Ray Collier Highland Country Diary- Doocots

Doocots 12th February 2007


There are not many buildings in the Highlands that date back to the 1500s but some of the doocots go back that far and they can readily identified because they are known as "beehive" doocots because they look, in outline, like one of the old fashioned beehives. One of the two doocots at Gordonstoun School is of the beehive type, whilst the other is reputed to be a more recently converted windmill. Another type of doocot is called a lectern because it resembles an overgrown reading desk with a slanting top that holds books or text for reading in church and they date from 1600 onwards. There is a fine example of this type at Cadboll near Fearn in Easter Ross and this was built, by the inscription on the side, in 1805. These lectern doocots pose a mystery as the style is only found in Scotland and France, so perhaps it is another spin off from the "Auld Alliance". At Cadboll, on the top of the structure is a metal silhouette of a country gentleman in breeches carrying a gun. Some sources say this is a weather vane - albeit with no arrows for direction - while others say it is a crow scarer. There are two rat courses, ledges projecting from the sides to stop rats climbing the walls and getting to the eggs or doo chicks. These rat courses have posed a problem as black rats would not be a threat and when the older doocots were built, the brown rat was not around, as they are not suppose to have arrived until around 1730. However, when the earliest designs for doocots were brought into Scotland, the rat courses were perhaps just part of the design without knowing what they were for and, when the brown rats did arrive, it came into its own. There are more recent doocots in the Highlands and they, as well as the older ones, have in some areas fallen into disrepair and are ruinous and such is the case with the one on the side of Loch Ness at Foyers that was built in 1865. Doocots survived for hundreds of years and they gave a source of meat and eggs at all times of the year but there were other advantages to having them, although they were confined to the more wealthy classes. The lower part of the structure could be used for other things such as keeping poultry, pigs or just for storage. The Cadboll one has a door in one side about five feet off the ground with another below, indicating the doocot had two levels and two entrances. But it was not only the eggs, young and adult doos that made the doocot useful, as the dung was extensively used for manure. The dung was also used to make gunpowder and was an important source for castles. In 1625 an order went out that forced owners of doocots not to stone the floors, as this prevented the dung mixing with the bare soil. The dung's rich content of potassium nitrate - the infamous saltpetre mentioned by Shakespeare - was mixed with black earth to form gunpowder. The other uses of the dung included the dying of cloth and as part of the leather tanning process. In the end the doocot way of life changed rapidly, whether from the increasing opposition by the poorer classes as the doos ate what cereal crops they had, or the changes in agricultural practice so that food was available throughout the year. When the use of the doocots ended, the pigeons just went feral and this may well have been the start of the decline in the rock dove as they all hybridised. As for the doocots these days, although many are listed buildings, a high percentage are in grave need of repair but the grants are too low to be viable for most owners.

