Ray Collier Highland Country Diary - Mute Swans

28th August 2006
Mute Swans

Mute swans are easy to identify by their huge body size, long graceful neck and an attractive yet powerful beak. The adults have white feathers which contrast with the orange beak with a black base. The beak differentiates the males from the females especially in the breeding season - the black knob at the base is largest in the male. Some adult swans have rust coloured feathers on the head, neck and, sometimes, breast feathers, and this is staining from iron in water where they feed. They breed on lochs with shallow areas for feeding and sometimes on the banks of slow flowing rivers and beside salt and brackish water. Their past distribution in Scotland is uncertain but one theory is that they were introduced from the continent. The mute swans that are so much a feature of the landscape of the Uists and Benbecula in the Western Isles are recorded as being introduced in the late 19th century. This discrete Hebridean population is sedentary to the extent that records of any birds moving to Lewis or Harris, just to the north, are unusual. Otherwise they commonly breed in the east of the mainland and are scarce in the west. They breed on the Orkney Islands but are rare in the Shetland Islands. One birdwatcher down south has compiled a list of more than 770 pubs with swan titles and estimates that they represent nearly a quarter of all those named after birds. The swan names include the Swan's Nest, the Swan and Cygnets and Ye Olde Swan. Most early writers used a goose or swan quill as a pen and even today swan quills are sent each year from the swannery at Abbotsbury in Dorset to Lloyds of London. The quills are used with ink to enter ships lost at sea in official records. Scots names for the male swan is Cob or Tom and the female is Pen or Jenny. The Gaelic name is Eala meaning. literally, mute swan. The name "mute" for this swan is odd as it is very vocal on occasions, such as when it is disturbed. The loud throbbing noise of its wings when in flight is very impressive. The beating of the wings is reckoned by some to be one of the finest sound in nature, suggesting immense power and majesty. The photograph was taken at Loch Flemington a few miles to the east of Inverness and both pen and cob are at the nest. In recent years mute swans have had problems and have been cause for concern. Overhead cables kill many birds and sometimes objects are hung on the cables in various parts of the Highlands where swans, geese and ducks were badly affected. Lead weights and lines from coarse fishing took their toll and so did lead pellets from shotguns. These different types of lead pellets were eaten by birds thinking it was grit to aid digestion. A mute swan found dead near Elgin, east of Inverness, contained 944 gunshot pellets. Despite all these setbacks the number of mute swans is increasing especially as the problem on lowland rivers has been largely solved by a ban on the sale of lead fishing weights in 1987. A ban on lead in shotgun pellets in certain areas has also helped. The scares on bird flu earlier this year highlighted the three swans that visit the Highlands, namely the mute, whooper and Bewicks, although only the mute swan is resident.

Ray Collier Highland Country Diary - Rowan Trees

Saturday 26th August 2006 – Rowan Trees

The feather like leaves and the large clusters of reddish-orange berries make the rowan tree unmistakable. In fact, the berries are so conspicuous and impressive that it comes as a surprise in the autumn to realise just how widespread this tree is in the Highlands. Rowans are found in woodland, scrub and hedgerows, by mountain burns and in sheltered gullies or wide ledges on cliff faces. Its other name of mountain ash reflects on the fact that it grows higher up hillsides than any other native tree and it sometimes clings to the smallest of crevices where the seed has been dropped by a bird. It must be one of the most widespread trees in the Highlands as it occurs throughout many parts even in the flow country of Sutherland and Caithness. The berries are at their best at this time of the year and already family parties of mistle thrushes have laid claim to trees where they will defend this important food source. Once the birds have stripped one tree they will move onto another, but their effect on the berries, in overall terms, is very small and in many areas it is as if the rowans are waiting for the large-scale invasions of the thrushes from Scandinavia. If there is a good crop of berries, as is the case this year, then the redwings and fieldfares will stay longer because even their flocks that can be in hundreds it will take time to make an impact as there are simply so many berries. As for the mistle thrushes they try and defend "their" trees against their smaller cousins, but they soon succumb to such overwhelming numbers. When the trees have been virtually cleared of the crop the thrushes move on, going south and west plundering the berries and not leaving very many for other birds to take as food. Compared with some berries, those of the rowan can be of a size to be taken by smaller birds such as chaffinches and bullfinches. Of course, another member of the thrush family, namely the blackbird, will also take them, although the song thrush seems to prefer elderberries in many areas. Small and large animals will also take rowan berries, and there are few records of pine martens climbing out along branches and successfully reaching this food source. Many birds and animals also take advantage of fallen berries on roads where high sided vehicles have knocked them off trees, and some berries often come off in strong gales. We ourselves use rowan berries to make delicious jelly for serving with game or Wildfowl, and there are also recipes for a liqueur and a wine from the berries. However our relationship with rowan is a very ancient one involving myth and folk lore. Few trees are believed to be able to give more mystical protection, which is why so many rowans are planted next to houses. The tree's name may have come from the Norse word "runa", meaning a charm, and in ancient times the leaves were often hung over doors to repel evil and wells were dressed with rowan to keep witches away. Such has been the faith in the power of rowan that many people will refuse to cut branches, let alone fell a tree.

