There is a rapid turnover of birds in the garden coming  to feeders at the moment.   Although some bird will stay and breed in the garden or nearby, many will leave for other areas.  In the case of the chaffinch things get a little more  complicated.  Some of the birds that have frequented our garden all winter have come from Scandinavia and will now move back there to breed.  Siskins have been one of the  dominant birds in gardens this winter with many readers getting  in touch with me expressing their  pleasure at  just how common they have been.  Some will possibly breed in the garden,  I had a pair that built their nest in  a small conifer in the garden a few years ago.   However, most of the  siskins will move out once the warmer weather comes.  They will breed in the large areas of conifer woodland and there the female will build the small neat cup shaped nest from conifer twigs, grass, heather, moss and spiders’ webs.    Whilst the female builds the nest and incubates the eggs, the male joins  them after hatching and will share in feeding the young even when  they first leave the nest.  Many people  will see them  when they come back to the feeders in gardens.  Bird feeders must be like picnic tables to them with  a constant  source of food always there.

There is a mystery here that was mentioned in  this column over a year ago and it does  not seem to have been resolved.  In the “wild” in the Highlands siskins will often mix with lesser redpolls and down south in England both  species come freely to feeders in gardens.  Records from the south indicate that last winter in particular the number of lesser redpolls rose to almost the same as the siskins.  Yet in the Highlands the records  of lesser redpolls at bird feeders in garden are still few and far between.    For example in my garden this last winter we have only had two records, one well before Christmas for a couple of hours and then another in the last week or so.  The last one was,  judging  by the lack of pink feathers on the breast, was a  female and by the general plumage  likely to be a young bird hatched last year.   Just occasionally it comes into feed and always on the nyger feeder with siskins and this is where I took the photograph.    The bird is in the spillage tray under  the main part of the feeder and, by co-incidence, it is there as I write these notes.  The photograph was taken through the glass window with a telephoto lens,  a Sigma 150 to 500 mm.   The small and neat black bib under the beak and the reddish cap are diagnostic features.  Interestingly the red cap varies in  colour and can be an attractive gold colour although is  unusual.

The other attractive bird in the garden  this winter and again commented on by readers has been the large numbers of bramblings.  These are about the same  size as the chaffinch but much more colourful, especially the male birds.  Whilst a very small number of  bramblings may stay to breed in the Highlands, often only one or two pairs, but in the winter it is a different matter.  The winter numbers are  variable from year to year.  In poor years there may be only around  1,000 birds whilst in a bumper  year this can rise to a staggering 100,000 birds and all from north west Europe. So if like me there are still a few bramblings in your garden  they will soon leave for Scandinavia,

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Just in the same way as some naturalists focus on birds of prey, butterflies or deer others look at wild flowers.  The wild flowers sometimes  means orchids as they are very attractive and some are quite rare and difficult to locate.   They also have fascinating names such as frog, butterfly, bee, fragrant, birds’ nest and early purple.  One of the other groups of wild flowers that attract naturalists  are the saxifrages and, as with the orchids, many are very attractive and some quite rare.   Some people go even further with their approach and try to photograph every species.  Orchids are a favourite for this approach  although saxifrages come a close second.    Saxifrages also have the advantage of  being  well represented  in gardens often being classed as rockery plants or even alpine plants as some grow at high altitudes.

The names of saxifrages may not be quite so attractive as the orchids but they are still intriguing such as  starry, yellow mountain,  mossy,  arctic and Highland.     One of the saxifrages that is well distributed in the Highlands, and for that matter in the Islands, is the very attractive purple saxifrage.  This saxifrage is renowned for two reasons with one being the fact that it is the only saxifrage in   the UK with, as its name suggests,  purple flowers. The second point is  that it is the earliest of the saxifrages to flower.   I first found this when I was recording a raven’s nest in March one year on a  steep cliff in a high corrie.  Ravens are well known for being one of the earliest of nesting birds with eggs in the  nest as early as March.  The other birds that are that early are the golden eagles, herons and, perhaps surprisingly, the relatively small dipper.  As for the raven’s nest  I was checking out, I had reached the  final part of the steep cliff face when  there, all around me, were the trailing stems of purple  saxifrage.  It was a sight of glorious purple flowers on an otherwise black and drab looking landscape.

