Ray Collier Country Diary- Marking Birds

Marking Birds - 20th October 2008

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- Larch

Larch - 27th October 2008

At this time of the year the larch trees with their golden yellow needles brighten up many areas of woodland in the straths, glens and hillsides but unlike other conifers all the needles will be shed for the winter. The next colour on the trees will be in the spring but you have to look close because it is the loganberry red of the female flowers and the yellow of the male flowers. The cones grow all around the twigs and are egg shaped with tight scales and are unusual in staying on the trees years after the seed has fallen. There seems to be a mystery as to when they were introduced to Scotland as although there are records going back to the 17th century it was not taken seriously until much later. It is, arguably, the one introduced tree that transformed the landscape and as regards its value in timber terms it produces a much better quality timber than Scots pine and grows much faster. Unusually, it was widely planted before the Forestry Commission was formed in 1919 and the most famous example is on the Atholl estates in Perthshire where, from 1740 to 1830, 14 million larches were planted. Larch trees support a variety of wildlife and are particularly important for crossbills as the seeds from the cones are ready in August whereas the seeds of the Scots pine, that are their staple diet, are not ready until later. Various small birds take advantage of caterpillars on larches and the small birds that nest in them include lesser redpolls and siskins. Larger birds, such as buzzard, sometimes build their nests in the older trees. As these trees let in more light than other conifers they also allow a herb layer to form such as bugle, bluebell, wood sorrel and grasses and this in turn attracts a wide range of insects including butterflies. Part of the trees success is its timber that is as hard and strong as Douglas fir. Its great strength in big timbers made it the tree for the heavy beams needed in trawlers and as it is highly durable in the ground or the air it is the traditional timber for fencing posts on the farm or croft. The use of larch in building ships is legendary with, in the early nineteenth century, a brig being constructed of larch timber. The first British warship to be built entirely of larch was a frigate of 28 guns built between 1816 and 1820. Unlike oak, larch does not corrode iron bolts and fittings and it is less prone to shrinking. For warships in battle the fact that larch is not prone to splintering meant fewer lives were lost. We may just accept the larch in the straths, glens and hillsides but along with a few other trees such as Sitka spruce it changed the landscape of the Highlands and will do for some years to come.

Ray Collier Country Diary- Geese

Geese - 13th october 2008

The wild geese around Inverness such as the greylag and pink-footed geese are commonly seen in large flocks, called skeins, flighting to and from their feeding and roosting grounds. Skeins at this time of the year tend to fly low but in late Autumn some of them are very high with some descending whilst others flew further south. These could well have been birds that had flown direct from their breeding grounds in Iceland in one non stop flight, such is their strength. Other geese are much smaller and the brent goose is a good example as it is only the size of a mallard drake although the neck is longer. These geese are plump with rather short black legs and small black beaks. The head, neck and upperparts are dark looking, black from a distance, and contrasting with the white under tail feathers. The underparts are either mottled grey or brown. The adults have a white collar of feathers on the sides of the neck that is absent in young birds. They are a bird of the sea coast and estuaries where their favourite food is eel-grass but they will eat saltmarsh plants such as glasswort, sea aster and grasses.
Historically the brent goose in the Highlands poses a mystery as at one time it was reputed to be by far the commonest goose. Old records for Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty indicate that they outnumbered other geese by 100 to 1. There are old records with, unfortunately, no date of up to 4,000 being seen in the Cromarty Firth whereas these days a flock of over ten birds, anywhere in the Highlands, would be noteworthy. It is not as if large numbers no longer come to Britain as each winter England and Ireland support over 130,000 that represents nearly half of the world population. Why there are so few in the Highlands these days may be tied in with the food as perhaps there has been a dramatic change in the amount of eel-grass available.
The reason for the increase in the south is put down to legislation against shooting, and their move onto agricultural land. There are still some causes for concern such as habitat loss, disturbance and the lobby that seeks to put the goose back on the quarry list so they can be shot for sport.
The brent goose is one of the more remarkable of the geese as it breeds further north than any other goose. The dark bellied race breeds in Siberia and in northern Russia
and they winter mainly in England and France. The pale bellied race from Canada and Greenland winters in Ireland. In these Arctic areas the weather suitable for breeding last only around 100 days so even slight variations in conditions can affect the success of gosling survival. Families migrate together and remain together until the following breeding season. Some of them can survive 28 years or more.
The best places to look for brent geese around Inverness include Nigg Bay, Tarbetness, Udale Bay, Clachnaharry and Alturlie Point. The latest Highland Bird report states that the brent goose is a "Scarce (but increasing) migrant and winter visitor" so we can put hope that the numbers will return again in the future. The photograph was taken of a bird caught for ringing along with some pink-footed geese on the east coast. The Scots names for the brent goose include ware goose, clatter goose and routhurrock. The Gaelic name is Geadha-got meaning brent goose. The main problem for the future would seem to be whether the bird is on the quarry list or not.

