Cottage Holidays throughout Scotland

Grey Seals and common seal have been very much in the news recently with old reports and new ones. All of them are related to the killing of seals both legally and illegally around the coasts of the Highlands and Islands. To put all this into perspective it is worth remembering that for centuries the culling of both species of seals took place. The grey seals were easier to kill as both pups and adults are at their breeding grounds for a few weeks in the Autumn . These gatherings are called rookeries and the cows have their pups there and mate with the bulls. The pups cannot enter the sea until the whitish coat has moulted. Likewise the cows are tied to the pup to feed it and so they could be approached. The common seal has a different life cycle as they have pups on islands or sand banks and the pups can swim on the next tide so they are difficult to approach.
Culling of grey seals took place so that people could use their oil for lamps, their skins for waterproofs, rubber boots and export. The meat was also eaten and when many of the even smaller marine islands were occupied seals and their killing were a necessity of life. Before the depopulation of many island such as the Monach Isles in the Western Isles so many seals were taken that the numbers reached an all time low. In 1914 it was thought, probably mistakenly, that there were only 500 grey seals left in the whole of Great Britain. Legislation was then brought in to protect the grey seal. The low numbers of grey seals probably led to the comments in a local newspaper dated 20.11.1908. A Mr Berry was out wildfowling in the estuary of the River Beauly when he shot a score of common seals. Amongst them was an eight feet long grey seal. It states that “This species is usually found on the Scandinavian and Icelandic coasts”. Perhaps the small, remote colonies of grey seals off the Scottish coasts were unknown apart from any local people.
Grey seals and their pups were still being culled in the 1960s and beyond and it reached a peak, as reported in the press recently, in 1978. The government planned a cull of 5,000 grey seals and their pups in Orkney and North Rona, north of Lewis because of their depredation of fish. Norwegian marksmen were called in and the boats were assembled for the cull despite protesters trying to stop them. However, there was such a public outcry that Jim Callaghan stopped the cull. To save the government’s face the Scottish secretary was invited to review the evidence. It is still being reviewed despite increasing opposition from fishermen.
Common seals have not done so well in recent times mainly because of the phocine distemper virus also called the “seal plague” that broke out in 1988. The disease affected both common and grey seals but particularly common seals. 18,000 of them died in Europe with 3,000 of them around the British Isles. Although a previously unidentified virus was found to be ultimately responsible, many aspects of the disease are still not fully understood. What did come from the deaths was a much greater interest and concern of people as to how we were, and are, abusing our oceans and seas. Now the latest cause for concern is the falling numbers of common seal in the last few years. Nobody is quite sure why but it is emerging that large numbers have been illegally killed every year.

Corn Dollies, figures and designs made from plaited straw, have been used for a variety of purposes such as brooches, an omen of good luck, decorating Christmas trees, love tokens and as a variety of symbols. The origin of the first Corn Dolly goes back a very long way in the myth and folk-lore of the Highlands, ever since the first corn was grown as opposed to gathering wild grain, and it is based on the important customs surrounding the harvest of the corn. In the early days, it was felt that because of the wonders of crops with good years and bad years there ought to be some way to appease the Gods. This developed from what was then thought of as a mystery and so the supposed myth of the Corn Mother, Corn Spirit or more commonly Corn Maiden came into being. In the early days these would have been almost pagan rites but for a long time it has been associated with a more Christian view of the harvest and the countryside. This spirit was thought to live in the cornfields and it was essential that the last straw being cut in the field was kept so the life-force of the field was preserved. The Corn Dolly or straw ornament was made from the last sheaf of the field and carried on the last processional load to the farmhouse where it was preserved until the next spring. The last sheaf would be made into the likeness of a girl, hence the Corn Dolly or Corn Maiden, although the size and shape varied from parish to parish or even from farm to farm. There were also variations as to who cut the last sheaf, with sometimes the farmer cutting it while in other areas it might be the youngest person out in the field, whether boy or girl. Sometimes the Corn Maiden was simply kept in the farmhouse, while in some cases they were always kept in the local church. What happened to it in the spring also varied, with some giving it to the horses to eat at the first ploughing of the spring, whilst others felt it should go back into the soil, and it was turned in at the first ploughing. In some cases the Corn Maiden is simple in design, while others were more complex and they often have local names like the one in the photograph which is known as the Ivy Maid, although as Corn Maidens go it is small at about 13 inches high. Until a few years ago there was still someone making Corn Dollies near Inverness. with a wide variety of shapes being made for sale and a number of craft and gift shops stocking them. None seemed to have been made for some years and they were difficult to find in the shops. Perhaps it is one of the countryside traditions in the Highlands that had gone forever. People in England still make them and glossy leaflets with the old designs can be found. Some farmers still make the traditional crops specifically for Corn Dollies with long firm stalks, especially of wheat. One such leaflet has 44 designs as well as Christmas tree decorations. As for the Highlands all is not lost as in the last few years a lady living in Inverurie in Aberdeenshire has been making a whole range of Corn Dollies with old and new designs. She is Elaine Lindsay and she obtained her Craftsman Award with the Guild of Straw Craftsmen in 1999. Her wide range of work can be found on her website under – www.somethingcorny.co.uk