Another unusual aspect of the purple saxifrage is that whilst it can be found on damp, stony and rocky areas on hills it is, in   contrast,  also found near sea level in the north west.   There is some variation in the colour of the flowers as, although the general colour is perhaps best described as rosy-red, they can vary.    They range from  deep purple to pink  even white.   This  variation is often perpetuated by gardeners.  The colour variations and those with large flowers have been selected out for gardens and given horticultural names.  Their spreading  form makes them ideal for garden rockeries in trailing over steep slopes and stones.   There is the long held belief that saxifrages are able to crack stones to enable them  to gain a foothold to grow.  This is reflected in their  Latin name as saxum means rock and frango means break.  It means that the plants are able to create  their own foothold by the cracks they form.  It is no surprise then when the Gaelic word for the purple saxifrage is  Clach-bhriseach Purpaidh  meaning “purple stone-breaker”

The other early saxifrages to flower in the spring are the two golden saxifrages, the opposite –leaved and the alternate-leaved.  The former is the commoner of the two and it grows in damp woods, ditch sides, burn ravines and mountain flushes.   They are attractive flowers but the name golden is perhaps an exaggeration as the colour  of the flowers is yellow which   is a better description.   So why not take up the hunt for saxifrage’s this year and photograph them?

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There are many iconic birds and mammals in the Highlands such as golden eagles, black grouse, red deer and otters.  There is one bird that is not only one of the most iconic but also a migrant as it leaves our shores in the Autumn and spends the winter way off in  Africa.  It is the famous osprey and, rather unexpectantly,  it is one of the earliest of the many migrants to return to nest here.  Last year, for example, the first migrant I saw was not a sand martin or swallow I had deliberately  gone to Loch Flemington to see but a lone and magnificent osprey circling rather  ominously over a fish farm in Strathnairn.   Looking at the earliest dates for the return of the ospreys in the annual bird reports from the Highlands in the  last three years have been  22^nd March,  21^st March and  19^th march. 

This year the first date I heard was from the renowned Loch Garten nesting site where the first bird back touched down on the nest at just after 6.00 pm on 27^th March.  The fascinating   aspect of such records is that most of the birds at such famous sites are ringed with  colour   coded rings apart from the usual  metal ones.  This means with a reasonable view the individual birds can be recognised.  Staff at Osprey Centre  were overjoyed to find it was EJ, named after her ring letters, and ready to face  her 11^th year in the Cairngorms.   As soon as EJ landed she started to re-arrange nest material and scraping a nest cup which is a sure sign of her intentions.  Fortunately the RSPB staff had just installed a camera at the nest in time for people to see the  event on line.  Last year when I was there they were expecting EJ  to lay another egg and when I got back home I switched the computer on to find she had  laid the egg just after I had left the centre.  Such are  the advantages of modern  technology!  As for EJ she, and for that matter the staff at the centre, are hoping that her partner last year, called Odin, will soon be joining   her.  Keep looking at the website for the latest news. 

Meanwhile at another osprey site at a Centre that is getting to be as well known as Loch Garten,  the first osprey had also arrived back.   She was  at the Scottish Wildlife Trust Reserve and Centre at the Loch of the Lowes Reserve near Dunkeld.  The osprey is called Lady, the oldest breeding female osprey recorded in the UK.   This 27 years old bird of prey immediately  saw off another female, a young bird, that attempted to land on her nest.   Perhaps it is a sign of Lady’s age and experience that the intruder did not even put up a short  rebellion but left.  Lady started to dig at the old nest  and taking out grass that had grown over the winter and re-arranging some sticks.   The male arrived and they mated three times in the  afternoon so the low temperatures were not affecting their routine.   Lady is amazing as she has lived three time longer than an average osprey.  In her lifetime she has laid 64 eggs with 49 going on to hatch and successfully fledge  from the nest.  A record by any standards.  The male is called Laddie and is Lady’s fourth.  Interestingly, whilst other birds of prey such as the sea eagle and the red kite had to be re-introduced, the ospreys did it on their own.  Perhaps the  most successful conservation  story of recent times, perhaps ever.

