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Allan Bantick OBE welcomes you to the Cairngorm Wildlife Diary for 2018Most of the badger sightings mentioned here were made at the Strathspey Badger Hide. If you would like to go, click here for booking details. Locations of sensitive nests and dens are kept deliberately vague for obvious reasons. If you have a bona fide reason for more detail please let me know. For more immediate brief updates follow me on Twitter @AllanBoat. Enjoy the diary and please do get in touch if you have any comments. |
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Mon 1st to Sun 14th Jan
In recent weeks the
diary has been rather less detailed than previously. This has been for
good reasons and that pattern will continue, at least for the time being.
The first two weeks of the year has mostly been routine filling of feeders
to help the birds and red squirrels with their survival at this wintry time.
So far the winter has, I think, had more sustained sub-zero temperatures
than in recent years so the death toll among wild animals may be higher.
I could look it up of course, but we've had snow and ice lying in the
gardens, fields and forests in Strathspey since before Christmas and more
snow is forecast for the coming week and I do not remember such a scenario
since the noughties. As well as the feeders I have also been checking
a couple of trail cameras and they have detected very little mammal
activity, even near the badger hide and near the pine marten nest-box tree.
In the office there was not much to do over Christmas but that has now
changed and there are a few meetings and phone meetings looming concerning
wildcats and badgers. I also intend shortly to prepare nest boxes for
the coming season, most of which can be done in dodgy weather, however the
badger hide needs a coat of wood preserver and that cannot be done until the
weather improves.
Mon 15th to Sun 21st Jan
Went round all the
feeders early in the week to make sure the birds and squirrels had plenty of
food in these difficult weeks. Still lots of snow and more forecast
with freezing temperatures every night. The wildcat TNVR work is
now in full swing and I am now working on next steps for the Steering Group
in liaison with SNH and others. On Sat 20th we went to the badger hide
in deep snow.
Mon 22nd to Weds 31st Jan
Temperature shot up
on Monday and by the evening much of the snow had gone so I hope that
tomorrow I’ll be able to check the trail cam at the badger hide.
Managed to make good progress on succession planning for the SWA Steering
Group so we should go into the summer at full strength. Got to the badger
hide on Weds and Bea and I checked all the nest boxes and cleared out those
that needed it including removing the dud goldeneye eggs from a goldeneye
box and throwing them into the river. On Friday I retrieved the feeder
from the loop area – managed to slip on the ice and bashed my head on a tree
stump. Fortunately I had a very thick woolly hat on so no real damaged
done other than bruised arm, leg and pride. I worked through the SWA
Minutes on Saturday and then the rest of the weekend was largely football
watching. On Monday 29th there was an extraordinary burst of interest
in the badger hide so I started confirming bookings. I also confirmed
with the Chairman of Scottish Badgers my likely future role in that
organisation after I step down from the Board next Autumn. On that
subject, on Tues 30th I represented Scottish Badgers on the ScotLink
Wildlife Forum meeting in Stirling.
February
New Front to Box 11 Following Last Year's Woodpecker Damage
Mon 12th to Sun 18th Feb
Checked the hide on Monday to find no badger
activity and no wildlife action on the card in the Acorn camera other
than people and children out walking and playing; I guess they were guests
at the fishing lodge. Still very wintry with frosts at night and
snow showers on and off all week. Nevertheless a brave (daft?) blue
tit continued to visit the nest box with a nest in it in the garden so I set
up the Bushnell camera to try to capture the action - no luck at the time of
writing. Spent some hours attending to paperwork to do with the
Wildcat project and preparing for meetings. Quite pleased to see
so many red squirrel tracks in the snow in the forest this week; they seem
to be coping with the wintry weather OK. I was unconvinced that
the badgers would do likewise, but I took some friends to the hide on
Saturday and we were treated to the sight of five very healthy looking
badgers. We had waited more than an hour and were just getting ready
to give up and leave when the five brocks wandered into view to scoff
peanuts. Terrific. What is not so good is that Michael Gove is
considering rolling out the badger cull right across England. Sad and
disappointing, because he was beginning to show signs of listening to
science - a false dawn. Back at the hide, before settling in to
wait for badgers I checked the Acorn camera and there was nothing at all on
the card, despite my friends and I having wandered past the camera on the
way to look at a nest box before checking the SD card. I think the
camera has packed up. Sunday produced the first real sign that Spring
may not be far away; a woodpecker was hammering in the woods just west of
the Angle somewhere near Box 17.
Mon 19th to Sun 25th Feb
On Monday I gave a talk about the birds and
mammals of the Cairngorms to the Boat of Garten SWRI Group. A small
but very engaged audience made it a most enjoyable experience. On
Tuesday the woodpecker was at it again in the woods, although I fear it is
being premature because there is more snow forecast for next week.
On Wednesday we got sight of the Scottish Environment LINK Response to the
Scottish Government Wildlife Crime report 2016. You
can read it
here. It's a bit of a mixed bag, as you'd expect. On
Thursday, while driving to Grantown, we passed a dead badger on the A95.
Reported it to Scottish Badgers later. On Thursday I Chaired a meeting
at Scottish Natural Heritage offices in Inverness. On Friday I took a
family of four to the hide; we had 3 badgers within 10 minutes and 5 minutes
later there were 5 badgers. Sadly no pine martens but a good start to
the season nonetheless. With heavy snow forecast next week I
filled all the feeders with the drumming of woodpeckers ringing in my ears -
they've obviously not seen the forecast.
Mon 26th Feb to Sun 4th March
Spent much of Monday dealing with
wildcat stuff by email and phone to do with taking wildcats into account
when managing land. On Tuesday I met with Stuart Housden,
former Director of RSPB Scotland, for a couple of hours over lunch during
which we solved all the world's problems, as you can imagine.
Snow had a moderating effect on activities this week and will also do so
next week as the forecast is for cold weather to persist. I have
therefore cancelled all badger watches planned for next week. In the
woods, I kept the feeders full and watched and listened for activity.
Lots of deer, woodpeckers still drumming and long tailed tits visiting our
gardens. Teresa May's Brexit speech this week told us nothing new and
gave no comfort to leavers, remainers or the devolved parliaments in Wales,
NI and Scotland. What a mess. Saturday was supposed to be a
volunteer day at Milton Loch but again the snow stopped us doing much other
than fill bird feeders and check all was well.
Mon 5th to Sun 11th March
Much of this week was preparation for next
week, involving reading reams of papers and writing agendas and speeches.
On Wednesday I attended a meeting at ScotLink HQ in Edinburgh to plan for
events concerning the Species Champions initiative. Thursday found me
deep in the woods examining what I at first thought might be cat prints but
could not be certain so I decided to set up a trail cam soon nearby with
some Valerion Root as a lure. No public badger watches this week due to
the weather but I took the risk and confirmed one for next week. Checked
the Bushnell camera in the garden and it revealed that the nest box wars
continue unabated with a short clip of a great tit and a house sparrow
jousting for supremacy. Friday, I set up the Acorn cam near nest box
No 8 facing a bag of Valerion root, as promised. We'll see. In
the afternoon a did more work on next week's wildcat meeting, then in the
evening I went to the badger hide to see if all was well. It certainly
was; after only ten minutes there were 3 badgers close to the hide and soon
afterwards 2 of them indulged in a spectacular display of mating.
