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.