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Amidst the cold, frost and snow of the last few weeks or so it was always tempting to look out for the first signs of spring.  Despite the weather they were certainly there with butterbur on the banks of Loch Ness near Dores  and primroses in blossom on the south facing slopes of the A 82 north of Fort Augustus.   Some waders such as  curlew and oystercatchers had started to move back  back into the straths and glens and there was  a general feeling of optimism despite  the cold weather that persisted.   However, if you looked hard enough there was one shrub that could be found in full flower all the way through the winter and one that is often just accepted or largely overlooked.  The shrub is whin,   sometimes known  outside the north as gorse or furze.   Whin can dominate the landscape to the exclusion of many other plants but  it is a refuge for all manner of wildlife throughout the year.  There is an old saying that “When the gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of fashion”.  Romantics may have no fears  as the blossoms can  be found,  somewhere, all the year round.

Despite its appearance  is still susceptible to the cold as whilst you often have to search at inland sites to find the  blossoms along the coast it is commonly in flower.  A good example was  the photograph that I took  in mid March  at Alterlie Point to the east of Inverness.  The temperatures in and around  Inverness are slightly warmer than those away  from the coast.    So at Alterlie Point there were several  bushes that were well out  and there was just that hint of the fragrance  of almond from the rich yellow blossoms.   There are some very extensive areas dominated  by whins and one of the most spectacular, especially in the spring and summer, is parts of  Drummossie Moor.  The main area  flanks either side of the minor road between Inverness Academy and Farr.  When the  blossoms are fully out there is an almost overwhelming  fragrance from them that even filters into  vehicles passing along  the road.

As with other large areas of whins,  it provides shelter, food and breeding sites  for a few specialised birds that includes  the stonechat.  These are small birds belonging to the same family as whinchats but, unlike the latter, stonechats stay here all the year round.  There are reputed to be around 20,000 pairs  in Scotland and they are more than holding their own with the recent series of relatively milder winters.    If the winter is severe their numbers “crash” but will recover again as they can raise two  broods in one year.   Amongst the wide range of wildlife that whins support  there is, unexpected, a  butterfly whose caterpillars feed  on whin  which may seem  rather unpalatable to us.   It is the  green hairstreak that, as the name suggests, has green undersides and as you  get a closer look they are very attractive.  The books describe the  green as “emerald green” which is apt.  I make a point of searching for them every year but the dark upper sides can make them very difficult  to see and they are easily overlooked.    Whins have had a very long  history of use by ourselves, varying from  fodder for stock, when crushed in special machines, to the making of whin blossom  wine.   They were even  planted near croft houses to put the washing on them to dry as the thorns kept the clothes from blowing away.  One of the most versatile and important shrubs in the  countryside.  

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Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the surrounding area boast some of the most beautiful scenery Britain has to offer. Loch Lomond has inspired songs and poems and has been the setting for many dramatic scenes in Scotland’s past. The loch itself is 24 miles long and home to 60 small islands, most of which are privately owned but usually open to visitors during holiday seasons.

History

Throughout the Middle Ages, clans ruled the area spanning the Trossachs and Stirling. The Trossachs is still known as ‘Rob Roy Country’ after Rob Roy MacGregor, the infamous outlaw. During the time of Rob Roy’s capture and for years after, it was illegal to be a MacGregor and you could be hanged for sharing his name.

There were many battles fought here including the famous Battle of Bannockburn and the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

Scottish Highland Games

Nowadays Clans meet up and ‘do battle’ at Highland Games and Shows which provide great entertainment for all the family. Traditionally the Games were where Clan chiefs chose their soldiers and staff.  Shows of strength, agility and talent such as musical ability were for the chief’s benefit. This year’s Games will be held in Luss on the 6th July, Balloch on the 13^th July and in Stirling on 14^th July.

Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park opened in 2002 and encompasses lochs, rivers, mountains and forest parks so there is something for every outdoor enthusiast to enjoy.   As well as having a population of over 15,000 people it is also home to a rich variety of wildlife including the endangered red squirrel. The park is extensive and covers Loch Lomond, the entire Trossachs and some of Dumbartonshire. Half of Scotland’s population lives within an hour’s drive of the park so it’s an ideal location for a short break and easily accessible with great road links. Glasgow international airport is a short drive away and car hire can be found reasonably cheaply.

The park is family friendly and there is a dedicated KidZone on the national park website. Apart from cycling, climbing and horse-riding, you can take your children out on some of the 22 lochs to enjoy water sports. Why not take them kayaking or windsurfing if the weather is right?

Boat trips are a family favourite and will give the children a chance to spot some of the park’s otters and water voles, if they are lucky. There are competitions online where they can record the wildlife they have spotted.

Activities

Adventurers don’t have to step outside the park as it has every activity on land or water that you could possibly ask for.

Water Sports

Loch Lomond is perfect for sailing most kinds of small craft and you can take advantage of the launch facilities on offer. If you want to spice up your sailing with some competition then the Loch Lomond Sailing Club host regular organised races, contact them for details.

Canoeing and kayaking are very popular and Loch Lubnaig is the best stretch of water for this. It is in a very sheltered location offering protection from high winds, perfect for beginners too. The most thrilling water sport has to be water skiing, Loch Lomond and Loch Earn provide the best conditions for this. There are safety guidelines to follow for every water sport so please make sure you are informed before setting out.

If you fancy something more relaxing, then maybe fishing is for you. You can download a leaflet from the national park website which includes a map and details the types of fishing available, (game and coarse) including costs of obtaining a permit.

Cycling, Climbing, Hillwalking and Other Activities

On land there are miles of cycle routes with terrain to suit all levels of ability, the visitors’ centres have maps of all the routes available and will advise you on the best one for you. For climbers there are many rock-climbing and bouldering venues scattered all through the park. Experienced climbers can challenge themselves on the ‘dark side’ of Glen Ogle, one of Scotland’s top climbing venues.

Hill walkers are spoilt for choice, with 21 Munros including Ben Lomond and Ben More for the more experienced walker and 19 smaller Corbetts including what is possibly Scotland’s favourite mountain; The Cobbler (Ben Arthur). Remember that mountain weather can change very rapidly so ensure you are fully equipped before heading out and always check the weather forecast.

There is too much for me to cover here but other activities include horse-riding, golf, wildlife watching and of course, walking. There are ‘All Abilities’ activities on both land and water which are accessible to people with disabilities enabling  them to enjoy everything the park has to offer with the reassurance of extra support and safety.

The national park events calendar is bursting with things to see and do. The Ben Lomond Hill Race is in May, you still have time to register to take part. Loch Lomond Folk Festival is coming up in July, The Great Scottish Swim is in August and the ever-popular Loch Lomond Food Festival in September.

Outside the Park

Places to take the kids outside the park include, Blair Drummond Safari Park in Stirling – it’s a hit with animal lovers of all ages, and there is the Loch Lomond Sea Life Aquarium. Balloch Castle Country Park is the perfect location for a picnic on a sunny day. The kids can take part in the Rob Roy Mini Highland Games hosted in July near Aberfoyle. Stirling Castle is a must-see as they run events for children and stage re-enactments. Be sure to contact each place before planning a visit to avoid disappointment.

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However, as with the stags, the  hinds have still had the  problem   of  finding enough food in the winter months and if it is a bad winter there  may well be great mortality.  Now the hinds are looking  forward to the first bite of spring grass and other plants so they can build themselves up to cope with the calving season which may well begin in May or at the latest June.   For calving the hinds will go to a quiet corner but then they tend to move to much higher ground for the rest of the summer.  The red deer hind is a very protective mother and will watch over the calf non-stop.  Look how wary the hind in the photograph is as her calf feeds.  However, there is one saving that  they have and that is  each hind will keep an eye on all the calves, especially where a hind has wandered away from her calf to feed.  Sometimes the hind  may be some distance from her calf but she knows there is always one hind on the lookout for would  be predators such as foxes or even golden eagles.  Red deer, unlike roe deer that often have twins, normally have only one calf and twins are very rare.  I can only recall ever seeing two different sets of twins in  red deer the whole time I have watched them and indeed stalked them.  One of my favourite pastimes many years ago was  to climb way up in the hills and listen to the  calves “talking” to  each other in the half light of the mid-summer night – sheer magic.