The frosty weather certainly hasn't cooled their ardour. The
relationship between pine martens, red squirrels and grey squirrels has
suddently become a hot topic as Dr Emma Sheehy's research has matured to the
point where definite conclusions can be drawn. This has excited much
press interest and she has been on TV and radio and there have been articles
in the papers, notably the Guardian. In a nutshell, the presence of
pine martens causes serious decline in grey squirrel numbers, to the benefit
of red squirrels, which are now returning to places from which they had been
eliminated by grey squirrels. I am so reminded of conversations I had
with Prince Charles and Her Majesty a few years ago on the subject; they
both believed, wrongly, that pine martens were a serious threat to red
squirrels. My attempt to persuade them otherwise, based on Emma's
early research, failed. The question is, should I get back in
touch with them with an update, (or will that just sound like, "I told you
so !"?) or should I simply assume the well publicised facts and figures of
the past week will somehow reach them? Answers on a postcard.
On Saturday and Sunday I researched trail cameras with a view to replacing
the frustrating Acorn which has been beset with problems since I first
bought it years ago. I eventually settled on a Bushnell E3 from
Handykam but with no great confidence that I had done the right thing.
Stay tuned.
Pine Marten With An Egg
Mon 12th Sun 18th March
Checked the aforementioned Acorn camera at the
Valerion Root lure site but nothing had approached the bait. The Acorn
had actually worked but without access to its menus I cannot set it up
properly, and even if I could there's no guarantee it would do what I'd
asked it. On this occasion it has set itself to take just still photos
but it had actually taken a random mixture of videos and stills. Much
paperwork and many phone calls to do with badgers and wildcats, culminating
in a terrific wildcat Steering Group meeting at Battleby on Friday.
Mighty meaty discussions and bold decisions were the order of the day and I
think we all left feeling pretty positive. At home, the weather had
returned to winter which may confuse the birds that had begun their mating
activities. It happens every year so I expect they'll cope.
The new camera arrived but it was not what the advert described. The
suppliers had made a mistake on their website; a copy and paste error -
we've all done it! We managed to sort it out amicably.
Found pine marten poo on what we call the Secret Path, not far from the
village. Nest box wars have intensified as two blue tits, two house
sparrows and a great tit have investigated the sparrow gallery on the shed.
On Sunday I met a family in the woods; Mum, Dad, child, dog and cat.
Yes "cat". It was strolling along with the family large as life but
Dad picked it up when my dogs approached. The dogs did not know what
to make of it. Neither did I.
Mon 19th to Sun 25th March
Bought some chicken thighs from Tesco and set
up two cameras in the woods with chicken as bait for wildcats, using the old
dodgy Acorn plus the brand new Bushnell E3. We'll see. On
Tuesday I took one of the woodland feeders home, repaired it and put it
back. Later I checked the new E3 camera and to my annoyance I had not
switched it on properly when I set it up. Grrr. It
was all the more annoying when I noticed that the chicken thigh that I was
using for bait had been chewed by something. Hopefully whatever
chewed it will come back tonight and be videoed. Fitted the old Acorn
with a new bracket supplied by Handykam and set it up for the sparrow
gallery. Checked it after a couple of days but it seems the return to
cold weather has put a halt to the breeding season. Exchanged
views, with others, on the final versions of some wildcat papers that we
hope will pave the way for action in due course. Saturday was Earth
Hour so we and other villagers assembled at Milton Loch to star-gaze and
drink mulled wine. Lots of sounds of wildlife, mostly ducks and geese
on the loch. On Sunday I checked the Bushnell cameras: the Aggressor
had taken roe deer and a fox and the E4 had some nice videos of roe deer,
both male and female, and some large dogs running loose. Nothing
showed any interest in the chicken thighs I had arrayed on trees in front of
the cameras, not even the fox or the dogs.
Mon 26th March to Sun 1st April
On Monday I took a couple from the Dorset
Badger Group to the hide at short notice. A delightful evening in the
company of at least 5 badgers and several mice. We also heard a tawny
owl from the hide, then saw one flying across the B970 as we drove home.
I put out food in the garden in case our local hedgehogs were awake and in
need of a meal but it was all still there in the morning. I was
back in the hide on Tuesday with another keen family; Mum, son and daughter,
all members of Scottish Wildlife Trust and Scottish Badgers, no less, and
son was on Countryfile at the weekend. Great stuff. We were
rewarded with six badgers. Wednesday was much concerned with a storm
of emails about wildcats in Aberdeenshire. In the evening I escaped to the badger hide
once more with a couple of young vets from Australia and a former fellow
badger guide who intends to return to the fold and once more do some
guiding. For the second night running we had six badgers.
Three badgers at the hide
On Thursday there was more wildcat activity in the media, resulting in more time-consuming email sessions. In the afternoon I checked the two Bushnell cameras in the woods but there was no wildlife on the Aggressor and just some roe deer on the E4. I removed the Aggressor and in the evening I set it up at the badger hide to establish whether or not the pine martens were still about; we haven't actually seen them yet this year. Before returning home I left some peanuts for the badgers and called out to them to let them know, at which a badger emerged immediately. I did not stay long. Friday was our first crested tit nest check of the season; there was no nesting activity yet but Box 3 had been vandalised - the lid had been ripped open, thus tearing apart the rubber strap that holds the lid in place. Later I checked the camera at the hide; it had recorded lots of badger activity and a small blizzard but no pine martens. Over the Easter weekend I topped up feeders, and removed the new E3 camera which had failed to capture anything of interest. I also had telephone conversations with some of my wildcat colleagues to bring them up to date with recent developments. I think people are rediscovering the value of phone calls person to person in some circumstances compared with texts and emails.
Mon 2nd to Sun 8th April
The week began with more snow and the forecast suggests it will continue for
a few days, then warm up for next weekend. Despite the snow, the nest box
wars are continuing with blue tits having the upper hand at the moment. On Monday I checked the Bushnell camera
at the badger hide to see if pine martens were in the area and sure enough they had visited the hide area the previous three evenings
in a row so hopefully that means our visitors will be seeing them in due course. I put together this brief video of some of the action and posted it on
Twitter and YouTube.
