Ray Collier Highland Country Diary - Mountain Hares

Mountain Hares - 19th December 2006

One of the many wildlife mysteries in the Highlands is associated with mountain hares and the south east corner of Caithness. The normal colour of mountain hares varies according to the time of year because in the winter they turn white in order to blend in with the snow, whilst their summer coat is brown with the dusky blue undercoat showing, which also gives it the name of "blue" hare. There are some slight variations in colour with some individuals but back in the early 1900s keepers on the Langwell Estate starting seeing black mountain hares. This colour of hare was unknown before the turn of the century but then, up until 1923, around 15 were shot on the estate. Some of these went to the Royal Scottish Museum and some to the British Museum (Natural History). The owner of the estate then ordered his keepers not to shoot any more black hares to see whether they would increase in numbers. What was intriguing was whether these black hares were true melanistic or simply a colour form and would the black hares turn white in winter. The latter point had already been thought of by a naturalist two of the hares on the Langwell Estate were shot in January and February when they should have been in their white winter coats - both those shot were black. Unfortunately, there appear to be no more records of black hares on the Langwell Estate or elsewhere in the area, presumably because no more were shot and apparently for the last 25 years none have been seen on the estate. However, about ten years ago, a black mountain hare was seen by someone from a train just north of the Langwell Estate on open moorland, so perhaps there are still some around but not recorded. Another interesting point is whether such black colouring would affect their camouflage against predators. This would certainly be the case with snow on the ground, although in the summer if a mountain hare crouched in a "form" in long heather, it would be out of sight irrespective of colour. Fortunately, some hares were mounted for the estate and the photograph shows a black mountain hare and a more typical white specimen and the photograph was taken in one of the estate buildings. The mystery lies in why there should be so many black mountain hares in one small area, as they are virtually unknown in the rest of Scotland. Reports in recent years of dark mountain hares on the sides of the River Findhorn near Drynachan Lodge on open moorland slopes on either side of the strath were checked. However, although some of them were dark brown and much darker than the usual coloured specimens in the same area, none were black. However, whatever their colour, the mountain hares along the whole length of the River Findhorn are especially interesting because, unlike other parts of Scotland, the hares use burrows rather than camouflage to fool would be predators such a golden eagles. The holes may be excavated by the hares themselves or if the right size scree is available, they can utilise the holes between the stones. During the day the mountain hares can be seen sitting around outside the holes but if an eagle flies over, they disappear underground in an instant and even the swift flight of the eagle stands no chance, so their survival rate may be higher than in other parts of the Highlands.

Ray Collier Highland Country Diary - Herring Gulls

Herring Gulls- 12th December 2006

Herring gulls are large and fierce looking birds with grey backs and white
underparts. The wings are grey above and broad which makes them look heavy in flight. The wing tips are black with white spots and the powerful looking beak is yellow with a red spot. In winter the white head and neck are heavily streaked with grey. The young birds are a mottled brown. These very noisy birds have a wide variety of calls with wailing and laughing cries and short barks. At any time of the year they will throw their head back and make an ear-piercing call that carries some distance. The history of this bird is interesting as, contrary to popular belief, their numbers peaked in the 1970s and have since been in steady, slow decline. The main reason why this has gone unnoticed is that the bird has increasingly been found inland and more and more in urban areas. At one time there were no herring gulls inland and yet now they can be seen foraging virtually anywhere and breeding in a wide range of places from the shores of lochs to buildings. However, as a background to this success in a change of breeding sites, since the 1970s there have been heavy culls mainly by poisoning with narcotic baits. Tens of thousands of the birds have been culled, not only by poisoning but also by other methods, because the birds has, unlike most other sea birds, no protection under the law. There have also been deaths from disease, such as botulism, and predation by fox and mink. Individually herring gulls may hunt singly but are seldom far from other gulls. Round the coast of the Highlands and Islands there are large, noisy colonies of breeding birds. Large communal roosts are found at this time of the year, mainly around the coasts but also sometimes on inland lochs. The name "herring" gull is not very apt, as although they will eat the fish their diet is very varied. They will rob other birds of their food, take small animals, forage after carrion on shorelines and roadside, plunge into water after fish and will even take flying ants. While many herring gulls follow trawlers for offal a few will sit on ferries to the Small Isles diving down if anything is thrown overboard. The herring gull's relationship with man has been a problem for many years. At one time the biggest problem was the huge numbers of gulls on rubbish tips. In recent years, nests on buildings in urban areas, with the mess involved and adult birds diving at people when the chicks are in the nests are obvious problems. Many people still take herring gulls eggs to eat though the taste is quite strong. In the minutes of some of the meetings of the Highland Squirrel Club which killed 102,900 red squirrels between 1903 and 1946, members were urged, as part of the war effort, to gather gulls eggs and take them to the nearest barracks so they could be eaten by people. These days it is not so much where to go to see herring gulls but where you can go without seeing them. They haunt car parks in supermarkets, they take mallard ducklings from rivers and lochs, they forage in the towns and villages and will come into the smallest of gardens for bread. Some people like them and others loath them. No doubt many have heard their calls as part of the introduction to Radio 4's "Desert island Discs". It will be interesting to see if the numbers continue to fall in the next decade or so.