Ray Collier Country Diary- Berries

Berries - 6th October 2008

This Autumn has seen a marked decrease in some areas of the amount of berries, fruits and seeds on trees and shrubs in and around Inverness and for that matter in other parts of the Highlands. Perhaps the most notable is the lack of rowan berries that so many birds rely on to boost their body weights for the winter months ahead. The lack of the bright red berries is particularly noticeable as in the last two years there have been such bumper crops the branches were weighed down. The beech mast is also poor and although some birds such as wood pigeons can find alternative food smaller bird such as bramblings may find it difficult. Their problem is that they will have to join chaffinches foraging in open fields where modern farming techniques means there is little seed left behind.
In contrast there seems to be a bumper crop of apples both the crab and, in particular, the domestic apples. In the wild the distribution of both is confusing as they hybridise and the latest plant Atlas of 2000 combines all records as if they were all native. Records are scattered in and around Inverness with a few on the west coast but virtually none in Caithness and Sutherland. Some birds such as blackbirds will attack the apples when they are still on the trees although most birds wait until the apples fall or surplus apples are put out in gardens for the birds. Other birds will take them, especially other thrushes such as redwings and fieldfares, pheasants and some starlings will take them. The mystery over the starlings taking apples is that whilst some of them are enthusiastic over eating them others completely ignore them.
Some mammals will eat apples and one perhaps comes as a surprise, namely the badger. Whilst they have a reputation of feeding mainly on earthworms they in fact take a wide variety of food. Their diet may include mammals and birds but they will also take berries and apples as the opportunity arises. In one garden near Inverness at the beginning of November surplus apples were put out on a small lawn for the blackbirds with three or four feeding on them at any one time. The general idea was to put the apples out at dusk so that the birds could have a good feed at first light the next morning. One morning the remains of one apple indicated something else had been feeding on it and there next to it was the dropping of a pine marten. Based on studies in northern Scotland the food of the pine marten includes birds, mammals, often as carrion, and frogs and toads. Eleven percent of its diet is fruit and nuts so it is not surprising that apples are taken.
In the last two weeks an experiment was carried out in a garden just south of Inverness where red squirrels come in daily to peanuts and other nuts in containers. Small apples were put out in a variety of situations including on the ground and wedged in the fork of branches which the squirrels frequented. For three days whilst apples were attacked by blackbirds the red squirrels seemed to ignore them. Then one morning a red squirrel was seen scurrying along the branch of a tree with one of the apples, whole, in its mouth. We tend to think of red squirrels taking seeds out of cones or biting into a hazel nut and splitting them into two. A recent innovation has been red squirrels raiding bird feeders in gardens and this now seems to have extended to apples.

Ray Collier Country Diary- Herring Gulls

29th September 2008 - Herring Gulls

One of the commonest birds in and around Inverness is the herring gull and they can be seen in the various firths, parks, gardens, car parks, bus stations, rivers and lochs, in fact virtually anywhere. Because of its size and numbers it has been the subject of many studies over the years but there are still two mysteries about them. One of these is regarding its methods of feeding and the other over its name. As for food, this gull is truly omnivorous, in other words they will eat any type of food indiscriminately. One method of feeding is along the shoreline to get into shell fish that are too hard for the bird’s beak to break open. The birds tear them off the rocks and then fly up and drop them onto a hard surface. It may take several attempts to do this but the method has its problems.
Some birds, such as other gulls and crows, have learnt to wait until the shell hits the ground and then they rush forward. The point is that by the time the gull that took the shell up into the air has flown down again the food has gone. One gull at Cromarty overcame this problem as when it flew up into the air at the last moment instead of just dropping the shell it jerked its head violently and threw the shell several feet higher. This meant that by the time the shell smashed on the ground the gull was well on its way to grab the spoils. Whilst this approach may seem to be innovative so is the mysterious way it feeds when on short grassland. Any roadside grassy verge will do, even roundabouts and, of course, fields and parks. You can see them doing this right close to roads so these days they can often be seen in and around Inverness. The bird stands on one spot and patters with its feet almost as though it is dancing. This encourages worms to come to the surface and the gull quickly grabs them. The mystery is whether the pattering feels like rain to the worms or does the vibration sound to the worm like a mole it has to escape from? For the first part of their lives the chicks and juvenile birds are fed by the adults who regurgitate their food. The way the young birds stimulates the adults to bring up their food is to peck at the red spot on the lower part of the beak. This vivid red spot can be seen on the photograph that was taken on the sea wall at Nairn.
As for the name "herring" gulls it seems to be a mystery as to why they were given this name as whilst they will take this fish they also take a wide variety of others. It has been called a herring gull since the 17th century so the origin seems to have been lost in time. Herring means " army" in Old Norse so perhaps it came from the sheer numbers of the birds, like a host or army. Apart from its main call notes that have been described as similar to laughter they also have a plaintive mewing cry that in the Highlands has given it the Scots name of cat gull. Others include silvery gull, white maa and greyback. The Gaelic name is Faoileag-an-sgadain meaning seagull of the herring. One of the myths about the herring gull is about weather as the old Scottish rhyme goes
"Sea-gull, sea-gull, sit on the sand;
It’s never good weather when you’re on the land"