On Tuesday we saw 6 roe deer in the woods within 100 metres of the Community Hall, a rare gathering. At home, the nest box wars got crazy - starlings in the starling box were ousted by a pair of house sparrows, then another pair of sparrows started building in the open-fronted robin box a few feet from the starling box. In the evening I took a family to the badger hide in a minor blizzard. The badgers were in no way deterred and we had five of them in view at one point. We also saw greylag geese, a curlew and some mice, and we heard a tawny owl. On Wednesday we awoke to 2 inches of snow but it was very wet and was melting by the afternoon so I set up the new Bushnell E3 camera in the woods on a fallen tree trunk upon which I had created a lake of peanut butter and syrup and sunk a flotilla of dates therein. We'll check at the weekend if the pine martens and red squirrels approve. On Thursday our golf was cancelled due to ice and snow so I checked the nest boxes at the badger hide. The tit box had a small amount of nest material in it but its entrance had been chipped a little larger, presumably by woodpeckers. None of the large boxes (tawny, goldeneye and kestrel) showed any signs of use yet. Whilst there I checked the Bushnell camera; badgers and pine martens had been in attendance every night despite heavy snow and sub zero temperatures. In the evening I went back to the hide with a family where we saw 6 badgers but we had to leave before the kind of time that pine martens have been arriving lately. They'll probably be on the SD card when I next check the camera. On Saturday I checked the Acorn camera in the garden (still no hedgehogs) and the E3 camera in the woods (one video of a red squirrel and one of a woodpecker).
Mon 9th to Sun 15th April
On Monday I took
Steve Reddick and his wife and a neighbour to the hide - lots of badgers but
no pine marten although the Bushnell camera revealed that pine martens had
been there every night but very late, mostly around midnight. Spent
most of Tues and Weds in bed with a tummy bug but did manage to check the E3
camera (red squirrels and jays) and took a family to the hide where we had
six badgers. The badgers seemed quite nervous and I think that might
have been caused by the very rustly jackets the guests were wearing.
Must consider how to deal with that in future; perhaps invest in a range of
warm fleeces for people to slip into once they're in the hide. Checked
the card in the Bushnell to discover that the pine marten was not there at
all last night but two of them were there the previous night around midnight
as usual. At home I sorted out three of our surplus fleeces to go to
the badger hide as a temporary measure then dealt with lots of wildcat
emails. Still recovering from illness so no practical work on Thursday
other than to drive to Inverness for Kenny Taylor's excellent talk on
puffins for the North of Scotland Scottish Wildlife Group. Lots of
admin on Friday to do with badgers, wildcats and the Tomintoul and Glenlivet Wildlife
Group (TGWG) for whom I shall shortly be working as a volunteer panel member, then
in the evening I took a professional couple to the hide where we had 5
badgers, a few mice, several greylag geese and an otter in view at various
times. At one point the greylags advanced menacingly across the field,
honking noisily, towards a group of badgers who were innocently foraging for
peanuts on the other side of the fence. The poor badgers were
terrified and fled in alarm! That's a first for me. The weekend
was a mixture of golf and looking after my poorly wife with a bit of TGWG
meeting preparation thrown in.
Mon 16th to Sun 22nd April
On Monday I
attended the TGWG meeting at Tomintoul at which we put the finishing touches
to approvals and conditions for four projects, all involving planting of
trees or hedges. We also clarified governance arrangements to help us
newbies to bed in. I agreed to help out with advice on some practical
aspects of providing squirrel feeders for one of the projects. Checked the
Acorn camera to find to my delight that we have at last had a hedgehog in
the garden - it was at 0200 on Fri13th April. Bea
and I agreed that BoGWiG will erect the new capercaillie signs in the woods,
in return for which the Park will make a donation to the group.
Decided to expand the management arrangements for the Badger Hide, based on
an online diary, and also decided to add another potential guide to the
list. Meetings have been arranged for next week. Sent a
copy of Dr Emma Sheehy's new pine marten research paper "The Enemy Of My
Enemy Is My Friend" to HRH Prince Charles; he had shown a keen interest in
the subject when research began a few years ago into the interaction between red squirrels,
grey squirrels and pine martens.
HRH Prince Charles loves his red squirrels
On Tuesday I went to Edinburgh for a ScotLINK Species Champions event at the Scottish Parliament. All the usual enthusiasts were there to celebrate the year of young people in the context of wildlife and the environment and it was good to see Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham and other MSPs take the trouble to attend. Wednesday was mostly taken up with hanging around in Inverness while our Jeep got serviced and MOT-ed. Thanks to the internet being available in all the cafes I was nevertheless able to keep up with developments following press articles about the theft and damage to wildcat survey equipment in Aberdeenshire. Public reaction was heartening with offers of money and replacement cameras to offset our losses. I also managed to complete my poem about a fence-post. In the evening I took a couple to the badger hide where we had six badgers in view at one point, There were no pine martens but the cameras told us they had been there on three of the past five nights. On Thursday Heather and I and the dogs screwed new signs in place in the Boat of Garten Woods asking people to manage their dogs in certain ways in different parts of the woods to help protect the threatened capercaillie, from dogs-on-leads, to dogs-under-close-control, to let-the-dogs-run.
Erecting Capercaillie Signs - note the dogs on leads in that area
I also had a phone conversation with Scottish Government that afternoon on certain aspects of wildcat conservation. On Friday I checked the camera at the new feeder on the fallen tree to find that the red squirrels have finally learned how to lift the lid. Spent the rest of the morning in the office dealing with progressing Scottish Wildcat Action next steps, much of it on the phone. Fall out from the trashing of some of our equipment in Aberdeenshire continues unabated with general outrage across the board and some very generous offers of funds to replace damaged items. My particular personal thanks to photographer Andy Howard who has a policy of giving back to nature in this way. Good one Andy! On Saturday I did the round of the feeders and filled them all up, then in the evening I took Dod and Sally Morrison to the hide where we had seven adult badgers, a badger cub, a pine marten, some mice and a tawny owl; a great night.
Mon 23rd to Mon 30th April
On Monday I ran a
guide training session at the badger hide for a potential new guide; it went
well. Checked the Bushnell camera while I was there to find the pine
marten had been at the feeder on two of the last three nights. Back at
home I checked the Acorn camera to find that a hedgehog at visited our
garden on three of the last five nights, this despite not putting food out
for it. Must check the hibernation box to see if there are any signs
of it being used. Tuesday was spring cleaning and golf. On Weds
I checked the E3 camera - it had more than 300 videos and I only got through
about half of them before bed time. One thing it did show was a
red squirrel eating a date, which I wasn't too sure about supplying but I'd
heard pine martens liked dates so it was worth a try. Had a meeting
with colleague Martin Jones who had agreed to cover the badger hide bookings
while I'm away on holiday soon. In the evening I
took a couple to the hide where in the short time we stayed we had 5 badgers
including a cub. The Bushnell camera at the hide revealed that pine
martens had been at the feeder on both of the previous evenings and on both
occasions there had been two pine martens together. That bodes well.
On Thursday I finished working through the 300+ images on the E3 card - just
jays, red squirrels and great tits - no pine martens, which surprises and
disappoints me. I also checked out a possible wild camping site for
this evening's badger watch couple without much success. A wildcat
blog warning the public to beware of a misleading wildcat website link
received final sign-off from me and SNH today. To be clear, anyone
reading this who would like to donate money or report a wildcat sighting to
Scottish Wildcat Action should do so via
www.scottishwildcataction.org
. Still with wildcats, we've now got a date in the diary to
decide the detail of the shortly-to-be-formed Land Managers sub group.