Ray Collier Highland Country Diary - Holly Trees

Holly Trees
4th December 2006

The holly is one of the most conspicuous and readily identified trees in the Highlands at this time of the year. This is mainly because it is the commonest native evergreen. The leaves are glossy and waxy on the top and paler green underneath. The leaves are alternate and the new foliage in May and June replaces the sporadic loss of the leaves in the winter months. Some leaves have sharp spines but this is mainly on the lower parts of the tree where animals try to graze. A holly tree, unless it is trimmed or heavily grazed, will grow into a narrow crowned conical outline with regular branching when young but becomes straggly with age. When this happens the ring of the branches that hang down can provide shelter from the elements for animals and birds. The bright crimson berries are another identification point, although this can be misleading as there are male and female flowers on different trees. This means the berries normally only occur on female trees. The tree is widespread throughout the Highlands, although it seems to be absent from most of Caithness and some of the other parts of the Flow Country. There are scattered records for the Western and Northern Isles. The problem with its distribution is that many have been planted, including some with various coloured leaves. The latest flora atlas has not separated these and all records are shown as native. Although poisonous to man, because of the toxic substance ilicin, the long-lasting berries are attractive to birds, especially in the winter when there is less food around. For various reasons, they stay on the tree much longer than other fruits and, even after frost, they do not fall off or go bad. One of the reasons they are long lasting is that a well berried trees is often taken over by a pair of mistle thrushes and other smaller birds leave the berries alone. If there are a lot of berries, the thrushes may defend a tree or group of trees right through the winter and into the spring. The tree is particularly palatable to grazing animals, including cows and sheep, and, in very hard winters, the thornless upper branches used to be lopped for fodder. This gave rise to pollarded trees, whilst in other areas the trees were coppiced in the same way as hazel. Although branches may be lopped and small bunches will be taken for the approaching festive season, in the past many a tree was spared the woodman's axe because of the superstition it was unlucky to cut down a holly. A more practical reason for leaving them was, because they stood out in hedgerow or woodland edge, at one time they were used as visual markers by the ploughman to get his furrows right. The wood is white, heavy, fine-grained and even but tends to distort when drying so it is generally used for small pieces, such as inlay work, chessmen and butts for billiard cues. Although we link holly and the festive season, the reverence for the tree goes back a considerable time. It was believed to be able to ward off evil influences, so it was often planted beside houses. With the change to planting broad-leaved trees rather than conifers, it looks as though the future for the holly in the Highlands is assured. The only problem is that the female holly tree does not have its maximum production of berries until it is 40 years old.

Ray Collier Highland Country Diary - RSPB Reserve

RSPB Reserve
2nd December 2006

At this time of the year the various firths along the east coast from Inverness to Dornoch are becoming increasingly important for a variety of wildlife, particularly ducks, geese and waders. The whole of the Moray Firth is of international importance for birds and within this huge area one of the key places is Udale Bay, five miles west of Cromarty on the Black Isle near Inverness. The significance of the bay is recognised by the fact that it is a National Nature Reserve managed by the RSPB. The area consists of extensive mudflats, saltmarsh and wet grasslands which serve as wintering grounds for a wide variety of birds and also, in the case of ducks, geese and waders, as a staging post for feeding on migration routes. There are two places to view the bay, the main one is on the side of the B9163 that runs along the southern edge of the area. Several years ago the RSPB, with grants from other organisations, constructed a hide that overlooks the saltmarsh. The hide is free and is open all the year round and there are interpretive panels inside describing various aspects of the reserve. The hide has a visitors' book where people can note down what they see, which makes it easier for people to know what has been happening and what to expect. Another viewpoint is at Newhall Point on the north west corner of the area where there is an interpretive panel and car park close to the waters edge so you can use the car as a hide without disturbing the birds. The best time to visit the bay is an hour before high water. At that time the open areas of mudflat, where many of the birds feed, is slowly being covered with water. This forces the birds to find a place where they can rest, and although some fly to the neighbouring fields most of them settle on the relatively small areas of saltmarsh where you can see hundreds and hundreds of waders and ducks. The large numbers can include up to 700 oystercatchers and some times there are so many wigeon, up to 5,000 in the Autumn, that they rest both on the saltmarsh and open water. The greylag geese prefer the open water - up to 5,000 were counted this time last year and in March last year there were 7,000 pink-footed geese there. The movements of birds before the oncoming tide often means there are lots of them in the air making spectacular fly-pasts. When large numbers of waders, such as oystercatchers and redshank, are on the wing they often attract a peregrine falcon that stops from a great height and causes chaos with the waders trying to escape in all directions. Other birds include mute swans that frequent the areas just in front of the hide. They are sometimes joined by a few whooper swans that have flown down from Iceland for the winter. Goldeneye ducks regularly feed in the burn to the left of the hide. Other ducks include teal, pintail, mallard and shelducks with other waders such as curlew, bar-tailed godwit, greenshank and dunlin also seen. Birds are not the only wildlife of interest in the area - roe deer can often be seen along woodland margins and occasionally an otter can be seen from the hide.