Ray Collier Highland Country Diary- Starlings

Starlings
29th January 2007

We have become used to seeing large numbers of starlings, such as at this time of the year when flocks of 50 or more birds roam the straths and glens after food and then assemble in such places as Inverness for the night. In the winter a relatively small number will eat all the food on bird tables despite being repeatedly scared off, and well berried rowan trees in gardens or out in the countryside have long been stripped of their red harvest. In some of the larger roosts, sometimes numbering many thousands of starlings, they have been known to affect buildings, break small branches on trees and occasionally kill areas of woodland by the accumulation of their droppings. Some large roosts are in reed beds until the weight of the birds finally destroys them, and caves are also sometimes used. Any authorised person can kill starlings or destroy their nests and eggs. Shooting seems to have no overall effect and the various bird scarers - such as the starling's own alarm call or models of large owls - are, after a while, just as ineffective. Some attempts have been made to count the huge roosts in towns and cities and although there seems to be no figures for Inverness, one count in Aberdeen came to 100,000 starlings. Starlings nest in a very wide range of places, including holes in trees and walls, artificial nest boxes and old doocots. They are only really absent in the Highlands as a breeding bird on the upper parts of hills and extensive moorland. Part of their breeding success is due to the fact that a male starling sometimes pairs simultaneously with more than one female and although this normally involves only a second female there have been up to five females recorded paired to a single male. It is also common for more than one female to lay in the same nest. Two broods early in the year is normal. The pale blue, spotless eggs can sometimes be found on their own in open places, such as a lawn, because the bird has been disturbed from the nest just as it was about to lay, or for some other reason it is away from the nest. The abundance of starlings is a fairly new phenomena. Around 1800 it was probably extinct in Scotland except for the Outer Hebrides and Shetland where the starling was isolated for so long that it developed into its own different "race" with its own characteristics. Interestingly the colonisation of mainland Scotland did not come from the Isles but from England. The birds started to spread north in the early 1800s and the colonisation was virtually complete by the middle of the 20th century. The trend is reversing however. In the last few years, despite the apparent numbers of starlings they are in marked decline. The decline all started mainly in the Highlands and experts suggest the starling is now generally in severe decline throughout Britain, with losses of around 50 percent. This is a remarkable decrease which also seems to be taking place all over North-west Europe. This trend may not be so apparent in the winter as the resident birds are topped up by huge invasions of starlings, the majority of which come from Scandinavia. One of the reasons for this decline is that farming has changed and the end result is less food which means chicks do not get enough to survive. Some people are beginning to suggest that if this trend continues then perhaps the starling could disappear in the Highlands as quickly as it reappeared. If this ever happens then what would be the fate of the birds on the Isles?

Ray Collier Highland Country Diary- Pike

Pike
22nd January 2007

The pike is a freshwater fish that is easily recognised by its long near cylindrical body and a broad head with a pointed snout. The body normally has golden green bands and spots and is pale creamy yellow on the undersides sometimes dotted with pale orange spots. The colouring is variable and is affected to some extent by size and the places where the fish are found. Dorsal and anal fins are set well back near the tail. Its mouth is large and wide and armed with rows of needle sharp teeth that are angled backwards making the escape of any prey very difficult and to help swallowing. Eyes are set very close together and are placed high and forward in the head and this gives good binocular vision which suit's a predator that hunts by sight. Very young pike are pale green and are relatively easy to see in the water but they soon darken and have the typical banded effect when seen from above which make them camouflaged. These large fish, specimens of over 25 lbs have recently been taken from the Highlands, are not native and have been introduced in two main ways. In the past clergy were often responsible for the introduction of pike as they could be raised in small water bodies thus providing a ready source of fish for Fridays. There are many records of pike in lochs in the "Statistical Account of Scotland 1791 - 1799". In Harvey Brown and Buckley's book "A Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray Basin" published in 1895 there is an account of a keeper shooting a twenty-eight pound pike in Loch Luichart. The same keeper was watching a brood of small goosanders and one by one they disappeared and never came up again. In the last few years there are been a marked increase in pike fishing in the Highlands and the fish have been deliberately introduced for sport. Pike are readily transported in a damp cloth or sack for some distance despite the time involved. North of a line from Dornoch to Gairloch the fish are still rare but south of the line the pike now exists with other non-native fish that have been introduced such as minnows and perch. The Pike Anglers Alliance for Scotland was officially launched in April 2001 to represent pike anglers with planned new legislation. The Inverness Pike Anglers Club was also formed and they have erected signs at some lochs asking anglers not to kill pike. The flesh of the pike is off-white in colour and has a distinctive flavour. It is thought to be unpalatable in most of the British Isles but in other countries such as in Europe they are treated as a great delicacy and can be very expensive to buy. As with many other introductions to the Highlands there are problems and the pike is no exception. Adult fish will try to eat any animal or bird, dead or alive, that is not too big to swallow. Part of their success is that they are cannibalistic although they freely take other types of fish. The fish are caught on the side but normally turned round so they can be swallowed head first. They are one of the few predators that will freely take toads, ignoring and unaffected by the poisonous secretion on the skin. The main problem with pike and conservation in the Highlands is that where they are present divers, grebes and other water birds are not able to rear any young as the pike simply eats them.