“Crex crex” are two unique words as they not only admirably describe the call of the corncrake but they are also its Latin name. At one time the birds were widespread in Scotland, including the Highlands and Islands. On the Isle of Rum there are old game books that record the fact that corncrakes were at one time shot on the island. By the early 1990s the numbers had drastically declined although there were still a few birds on the Western Isles when the recovery programme was started. As with all such programmes it is the hidden costs that are significant, such as monitoring the birds. Grants enabled farmers and crofters to manage fields, particularly hay fields, in such a way that the vegetation afforded protection to young and adults and food. The photograph shows the flower rich vegetation called “machair” on South Uist with orchids and other plants such as silver weed and buttercups. These are important areas for feeding corncrakes.
For various reasons only the “core” areas have been monitored on an annual basis and these include many of the off shore islands such as Coll, Tiree, Iona, Oronsay and Islay, along with the Outer Hebrides. The RSPB worked with the farmers and crofters to produce corncrake friendly hay meadows and, just as important, the field margins that also give cover and rich insect life. All the signs were good as the numbers of calling males, called “crexing males”, steadily rose. In the first study year, 1993, there were 446 then in the year 2000 there were 591 and it still rose year by year until in 2007 there were 1236 calling males. Then there was the unexplained dip in 2008 to 1140 males that is still being investigated.
Compared to the osprey, sea eagle and red kite the efforts in the Highlands to increase the number of pairs of corncrakes has had little publicity in the various media. Even less is heard of the innovative “Nene Washes Corncrake Project” in eastern England. Studies in the 1990s made it clear that corncrakes need vegetation ( 20 cm +) which the birds can easily walk through. The vegetation must also be rich in insects and should only be cut late in the summer. In 2001 a re-introduction programme was started with birds reared at Whipsnade Zoo being released after acclimatisation in pens. It is too early to say if the programme has been successful but 23 adult male corncrakes have been recorded on the site and 12 males were calling there in 2008.
To give an idea of its former distribution in Britain the birds have attracted a number of poets including John Clare who lived in Northamptonshire. In the 1820s he wrote two poems about what he called the landrail and he also included it in his written notes. His poem “The Landrail” starts with the lines “How sweet and pleasant grows the way/Through summer time again/While Landrails call from day to day/Amid the grass and grain.” The corncrake was obviously a common breeding bird in Clare’s time and he recorded the fact that the young could run as soon as the egg hatched and the adults were seen dust-bathing. The bird has also attracted Scottish poets such as Robert Burns who in his poem “Elegy to Captain Matthew Henderson” wrote “Mourn, clam’ring craiks at close o’ day/ ’Mang fields o’ flowering clover gay;”.
Local names for the corncrake include corn drake, craik and grass quail whilst the Scots names include weet-my-fit, king of the quail and daker. The abundance of such names may be indicative of its secretive habits and its incessant calls. Even the Gaelic names are varied with four indicated in one book including Traona and Racan-arbhai with one interpretation being “Croaking one of the corn sheaf”