The calving is the most vulnerable  time of the year for both the hinds and their calves. The hinds are generally not bothered by predators as few foxes would dare attack an adult.  There are stories about golden eagles forcing hinds  off a cliff to fall to their death, or injured, below.  There is an account of an eagle  doing that on the Isle of Rum and it is difficult to doubt as the observer was  a very experience stalker.  So it seems it can happen but perhaps only with a hind that is not fit or unwell.    Calves are a different matter despite  the  diligence of the hinds.  Golden eagles, foxes and now presumably sea eagles, will take calves if the opportunity presents itself.   Once the calf, or rarely a hind,  is dead then many types of carrion descends on the carcase.    There is one well known record  of the  warden in Glen Strathfarrar  coming around  a high corrie and seeing a badger, in the middle of the day, feeding on a dead

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One answer would be to persuade more people to eat venison but this is not easy and there is also far too much venison still being transported all the way from New Zealand.  Despite all the claims, you only have to look at some of the various stores in Inverness to see where the venison came from.   If more people were  persuaded to eat venison then the cost of culling  would make it more feasible for estates to take more deer.   However, despite all the publicity from numerous organisations about the quality of venison there are still very many people who are cautious about using it, let alone the  price.  One problem is  over the way venison is prepared.  If venison is prepared the right way from when  the    deer is shot there is  no finer meat and the old adage  “A meat fit for a  King” is more than  justified.

Last week I sat in a glen to the west of Inverness  to spend some time photographing red deer  stags and I thought about the problems the deer face.  The stags are often at their lowest condition at this time of the year.  The rut last Autumn will have taken its toll as some observers reckon that with all the challenging  with  other stags  to compete for the harems of hinds they do not eat at all.   So then they faced the winter and, although it has not been severe in the last few months, lack of food will have caused problems for  the stags,  especially with the high numbers.   Once the spring is here then the stags can start getting more food  and put on some weight.   Then there is always the mating season or rut to look forward to in the Autumn.

However, there is still another major stage in the stags’ life cycle as they shed their antlers and re-grow them in time for the rut.   This shedding or casting of antlers is somewhat of a mystery as it is obviously a great drain on the stags.  Yet if their so called “fights” in the rut comes down to no more than display and bluff why have antlers?    One suggestion has been that they were a natural defence against the time  when wolves roamed the countryside.  Antlers are aligned on the stag’s head so that the points are upright when a wolf is attacking the vulnerable neck.    Next week we will look at the red deer hind annual cycle and see what problems they face.

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The more you find out about wildlife the more you will  understand it   and therefore enjoy it more.  Enjoyment is one important aspect that should not be underestimated.   It could be the thrill  of watching many different birds at feeders in the garden, red deer slowly making  their way down a hillside  at dusk or the call of migrating geese overhead.  There are also some overlooked ways of seeing   wildlife and one of these attracted me last week and it may seem  an odd choice.  I made my way to the Inverness Museum to see what coverage of wildlife they give.   To use its correct name it is the “Inverness Museum and Art Gallery” and I was very pleasantly surprised.  There are a number of cabinets, very large ones, that show mammals and birds, along with other species, to illustrate major habitats.  These include  coasts, freshwater, hill and moorland and woodland.

One of the aspects that struck me straight away was the relative size of, say, fox with badger, golden eagle with capercaillie, or how small the adder appeared as well as the snow bunting.    Size is all relative and it must be good for people to  see just how huge a badger is or, indeed, the cock capercaillie.  It all helps to appreciate them more when  you see them “In the wild”.  Perhaps the most impressive single display has to be the golden eagle and, in particular, because, as you can see from the photograph, it has one of its prey in its talons.   The golden eagle epitomises the wildness of the  Highlands and along with the raven and ptarmigan these are the only birds that regularly over winter  in the harsh  landscape.   So it seems fitting with the golden eagle in the display that it has one of the mammals that also exist there, the mountain hare.   As can be seen from the specimen in the museum they turn white in the winter  and this gives them  camouflage in the snow.   The freshwater theme of another large cabinet includes birds such as the heron and goosander and both are in typical poses.  In contrast the comparatively  tiny toad shows how dark and well  camouflaged it is.    All  the other cabinets are of a very high standard and a visit or re-visit to the Museum is a must to refresh the mind for when you see them in the wild.  You will not be disappointed.