Ray Collier Highland Country Diary - Seals

Tuesday 15th August - Seals

Grey seals can be seen hunting fish virtually anywhere around the coasts of the Highlands and Islands and they even enter the River Ness and Loch Ness. In the freshwater they seem to be able to catch fish much easer than the anglers much to the annoyance of the latter. The seals are curious and will often float with just their heads showing and watching people until they suddenly dive and then you can see their sheer size and power. However, in the next few weeks many seals will have left their coastal haunts and move to their breeding grounds known as rookeries. The majority of these are on remote islands such as North Rona that lies north west of Cape Wrath or the Monach Isles, west of the Uists. In some cases, when the islands were inhabited, many seals were taken for oil, fur and meat, and there does seem to be a link between the islands being depopulated and the seal numbers rising. For the islanders the pupping and mating times, both of which take place at the rookeries, were the only occasions when they could get close enough to a number of seals, as they are at sea for most of the year. Some seals will travel some way from the safety of the sea to have their pups and mate and on North Rona they regularly haul out 80 metres above sea level on a steep hill. A rookery is a very noisy and smelly place and if the grey seals are frightened in any way by a person or predator such as a killer whale, then the place becomes a turmoil and many pups can be squashed to death. However the highest mortality is in the first few days or weeks of the gathering and crowded sites or wind swept beaches often have large numbers of dead pups. Starvation is also a major factor, mainly because the pup and mother have not bonded and she wanders off and leaves the youngster. Various attempts to control grey seals based on the estimates of what and how many fish they take and the affect on fish stocks have failed through public opinion. Licences are still occasionally issued for shooting seals where they are causing damage to nets or cages, although what constitutes a case for a licence has always been ill defined. Along with red deer on Rum and the Soay sheep of St.Kilda, the grey seal is another very well studied animal, partly to look at its life history and numbers and partly to assess its impact on fishing. The North Rona rookery has been intensively studied whilst the overall numbers in Britain have been worked out by regular flights over the main rookeries when aerial photographs have been take. Large numbers of grey seals can cause a great deal of erosion - on the Farne Islands, for example. In contrast the suspected erosion on the Monach Isles turned out to be caused by the wind following rabbit activities. The grey seals were seeking out the far end of sandy hollows to pup in peace. As for the future, there will always be some controversy over the impact of such numbers and some people already take the law into their own hands by shooting them illegally. It would not be the first time that such populations effectively controlled their own numbers through many factors from lack of fish to pollution, with the latter seeming inevitable if we do not clean up our act in the way we treat the seas of the world let alone around the coasts of the Highlands.