On Thursday evening I took a young wild-camping couple of scientists to the
hide where we saw 9 badgers, including one cub, and glimpsed a pine marten.
On Friday Heather and I were guests at the launch of David Hetherington's
book The Lynx And Us. All the great and the good were there completely
filling the community hall to capacity. It was good to see several of
my colleagues from Scottish Wildcat Action. On Saturday I swapped the
card in the E3 camera and then took a supply of peanuts to the couple who
look after the Milton Loch site, again this was to cover my upcoming holiday
absence. The E3's card had more than 200 videos on it that were all
red squirrel, jay and a few small birds; still no pine marten which is a
little worrying as I have not even seen their scats at path junctions this
spring. In the evening I took one of the Scottish Wildcat Action
team and her friedns to the badger hide where we had at least 6 badgers,
some mice and a tawny owl. No pine marten sadly and it had not been
recorded by the trail cam on either of the two previous evenings.
Sunday was mostly for golf. On Monday I checked the card in the
fallen-tree E3 camera and again it was just jays, red squirrels and small
birds. Since putting that camera there a few weeks ago it has
taken hundreds of videos and not a single pine marten has been recorded.
I have also not found a pine marten scat in Boat woods for weeks, which is
unusual and it makes me wonder if something sinister is going on.
Tues 1st to Sun 6th May
Excellent Scottish Wildcat Action meeting on Tuesday, planning
the creation of a Land Use sub-group in which we hope to form
partnerships with estates, farms and shooting interests to help
preserve the wildcat. On Wednesday Bea and I did a
complete round of the 20 crested tit nest box. Not much
nesting activity yet but boxes 4 and 18 seem to have been used
as moulting dens, containing lots of dark feather, box 2 had
nest material but no nest and box 12 had a nest, complete with
cup, but no lining. In the evening I took Ben from the BTO
and his family to the hide where we had at least seven adult
badgers and one cub. Ben and I checked the goldeneye duck
boxes but found no evidence of use yet - but we did hear a
cuckoo. I also checked the
Bushnell card to find the pine marten had only visited the
feeder once in the last four evenings; disappointing to say the
least. I then reset the Bushnell to a basic photo
setting to cover the two week period I will be away. On
Thursday I took a couple from Yorkshire to the hide where had at
least 5 badgers in view at one point. No cub or pine
marten this time though, and the SD card in the Bushnell camera
showed that the pine marten hadn't visited the feeder last night
either - I hope all's well.
Mon 7th May to Sun 20th May
Away in the
Balkans for two weeks, mostly in Albania but with one day each in Greece
(Corfu) and Macedonia. We saw lots of swallows and their nests, a fox
(in Macedonia) 2 buzzards over Albanian farmland and precious little else
that you could call wildlife. The only road kill we saw in more
than 1600 km of driving through wild countryside was domestic cats and dogs
- which probably tells its own tale. Our guide rather sheepishly
confessed that men in the Balkans like to shoot, so that probably explains a
lot. Albania is quite poor and is reckoned to be one of the most
corrupt countries in continental Europe so care for its wild animals is
probably not high on anybody's agenda. So much for the title of
our tour which was "The Land Of The Eagle".
Mon 21st to Sun 27th May
Checked all the
cameras for the two weeks we've been away as follows:
Garden: No
hedgehogs on the Acorn cam, which for once seems to have behaved itself..
Boat Woods: Almost 2,000 pictures on the E3, mostly of red squirrels
and jays but a few of roe deer and common small birds. No crested tits
and no pine martens which is disappointing and slightly worrying.
Badger
Hide: Very poor quality night time pictures on the Aggressor camera, in many of which no
animals could be detected, just darkness and a vague tree outline. However, a pine marten was visible in about
2 out of every 3 pictures on roughly alternate days, mostly after midnight which
is long after our badger watchers would have gone home to bed. I am very grateful to Martin Jones and Steve
Goodall for doing a great job of managing the Badger Hide while I was away.
They took lots of people between them and raised vital funds for the
wildlife group "BoGWiG".
On Tuesday I took two Australians to the badger hide for their second visit on consecutive evenings and for the second time a pine marten favoured them with a performance, this time just 5 minutes after we'd shut the hide door. We also saw 4 badgers over the next hour or so plus a roe deer, a brown hare and some mice. On Wednesday Bea and I did a full crested tit nest box check. Sadly no cresties had made an attempt to nest although three great tits and a coal tit were sitting on eggs. At another box there were nine eggs in a nest but no parent birds - it would not have been a crestie as they never produce so many eggs, probably a blue tit but time will tell. On a tree stump beside box 16 there were fresh capercaillie droppings and I think that's the third time in a row so I reckon one of the trail cameras should spend a little time there or at a similar stump between boxes 18 and 19. In the evening I went back to check if a parent bird had returned to the 9 eggs in Box 4 but no luck. On Thursday I set up the Acorn camera pointing at the capercaillie stump between boxes 18 and 19 - fingers crossed for some caper images. Spent part of the afternoon on wildcat work, then in the evening checked some nest boxes in our garden; the starling box contained a heap of lovely chicks but disappointingly none of the three sparrow gallery chambers has produced eggs, despite two of the three chambers containing complete nests.
Two complete nests but no eggs - all that work for nothing. I've
resealed the boxes in the hope the birds will come back and try again
Long session in the dentist chair on Friday so the rest of the day was a write-off. On Saturday I checked the camera at the hide to find the pine marten had been there most nights but always after midnight. I checked the goldeneye duck boxes with the endoscope and the one on top of the hill on a plastic pole contained a duck sitting on eggs. In the evening I took a delightful couple from Holland to the hide where we had at least five badgers, 2 roe deer, 2 GS woodpeckers, a brown hare and some mice. One of the badgers had a wound on its face just behind its right eye and scratch marks on its neck and one of the other badgers also had a wound on the side of its face but less severe. Neither seemed unduly bothered by their injuries. The following evening I took the same couple to the hide again where we began by checking the footage on the Bushnell camera to see what had happened after we had left the previous evening. The SD card showed that a pine marten had been on the feeder for three feeding sessions during the night. The first session began at 2330, which was only 40 minutes after we had left the hide, the second session was at 0200 and the third session was at 0500. We therefore stayed in the hide longer this evening than the previous evening and our patience was rewarded when at 2315 the pine marten arrived and fed on peanuts at the feeder for 15 minutes.
Mon 28th to Thurs 31st May
Monday was mostly an admin day. On
Tuesday I took @nerdboy386 (Zach) and his dad to the hide where we had 5
badgers but no pine martens and I then had a very similar evening on
Wednesday with a couple from Switzerland. That's more or less it for
the hide for a week or two while we give it its annual facelift. On
Thursday I brought all three trail cameras home for servicing.
