens at present is complicated. Ringing of Scottish birds has shown that many first year birds go to Ireland between November and February. Adult blackbirds may stay where they are perhaps having raised their young in a nest in a shrub or in the garden shed. Their numbers are swelled by Scandinavian immigrants so that the birds in gardens at present. Busy turning over leaves to look for worms, may have crossed the North Sea.

Interestingly, it is in gardens where the views are often quite close as the birds are fairly tame that it is easy to identify first winter males, those that were hatched from eggs last summer. Most of the birds plumage is black contrasting with the yellow beak and yellow ring around the eye. The black feathers are those that have moulted from the brown ones of the younger birds. The main wing feathers, the primaries, are not moulted and these lines of brown feathers on the edge of the wing can often clearly be seen. Females are more difficult to age especially as the amount of brown spots varies considerably from bird to bird. White feathers are often seen on blackbirds and all white birds are occasionally seen whilst for some unknown reason white feathers on their close relative, the song thrush, are very rare.

There is a conservation dilemma over blackbirds as although they expanded their range up until the early 1970s then their numbers start too fall. The decline was by 26% and alarm bells started to ring. The decrease was put down to changes in agricultural practices but that did not explain the decrease in woodlands. In the last
Few years that decline may have ceased and a simple explanation may be the numbers of people now feeding birds in gardens all the year round. The birds seem to have adapted to different foods and even different feeds.

Blackbirds do not have very much folk lore attached to them perhaps because at one time they were quite secretive birds haunting woodlands as opposed to gardens and urban sites. Older naturalists such as Gilbert White and Thomas Bewick scarcely mention them. Scots names include merle or ouzel with local names such as blackie and colly. There are three Gaelic names with one being Thein-dubh meaning black one of the furze.


Reproduced with kind permission of Ray Collier and The Inverness Courier and Highland News Group.

If you would like a copy of “Highland Country Diaries” written by Ray Collier please contact Ray Collier on 01808 521256 who has a small supply left. £5.00 plus P.P. or email

corinne@wildernesscottages.co.uk