Ray Collier Highland Country Diary - Deer

Tuesday 8th August-
Deer

There are a few areas in the Highlands where you can expect to see four species of deer - the native red deer and roe deer and the introduced fallow and sika deer. One of these locations is the woodland bordering both sides of the Great Glen running from Inverness in the north to Fort William in the south. The smallest of these deer is the roe. It has been said that there is no wire fence capable of containing them which is one of the reasons they have rarely been contained in deer parks, plus the fact that despite their size the roe bucks are dangerous if they attack people. Roe deer are widespread throughout most of the Highlands and recent figures suggest that Scotland's population may be in excess of 300,000 which is in line with the number of red deer. This is an increasing worry for conservationists because of the effect which roe deer have on woodland and regeneration of trees. Unfortunately, roe have the habit of debarking trees on the edge of woodland such as along the sides of rides and glades. However, the amount of damage may not be as bad as first feared because trees in the woodland itself may be untouched. The reasons for the increase in roe deer numbers are complex but include the fact that huge tracts of countryside have been planted up with trees in the last few decades and, unlike red deer, twins are common while sometimes there are triplets. Added to this is the fact that roe deer in the Highlands appear to be changing their habits. While they are essentially woodland deer, increasing numbers can be seen on open moorland well away from any tree cover. Whether this move to more open ground is the result of increasing numbers in woodland is not known. Roe can also swim well and are attracted to islands on freshwater lochs, where the plant life may be lush compared with the "mainland". The plant life is so lush as islands are rarely, if ever, burnt and they are not normally overgrazed by sheep and/or deer. At one west coast site roe deer even swam out repeatedly to a small marine island which they eventually colonised and could be seen there throughout the year and they reared kids. The best time to see roe deer is at dawn and dusk when they move out of the woodland areas to feed in fields or open moorland. Earlier on in the year the buck's antlers would have been cast and then re-grown and whilst this is taking place the antlers are covered with a woolly skin called velvet. This is rubbed off around May and the antlers harden off for the rut or mating season that takes place in July/August. Both the bucks and does can be recognised at this time of the year not only by their small size being only around two feet high at the top of the shoulder, but also by the rounded white rump patch. Roe are often inquisitive and will watch nearby humans for a long time providing there is no danger but then, when alarmed, it will fluff out the white rump hairs so that it looks like a large powder puff. Culling roe deer, especially in woodland, often means using a high seat which is basically a platform well off the ground so that the roe do not catch the stalker's scent plus the fact that the bullet will be at an angle into the ground so that there is no safety problem. Unlike the price of red deer venison, that of roe deer has fared better because of the market in Europe where it is deemed a delicacy.

Ray Collier Highland Country Diary - Highland Bird Report

Tuesday 1st August
Highland Bird Report/

The "Highland Bird Report for 2004" covers an area from North-west Sutherland down to Lochaber and in the South-west to include Badenoch and Strathspey. Skye and the Small Isles such as Canna, Eigg, Muck and Rum have been included but not the Western Isles that has its own report. There are also some records for Caithness. The main part of the Report, as one would expect, is the systematic list and there is a range of information such as nest records, unusual numbers of birds, breeding sites, movements etc. There are also some worrying trends and there are a number of species that are declining and one is tempted to say still declining. These include the ring ouzel, corn bunting, lesser redpoll and even the starling. The corn bunting is very worrying as apart from a small population in a small area to the east of Inverness there were no breeding records from elsewhere. However there is the plus side and this includes the corncrakes which at 51 calling males is the highest confirmed number since 1993. Most of these were on Skye but a few were on the Small Isles and it was interesting to see records for Ardnmurchan where in the old days they were frequently heard in the small hay fields right on the coast. Great spotted woodpeckers are now a locally common breeder in the east and there was an interesting report of them predating the chicks in a crested tit's nest. The jay is an increasing breeder in the south of the area covered by the Report and it makes one wonder why this bird is still on the quarry list and can be killed by any authorised person given a valid reason. The tremendouse work by the Highland Raptor Study group comes through time and time again in the species accounts. This is not only the iconic birds such as the golden eagle and peregrine but also the owls such as short eared, long eared, barn and tawny. The tawny owl using an old raven's nest at Inverkirkaig is interesting. The work of the Highland Ringing Group is often under-estimated but with over 34,000 ringed in 2004 the amount of data available is remarkable. Some of the ringing data goes back many years and often from remote places such as the Isle of Canna. Some of the bird recoveries make interesting reading such as the redshank ringed near Inverness being predated by an arctic fox in Iceland. The list of recoveries and information on ringing is worth while getting in its own right. There are other intersting sections such as "Highland Weather in 2004", Review of the ornithological year 2004", "First and last dates for common migrants", "The Autumn 2004 waxwing invasion" and a "Gazatteer of Places". The Report has to be read right through from cover to cover to appreciate its significance both in terms of the amount of information it contains and the sheer numbers of contributors. The latter include very many individuals plus conservation groups and organisation and the group of people who co-ordinnated the Report. All these are far to many to mention here but they are to be congatulated on the standard of the Report that has matched the high standard of the previous two. If your interest in birds means long hours sea watching, searching the high tops for dotterel and ptarmigan or just watching blue tits at a garden feeder then this Report is a must for your bookshelf. The Report can be obtained from Alastair McNee, Liathac, 4 Balnafettack Place, Inverness, IV3 8TQ for £7.50 including postage.