Sadly, neither of the two cameras in Boat woods recorded any pine martens
which is both surprising and suspicious. In 2018 I have not seen any
signs of pine martens around the woods and none of the cameras have picked
them up. Hmmm. Later I set up one of the cameras at the starling
box in our garden in which the young starlings are almost ready to go - they
keep appearing at the entrance hole and call for food.
Friday 1st to Sunday 10th June
On Friday I did some preparation for tomorrow's annual
refurbishment of the hide - I strimmed the grass and ferried the
paint and brushes and other stuff from the road to the hide.
We used to be able to drive to the hide for this job but the
gates are now locked and the farmer won't allow us a key.
The starlings are still in the nest box so certain noisy jobs
waiting to be done in the shed will have to wait a bit longer.
Despite all this and some overdue admin, Heather and I managed 9
holes of golf in the sun. The rest of the week is
something of a blurr so I'll make do with a summary. The
hide roof needs to be replaced so I took a roofer there to
discuss a plan. We painted the rest of the hide as
planned. The starling chicks fledged but sadly the
Bushnell missed the happy event. I took two groups to the
hide and Martin took one. Lots of badgers seen but the
pine marten only turned up once. Lots of wildcat
planning and reporting undertaken; things are taking shape
nicely. The feeders in the woods have not seen much action
lately which is typical of this time of year.
Collected the three trail cameras together and re-jigged the
locking devices ready for the next session. Attended the
quarterly meetings of Scottish Badgers in Perth. Found
what is probably old pine marten poo on the secret path in our
woods within 500 metres of the new housing development.
That allays my concerns somewhat but I would prefer something a
bit more concrete. Finished the week by topping up the
woodland feeders and then boiling several kettles to scald out
the stinking starling nest box, the equally nasty paving slabs
below it and the bird bath.
Mon 11th to Sun 17th June
This was a busy
golf week but there is still some wildlife stuff to report. The bird
feeders in the woods were being used a little more this week than in recent
weeks so I acquired a new sack of peanuts. I researched various types
of roofing covering as an alternative to roofing felt for the leaky badger
hide and at the moment I favour a rubber version. We'll see.
Lots of wildcat and badger admin kept me busy in the office on and off and I
managed to take three groups to the badger hide. On the first visit we
had five badgers. On the second visit we had five badgers and a
pine marten, then, as we left the area and passed the pine marten nest box
tree, we spotted two pine martens in the tree, one of which dived into the
nest box when it saw us. On the way home a badger shot across the road
in front of the car; fortunately too far ahead to be at risk. I
went back to the hide the next evening where we had four badgers and two
pine martens. The martens wanted to get to the peanut feeder but
were wary of a badger that was foraging between them and the feeder.
Eventually they abandoned the idea and ran away. Back at home, I
checked the Bushnell camera in our garden every few days and eventually it
revealed that a hedgehog had been foraging among the wildflowers in the
small hours of Sunday morning.
Mon 18th to Sun 24th June
The football
World Cup was in full swing by the start of this week so only the minimum of
wildlfie stuff got done. On Weds I took my old friends Rhys and Ifan
from Wales to the badger hide. They've been coming to Scotland for
years and know exactly where to find our most exotic wildlife species.
On this occasion we had 7 badgers in view at one point but sadly the pine
marten did not put in an appearance. On Friday was the media launch of
our Generation Wildcat campaign at SNH headquarters at Great Glen House in
Inverness. STV and BBC sent film crews and the Press and Journal
sent a reporter and camerman so we were well covered. I gave the
introductory speech, then our Project Manager did likewise, then we played
the brilliant pre-recorded video message from Cabinet Secretary for
Environment Roseana Cunningham MSP. That evening STV used some of the
footage, including part of the interview with me, on the evening news and
there was an article in the P and J next morning with quotes from me, Roo
Campbell and the Cab Sec. Mission accomplished.
Mon 25th to Sat 30th June
Suddenly the
feeders in the woods are being used more heavily than recently so I had to
go round and fill them all up. Also in the woods, we are seeing roe
deer in great abundance than lately - unconnected with the feeder thing of
course. On Monday night I was in the hide again - 4 badgers and 2 pine
martens came to entertain us. The pine martens were quite small and
stuck together so were probably young siblings. On Tuesday it was back
to the hide with just one guest. We checked the goldeneye box on the
pole on top of the hill to find the eggs were still there but no sitting
bird. Interestingly, there was pine marten poo all around the foot of
the pole so maybe the martens were crapping themselves in frustration at not
being able to get to the eggs.
A Trail Camera Checking Pine Marten Activity At The Goldeneye Box
Back in the hide, we soon had 4 badgers. In the office, there were lots of emails and phone calls to deal with ahead of this week's Scottish Wildcat Action Steering Group meeting; nothing untoward, quite the reverse, as they all helped towards a smooth meeting, especially the input from those members of the group who were unable to attend in person and wished me to table their views on topics in which they are particularly expert. The meeting went well and the project is progressing according to the plan. In particular, our large-scale evidence-gathering efforts, with input from external partners, will be invaluable in shaping future actions. On Thurs 28th I did the rounds of the crested tit boxes. All the boxes that had eggs in at the last check (23rd May) were totally empty so I assume the chicks hatched and fledged successfully. Sadly none of them were crested tits which makes this the third or fourth year in a row that we have failed to attract crested tits into the boxes. This week has been one of the hottest on record with temperatures in the thirties; that's no good to man nor beast. I hope our local wildlife is not suffering too much. I've made sure there's plenty of water in our garden for the birds and hope that other villagers are doing the same. On Friday Bea and I went to the badger hide to take a closer look at the goldeneye box. There was no duck present so I checked the eggs - two were broken and the remaining five seemed cold to me. We'll check again in a few weeks time. Before leaving we set up a trail camera aimed at the foot of the pole that supports the nest box to try to see what the pine marten poo under the box was all about. There were noticeable scratches on the plastic pole suggesting the martens had tried to climb it; the camera will reveal if they are doing that. On the way back to the hide we took a video of the inside of the kestrel box using my phone attached to a long pole; no sign of activity. Here's a still frame from the video:
The Inside Of The Kestrel Box
Sun 1st to Sun 8th July
Great
start to the month at the badger hide on Monday where a keen
young guy and I enjoyed the company of 5 badgers and two pine
martens. A badger chased the two pine martens up a tree
and tried to follow them up it but lost its nerve. They
all calmed down quite soon and settled down to eating peanuts
just a few metres apart. While wating for the badgers we checked the footage on the
trail camera beside the goldeneye nest box on its plastic pole to
find it had taken some brilliant footage of a pine marten trying and failing
to climb the pole. Strike one for non-lethal predator
control. Here's a wee video I put together for YouTube:
At tea time I posted the video on Twitter and by midnight it had received more than a hundred Retweets and more than two hundred Likes. While all that was going on I took four RSPB staff members to the badger hide where we had 8 badgers in view at one point and then eventually a pine marten showed up for ten minutes. We also saw a roe deer, a brown hare and some woodmice. A marvelous day, despite the almost unbearable heat; it was 29C in Aviemore this afternoon. Next day, interest in my pine marten video continued until by midnight it had more than 180 retweets, more than 300 likes and more than 12 thousand views on Twitter. On Saturday it was golf at Nethy where we found fox scats near the 2nd green and pine marten scats near the 6th green. In the evening I took Dod and Sally to the hide again where we had 7 badgers, a female goldeneye with 2 young on the river and a brown hare in the field. The trail cam at the goldeneye nest box pole had recorded yet more failed attempts by pine martens to climb the pole; determined little devils.