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The Scots pine is worthy of any accolades mainly because once the ice had retracted from Britain only one large conifer was able to colonise  the landscape left after the ice retreated and that was the Scots pine.    Its uses  have  been varied , for example at one time it was the major source of  turpentine, resin and tar, its wood was used for  charcoal and for  making  flaming torches.  It was this surviving the aftermath of the ice  age that also included it in the list of, arguably, only three conifers that are native to the Highlands.   An obvious other one is the juniper that is often growing as an understory to the Scots pine.   There are superb examples of this partnership in the three glens of Affric, Cannich and Strathfarrar lying to the west of Inverness.   The junipers in  these three glens  often grow over three metres or more  and they, combined with  the Scots pine, birch, aspen and rowan are important remnants of the formerly widespread ancient Caledonian pine forest.

Historically there has always been three natïve conifers in the Highlands with, apart from the Scots pine and the juniper, the other being the yew tree.  Now, however, there seems to be, for some reason, doubt over the fact that the yew is a native tree.  This is despite the fact that some of them are very old.  The reason for this doubt is not certain but it only serves to put the other two, namely the Scots pine and juniper into perspective. The suggestion  is that the only evidence of the yew being native are the  yew “woodlands”, in Argyll.  It will be interesting to see whether this problem about the status of the yew is resolved, one way or the other.     Most of the  yews we see are in old churchyards or burial grounds where in many case the yew trees did not come  first.  It appears that the yew has long been held sacred and were found on such ground well before the current buildings  were erected as   much more traditional religious   sites.    It has always been presumed that yew trees were used  as the  timber to make the old longbows.  In fact the yews in the UK were not very suitable and most of the  yews  used in  this way came for the  continent such as Spain.

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Chaffinches are now in full song and the greenfinches are calling with their odd sounding “wheezing” notes that you do not expect from such a small rotund bird.   In contrast the flocks of siskins are still coming to garden  feeders and their high pitched tinkling  notes are very musical and attractive.   As for the hole nesting birds, the blue tits seems to spend more time closer together although still coming regularly  to the feeders after peanuts.  Great tits are behaving in the same way and their double call  notes that sounds like “Teacher, teacher” seem everywhere.  Both the great and blue tits will have already investigated their future nesting sites but will not have been taking in any nest material  yet.

As for my checking of nestboxes, most of them have been satisfactory although a few needed attention.  One had problems over the lid and needed two new hinges and clasps to hold the lid down securely in time of high winds.  This is a triple box designed to take three pairs of house sparrows as there are three entrance  holes and compartments.  House sparrows have never looked at this nestbox, as far as I am aware, but last year one end of the box was used by a pair of blue tits who successfully reared young.   This year I have been putting wood chippings into the bottom of the boxes as I am sure  that this encourages birds to utilise the box as if the chippings are a start to their complex nest building.

There is always competition  for nest sites and perhaps even more so with the larger boxes.  One such design is meant to cater for the local resident wild mandarin ducks and already  they have been investigating  the two large nestboxes I can see from my study window. The photograph shows a female mandarin looking out.  They will still stand a chance as the early nesting   tawny owl seems to be totally absent this year.  These woodland owls are so early they often have eggs before the mandarin ducks try to find a suitable box.  Another competitor  is  the jackdaw and, on rare occasions, goosanders and starlings have been known to use such boxes, such is the intense competition for such holes.

Such competition is found in  surprising ways and this has been the case with  the house martin nests under the eaves of the  house.  A few years ago it was noticed that the house  martins were being  ejected by the more belligerent house sparrows.  The house sparrows  would wait  until the house martins had half  built their nests  then  take over.  One solution was the artificial house martin nestboxes  but not all the house martins use  them as some pairs  will  still insist on building their own.

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