One off the iconic mammals in the Highlands is the red deer stag particularly in the rut in the Autumn.  The hills echo to the roaring or bellowing of the stags as they try to vocally outdo any other stags in the area.  Serious fights between stags enhances  this image although such encounters are very few and far between and nowhere near as often as the various media maintain.  If there was one image that exemplified  this reputation it was the painting in 1851 by Edwin  Landseer of “Monarch of the Glen”.  This was a 12 point stag known then as a “Royal” pictured against a high hill in Scotland.   It gave an image of a stag ruling all he surveys whereas in   fact it is the hinds that rule the roost.   The image of red deer stags was always boosted further by the essence of the shooting  trophy world where a salmon, red grouse and red deer stag could be compared with the best trophies from anywhere.

If the red deer were seemed to epitomise the deer scene there was little in terms of a challenge.  After all of the four deer to be found in the Highlands,  excluding the mystery of the muntjac, it was by far the commonest and the most widespread.   Fallow deer were always in small groups and scattered as if they could not survive the winters.  They came from deer parks and were a favourite for their looks and varying colours.  The park with a small herd of white fallow deer  on the east coast near Berriedale has been there since they were first introduced in 1900.   Sika deer have been a problem in recent years and will continue to be so and nobody really knows what will happen to the frequent sika/red hybrids that seem to be taking over in many areas.  In some areas of the Highlands there are now more sika than  red deer.

The smallest, by far, of the four deer is the roe deer that in the past have received little   attention compared with the red deer.  At this time of the year their coat is a foxy red with a buff caudal patch.  When  roe deer have young the kids  have spotted coats that afford them excellent camouflage.  Unlike the red and sika, that invariably have only one calf,  roe often  have twins and sometimes even triplets.    Roe deer are the only hoofed animals in which the implantation of the fertilised eggs is delayed.   This delayed implantation enables them to produce their kids at an optimum time in the summer.   Perhaps this is why they have twins or triplets.

Now the roe deer is the most widespread deer in the Highlands and this is for a number of reasons.    The control of their numbers depends on a number of factors.  One of the reasons is the damage they do to young trees either by debarking by the bucks with their antlers or by fraying to eat the bark.  Roe deer venison has never been popular in the Highlands although it is considered a delicacy on the continent.  Most of the roe deer carcases are sold to the continent where they  attract much higher prices than  the red deer venison.   However, the system of “trophy” heads of roebucks  in the Highlands is famous for stalkers all over the world.

This is a good time of the year to visit the coast around Inverness and beyond in the Highlands.  One of the reasons is that the seabirds, in their thousands, if not tens of thousands, are on the move.     Having left their vast seabird colonies last autumn the birds moved  south to their winter and feeding haunts.  The ledges of the huge gannet colonies on remote places such as St. Kilda  to the west and Orkney to the north  were empty and comparatively silent.  So were  the large colonies of auks, namely  puffins, guillemots and razorbills, and the only other birds likely  to be left on the cliffs in the winter were the ubiquitous fulmars.   Now these seabirds are streaming northwards up  the west and east coasts of the Highlands and present a wildlife spectacle that in the right weather conditions can be more than impressive.

There are many sites that afford outstanding views of such often  dramatic movements of birds in terms of sheer numbers.   Promontories are the best places and perhaps none more so that the outstanding  one at Tarbat Ness east of Tain in Easter Ross.   Little wonder then that it is included in one of the top sites in  the RSPB’s third edition of  “The top 52 bird watching sites in the Highlands” published in 2006.   Whilst the gannets and auks may be present  there are a wide variety of other seabirds.  Terns are often present and these include  common, arctic and sandwich and it is easy to see, with their light and buoyant flight, why they are commonly called “sea swallows”.    The other common seabird that may be flighting past in their hundreds, often in loose flocks,  are the kittiwakes.  These dainty looking birds, resembling gulls, get their name from their  strident calls  The calls, echoing around such cliff faces have such a haunting quality  because the last note rises higher than the rest.

Other seabirds include shags, cormorants and sometimes shearwaters but there is one bird that seem be resident.  This is a sea duck, the eider, and they can often be seen diving for shellfish which is their main diet.    There is often a few gulls hanging around with them, especially the large herring  gulls.  These gulls are scavenging, awaiting any titbits that the eiders bring up and cast aside or loose.   The male eiders are one of the largest of ducks and their black and white plumage is very attractive especially as the sides of their heads are an attractive apple green colour.   Just occasionally the rare king eider is recorded with the common eiders.

Seabirds are not the only attraction at Tarbat Ness as the path to the lighthouse on the rocky headland is covered with gorse and this gives shelter, particularly at this time of the year, for small birds.  Look out for linnets, yellowhammers, stonechats and greenfinches.  Apart from the often  high gorse there is also shelter from the  walled fields and a small woodland block.  This combination of shelter attracts autumn migrants including many rarities that have been recorded there. The prominent lighthouse with its distinctive two red bands was built in 1830 and went automatic in 1985.

We were at around 1,500 feet in the Cairngorms on the funicular railway when something jogged my mind.  The operators had put on a CD that told us some of the background to our journey and the railway.  It then mentioned the word ptarmigan which was expected as we were, after all, going to the Ptarmigan restaurant for lunch.  The recorded voice started talking about the ptarmigan and why the restaurant was named after it and then came the crunch line.  The voice said that it was the strength and ability of the bird to live in   freezing conditions that also gave rise to the ptarmigan whisky.    I thought I had misheard as there was no sign of such a drink at the base station, the top restaurant, the shop or the exhibition area and I just forgot about what had been said on the CD.

The next day, as an afterthought, I went on line and typed in ptarmigan whisky and was  in for a surprise.  It is not called ptarmigan whisky but was marketed as snow grouse and went on sale in August 2008 in time for the start of the grouse shooting season.   I have no idea how long ago grouse whisky, that is red grouse, has been marketed.   What I do know is that three or four  years ago black grouse whisky was added to the market.  Some of the publicity was over the fact that  for each bottle of black grouse whisky sold a donation went to the RSPB.  This was to be used for management of areas, including  sites in the Highlands, for the rare black grouse.

So now we have red grouse, black grouse and snow grouse whisky and it made me think of the mixed fortunes of these birds in  the Highlands.   The red grouse is the commonest and most widespread and large tracts of countryside, especially in the east, are managed with this species in mind.  There is an ongoing debate as to whether this should be a separate species that is endemic to Britain and Ireland.  Some argue it is a separate species whilst others say it is a race of the willow grouse and so it goes on.  The black grouse is in a bad way despite all the effort in time and money to improve its habitats in those areas where it still occurs.   When I was warden at Inverpolly in 1969/70 it was quite widespread and they were breeding in the woodland around  the house.

Ptarmigan are restricted  by their habitat requirement as in eastern areas they do not usually breed under 700 metres.  Living on the high tops makes the ptarmigan one of the hardiest of birds.  They may be holding their own in some areas but disturbance is an increasing factor.  Carrion crows and hooded crows predate the eggs and these scavengers seem to be on the increase.  Global warming, real or  perceived, may be another threat.   What will be interesting is if the Scottish government will change the status of the black grouse and ptarmigan when the current and ancient game laws are re-assessed.   Many people think that these two critical species should come off the list of birds that can be shot at certain times of the year.

The latest news on the “grouse whiskies” is that there is yet another one just come on the market.  This time it is called “Naked Grouse” although at the moment I have no idea where this name came from.