Mon 9th to Sun15th July
Wildcats and domestic
cats featured in Monday's office work and then it was time to get out into
the field. I set the Bushnell camera in the garden to low
sensitivity to try to deal with too many false triggers. In the
evening I did the same with the cam at the goldeneye nest box pole and also
fitted it with new batteries and I then stayed for a while to sit outside
the badger hide with the badgers. Earlier my Firefox browser had
been the cause of two quite serious problems, one of which has probably cost
me more than £200, so I'll have to stop using it. Pity because I quite
like it. In the woods I had to top up all the feeders and repair
one of them that might have been deliberately tampered with. No sweat.
On Friday I checked both trail cams with their new low-sensitivity settings
and the results were good; less false triggers but still capturing the
mammals - pine martens at the hide and a hedgehog in the garden. The
pine martens at the foot of the goldeneye nest box pole were simply passing
through and not attempting to climb the pole - maybe they've give up.
Also on Friday I took a delightful family to the hide where we saw at least
6 badgers and a brown hare. No pine martens this time.
Mon 16th to Sun 22nd July
Took myself to the
badger hide on Monday where I checked the Bushnell camera - it had recorded
another failed attempt by a pine marten to climb the plastic goldeneye
nestbox pole. I then sat out with the badgers for half an hour; the
two cubs came quite close to where I was sitting reading a book but the
three adults were a bit shy. In Boat Woods I have begun to see more
pine marten signs than earlier in the year. On Wednesday there were scats
behind the Deshar Road houses, on the Caper Track and at the junction at the
north end of the Secret Path. There was talk in the Press of wildcat
kittens being found abandoned and taken to a refuge. No doubt
more details will emerge but as a general principle great caution must be
taken with this kind of thing in case mother cat is still around.
Apparently searches were made for a parent but without success.
On Friday, plans to visit the badger hide were thwarted by bad weather so I
was forced to stay at home and watch The Open at Carnoustie on Sky Sports -
tough job but someone had to do it. My future with Scottish
Badgers was clarified today; after I step down as a Trustee in the Autumn
I'll stay on as an adviser which will include representing Scottish Badgers
on external bodies where appropriate. On Saturday I refilled all the
woodland feeders and then went to the badger hide. The trail camera at
the goldeneye nest box had recorded yet more failed attempts by pine martens
to climb the goldeneye nest box plastic poles. I sat out with the
badgers for half an hour; there were only three this time.
Mon 23rd to Tues 31st July
The early part of
the week was much tied up with various aspects of our wildcat work, from
publicising the need for neutering of domestic cats, to planning workshop
meetings to drive future decision making, to providing the media with a
balanced view on the supposed recent discovery of wildcat kittens.
I also began planning a campaign to make our village more hedgehog friendly,
using advice and materials provided by Hedgehog Street and PTES. On
Wednesday I spent a lovely evening in the hide with a keen young couple
(Jamie and Jemma I think) who work for the New Zealand Department of
Conservation. We checked the trail camera to see what the pine martens
had been up to and sure enough they had been attempting to climb the
goldeneye nestbox pole again and failing again. We exchanged wildlife
stories for a couple of hours while watching at least 8 badgers near the
hide, a roe deer on the grassy slope, a pine marten on the riverside track
and some woodmice dashing between the hide, a hollow rowan tree and a badger
tunnel. I was back in the hide on Friday with a couple from the
Lothians who had been to the hide before, many years ago. They
are both members of Scottish Wildlife Trust and Scottish Badgers so we had
lots to talk about. The trail camera had recorded more failed attempts
by pine martens to climb the pole. Badgers came out almost as soon as
we arrived; I daresay they are hungry with all this dry weather so the
peanuts would have been most welcome. On the river there were
goldeneye ducks, goosanders and herons and we also glimpsed a roe deer among
the trees. A pine marten arrived slowly and I was reminded of a
pine marten with a limp that had been caught on video a few weeks ago.
It gingerly climbed the feeder tree but did not eat much before crawling
higher in the tree and eventually settling down in a complicated fork in the
trunk. A bit later on a much more lively pine marten bounded into
view, ran past the hide and the feeder tree without stopping and just kept
going till it was out of sight up-river. On Sunday it was back to the
hide, this time with 3 Romanian people who are based in Arizona. We
had 7 badgers plus the slow pine marten. The marten was unable to
settle down properly at the feeder because each time a badger came near the
feeder tree the pine marten crept higher up the tree to a safer perch.
Weird. By the way, the word 'badger' is 'bursuc' in Romanian.
Monday's badger people were a family of four who came to the hide in
February on one of the first visits of the year. They arrived this
time having
had to tear themselves away from watching pine martens in the garden of the
lodge they had hired for the week - not a great start to the evening.
However, eight badgers came out to amuse them as a consolation and I think
they got some good photos. The final day of the month was spent
recovering from a hectic few days - although I did squeeze in some
paperwork.
Weds 1st to Sun 5th August
August began with a flurry of emails
about wildcats, protected area legislation, species champions
and Doodle polls. It's difficult to fit it all in - and
I'm trying to be retired!! OK, I hear you, "No
sympathy, self inflicted, you love it really, get over
yourself". One piece of brilliant news, my good
friend and successor as Chairman of the Scottish Wildlife Trust,
Robin Harper, has been awarded the OBE. A fine man
with a long history of public service of many kinds including
nature conservation and green politics. Proud to know you
Robin, well done and richly deserved. On Thursday I took a
family of five friends to the hide in heavy rain. The
badgers were not at all deterred by the rain and we had six in
view at one point. Just before we left, 2 pine
martens turned up but did not stay around for us to watch for
more than a minute or so. On Friday I began to write
an article about hedgehog conservation for our village magazine.
I particularly want people to connect up their gardens by making
gaps in their fences for the hedgehogs to pass through easily.
On Saturday I continued thinking through how we might persuade
ospreys to nest in our village which is known as the osprey
village but which does not actually have ospreys within its
boundaries, the nearest being at the RSPB osprey centre a couple
of miles away.
Mon 6th to Sun 12th August
The early part of
the week was family stuff. On Wednesday I took keen photographers
Charles and Sandy to the badger hide. Both guys are regular users of
our Milton Loch bird hide but this was their first visit to the badger hide.
They were rewarded with at least 6 badgers and I think they went home with
lots of great photos. The pine martens did not show up but a brown
hare did. In our garden, we were twice visited by hedgehogs, thanks to
the holes I cut in the fences last year. I hope we get a good reaction
from the hedgehog article I wrote for next month's BoG Standard, the local
magazine. Still with hedgehogs, during Friday's golf competition
an injured hedgehog was reported to have wandered across the 6th fairway at
Abernethy at about 7pm - I hope it recovers OK. Saturday saw
some drama in our garden; my wife found a partially plucked dead wood pigeon
under one of the trees. It was quite close to the fence so I
reckon a sparrow hawk had killed the bird and then been disturbed by someone
walking past on the pavement. I threw the carcass into a nearby field
for nature to dispose of it in its own way. Later I got a message from
Martin Jones, one of our badger guides, to say the Friday evening group had
a great evening with at least 6 badgers and a pine marten on view. On
Sunday I popped in at Hen Harrier Day Highland in the Grant Arms Hotel,
Grantown on Spey in time to catch the Q and A session and chat to some of
the company afterward. There was a good turn out for the second year
running with lots of well-kent faces in the audience - too many to name.
Mon 13th to Sun 19th August
On Monday I spent
a good deal of time on some tricky wildcat correspondence and then did the
round of the woodland feeders, some of which were actually empty, to my
shame. Hedgehogs were a strong topic of conversation at the golf
club on Tuesday where it seems that these wee creatures are very common in
the village of Nethy Bridge, much to my delight. Also in
plentiful supply are voles which I saw three times in a week on various
parts of the Abernethy golf course. On Tuesday evening I took Steve
and Zoe to the badger hide where we had 8 badgers and 2 pine martens.
We also had a sheep. This particular sheep turned up about a week ago
and we've seen it both in the flesh and on the camera trap on and off ever
since so I phoned the tennant farmer and he said it wasn't one of his but he
would find out where it belonged and have it collected. Good PR.
Speaking of the camera trap, I removed it from where it was monitoring pine
marten activity at the goldeneye nest box on a pole on the hill above the
badger hide. There was some footage of the pine martens still
attempting and failing to climb the pole and also some clips of a roe deer -
and of course the sheep. On Wednesday morning I spent a couple of
hours preparing for a wildcat meeting at Aigas in the afternoon. The
meeting went well and we remain on track to deliver the current phase of the
project. On Thursday morning I arranged with my neighbours which bit
of our joint fence could feature a hedehog door that would be easy for the
hogs to access without inconveniencing ourselves. On Thursday
afternoon I began to progress the outcomes of Wednesday's wildcat meeting.
Friday was a day of badger meetings in Perth with episodes of working on my
laptop in Perth cafes after the train and before the meetings and after the
meetings before the train home, plus during the train journeys.
Interestingly. I chatted on the train with James Corden's agent from Los
Angeles - she was over for the Edinburgh Fringe but was taking a break to
visit Inverness and see some of the famous Scottish Highlands.
Mon 20th to Sun 26th Aug
Lots of wildcat
emails and phone calls during the day on Monday, then in the evening I took
a lovely couple to the badger hide where we had 6 badgers and 2 pine
martens. On Tuesday I headed for Stirling for a meeting of the
ScotLink Wildlife Sub Group and on Wednesday it was off to Edinburgh for a
meeting with Francesca Osowska, CEO of Scottish Natural Heritage, to discuss
progress and next steps with the wildcat project. On Thursday I
checked both of the garden trail cams - the front garden had been visited by
a hedgehog twice in the past week. On Friday Bea and I visited the
Rothes Golf Club to meet the greenkeeper John C Milne who is working towards
an environmental award. He showed us what he has achieved and told us
his ideas and we were able to share some ideas with him. An uplifting
morning.
Mon 27th to Fri 31st Aug
Had a fabulous
evening in the hide on Monday. Nine badgers appeared within a few
minutes of our arrival, then a pine marten turned up, but one of the badgers
chased it away. Undaunted, the pine marten approached from a different
direction but a badger chased it up a tree. The badger must have
thought it had the pine marten trapped but the pine marten escaped by
hurdling the badger. A bit later, another pine marten sneaked down the
hill and spent ten minutes at the feeder. On Tuesday Steve Reddick
took people to the hide and they had a similarly great time with badgers and
pine martens and on Wednesday I took Mickey and family from Sunderland to
the hide where after a few minutes we had ten badgers in view; which is the
most we've ever seen simultaneously in the 22 year history of the hide.
Thursday began with finding a wrecked wasp byke (nest) halfway along what we
call the Caper Track - almost certainly the work of a badger; they are
notorious for this behaviour. I managed to get some close-up photos
(without getting stung) of a few of the bees who were working away at
something, perhaps trying to rebuild. I'll post one here once I've
managed to extract it from my phone which is misbehaving at the moment.
(Time Passes) ...... and here it is:
Wrecked Wasp Byke
Sat 1st to Sun 9th September
The long weekend was spent at the
Granddaughter's wedding in Lytham St Annes. Tuesday was largely wasted
on getting to grips with setting up a mobile phone but the evening was spent
in the badger hide with two nice ladies. We watched 8 badgers, a pine
marten and a roe deer. It has been noticeable lately that the badgers
are fighting over the small supply of peanuts that I scatter for them.
This dry weather is not good for badger food so they are hungry. The
situation is made worse now that the days are shortening and winter is
approaching so badgers are instinctively eating as much as they can to pile
on weight before the cold weather begins. On Wednesday Bea and I
went to see the David Hetherington and Pete Cairns "The Lynx And Us"
presentation at Eden Court theatre, organised by the North of Scotland Group
of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. A splendid evening with a good sized
audience and a lively discussion afterwards. Thursday and Friday
were largely devoted to wildcat admin, fairly dull but necessary work which
included firming up arrangements to meet the ECCLR Cabinet Secretary later
in the month; a great opportunity to give a thorough briefing on the current
wildcat state of affairs to the Cab Sec and her staff. Still
with wildcats, on Saturday I collected a dead wildcat from a neighbour who
had picked it up off the A95 road today at NJ 00307 24934 which is near
Dulnain Bridge. It will go to SNH HQ at Great Glen House in
Inverness on Monday for analysis and eventually I expect to the the National
Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The stripey flanks and banded tail
look quite good but I'll leave the judgement as to its purity to the
experts.
So sad that a beautiful cat like this should die on the road.
On Sunday I made a GIF of one of our local hedgehogs who found the new door into next-doors garden within 48 hours of it being cut:
Such an easy thing to do - speak to the neighbour, cut a hole.
Mon 10th to Sun 16th September
This was mostly a week of office work between bouts of really
good practical stuff and a little golf. On Tuesday I
took a French couple to the hide where they had one of the best
experiences ever (their words, not mine). We had nine
badgers and two pine martens - great stuff. Thursday saw
me at the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood for the ScotLink
Species Champions 100 day Challenge event. Quite a
lot of MSPs attended, though I would have preferred to see more.
As always at Holyrood, it was an opportunity to catch up
with old friends and also to bend the ears of government
officials on one's pet topic. On Friday I checked up on
the new BTO web pages that store nest records from previous
years and allow one to upload new records. Looking forward
to getting started with this year's records. The week's
activities ended on Saturday night with a family at the
badger hide - we saw lots of geese (overhead), 9 badgers and 2
pine martens.
Mon 17th to Sun 23rd September
On Tuesday I
wrestled with the new demography section of the BTO website. It took a
while but I got there in the end. Sadly I had only one positive nest
to report on, that of a goldeneye nest box on a pole in which we had another
successful brood plus a few dud eggs. On Wednesday Bea and I
went to the hide to inspect its roof and make a plan. While we were
there we took the ladder up the hill and removed the dud goldeneye eggs from
their box. On Wednesday evening I was to have taken a family to the
hide but the weather was so bad we had to cancel and reschedule for another
time. Highlight of the week was Saturday's Members Day and AGM
of the Scottish Wildlife Trust held this year at the National Museum of
Scotland in Edinburgh. A fantastic day with Pete Cairns and David
Hetherington the star speakers. It was great to catch up with my old
colleagues and friends in the Trust and to meet some of the new members of
staff.
Mon 24th to Sun 30th September
Part of
Monday was spent preparing for Wednesday's meeting with the Cabinet
Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform to discuss
wildcats, then in the evening I went to the badger hide and sat
outside with the badgers for a short while; a tranquil end to the day.
On the way to the hide I called in on friends to advise on how to fix bat
boxes to trees securely without damaging the tree. I use stainless
steel coach bolts which are very secure indeed and yet can easily be removed
without harming the tree if and when the need arises. On Wednesday I
travelled to Edinburgh for the above mentioned meeting with the Cabinet
Secretary. It went very well and she and I both came away with a clear
list of actions.
Yours Truly with Roseanna Cunningham MSP at Holyrood
The rest of the week was a mixture of golf interspersed with mundane
wildlife tasks such as refilling all the woodland bird feeders and checking
cameras. The hedgehog camera in our garden only recorded one hedgehog
in the last two weeks which is a bit disappointing. It was a similar
story at a villager's garden in Kinchurdy road whose rabbit hutch had been
invaded but something that had tunnelled under the mesh surrounds. I
installed camera to catch the intruder but nothing had been detected by the
camera at the time of writing although the next door neighbour is sure
they've recently had pine martens in their garden. The camera
can stay there for a few more days.
Mon 1st to Sun 7th October
Got a text
message (while in the Eden Court theatre watching the ballet
Rumplestiltskin) to say that Pawel from Kinchurdy Road had checked the
footage on the trail cam I had set up in his garden and was delighted to
have acquired four excellent videos of a badger. The camera can stay
there for a bit longer in case the expected pine marten finally turns up.
On Tuesday I took an enthusiastic couple of conservationists to the badger
badger hide where we had 9 badgers at one point. Unfortunately we had to
leave before the pine marten turned up. Much of the rest of the week
was taken up with preparation for next week but on Friday I indulged myself
with a visit to the badger hide to fill up the pine marten feeder and to sit
outside with my badgers for ten minutes. The badgers seemed pleased to
see me - or maybe it was all the peanuts. On Saturday we had the
first real frost; a beautiful morning so I took the dogs to Loch Vaa where
we were greeted by at least two dozen ducks; mallards I guess but could not
be sure due to looking straight into the low morning sun. Later,
Bea and I helped at the Milton Loch volunteer working morning; Bea did
litter picking and I checked nest boxes.
Mon 8th to Sun 14th October
On Monday I
watched a male capercaillie fly through woods near Kinchurdy Lochan - always
an impressive sight. Wednesday was the first day of a two-day
marathon to work on the future of the wildcat in Scotland. Day One
took the form of a seminar run by IUCN and was based on their view of the
status of the wildcat in Scotland and to examine the work of Scottish
Wildcat Conservation Action Project. The outcomes would help inform
the decision-making process concerning future actions. The meeting was
facilitated by IUCN and was attended by the Steering Group members, IUCN
staff and invited guests, including Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham
who gave a short speech on behalf of the Scottish Parliament. Day Two
was a meeting of the full Steering Group to agree next steps. . More
than that I cannot say at the moment but key messages will be published
shortly. On Friday afternoon I noticed that all the woodland feeders
were empty so I dealt with that before taking an enthusiastic student group
to the badger hide in the rain. We saw at least six badgers but could
not stay long enough to give ourselves a decent chance of seeing pine
martens. On Saturday Roy Dennis called in in torrential rain and we
went to Milton Loch to assess the feasibility of building an osprey
platform. There is a small island in the inner loch with a pine
tree on it that ought to work so that's something to think about. Roy
thought we could also fix up a perch in the main loch. In the evening
in some of the heaviest rain I've seen here I took a keen family to the
badger hide where we saw at least five soggy badgers; a lovely evening.
Mon 15th to Sun 21st October
On Monday
evening I took Emily Dodd, author of "Can't Dance Cameron" and heaps of
other books, and her parents to the badger hide where we saw at least 8
badgers, starting within a minute of our arrival; the badgers are hungry and
keen to fatten up for the approaching winter so our offering of peanuts gets
their immediate attention. Wednesday was a day of badger admin and on
Thursday I took the youngest people to the badger hide in its 22 year
history - a three year old and a baby! The baby slept throughout and
the the three year old (Elizabeth) was a delight - so well behaved.
As it turned out, her parents were keen environmentalists and I had actually
seen her father that very morning with his eyes glued to his binoculars.
He tells me that was the point when he was busy watching a male capercaillie
(or was it two?) so it's a good job I resisted the temptation to go
and chat to him with my dogs, which is my usual behaviour when spotting a
fellow wildlife freak. In the hide we watched 8 badgers for more than
an hour and we even spotted a mouse sneaking off with a peanut, much to wee
Elizabeth's delight. The baby was not available for comment, being
fast a sleep. Earlier in the day I had re-edited one of my
videos to include some extra footage illustrating the benefits of mounting
goldeneye nest boxes on top of plastic poles to keep predators out.
I'll upload it to YouTube in the next day or two and distribute the link to
likely interested parties. And Twitter, naturally. Spent
much of Friday running a an assessment for a badger worker at the end of
which I took the candidate to the badger hide. On the off-chance that
the badgers were awake I scattered a few peanuts and called softly to let
the badgers know. To my amazement six of these so-called nocturnal
animals came out straight away - it was 3.30pm and broad daylight for
heavens sake! On Saturday I was back at the hide in darkness with
guests and we had eight badgers and a mouse. We waited until 8pm for
the pine marten but no luck; it's probably time I set up a trail camera
there again to make sure they're still around. On Sunday I finished
editing a new version of the pine martens trying and failing to climb the
plastic pole to get at the goldeneye eggs. Here it is:
Mon 22nd to Weds 31st October
On Monday I
took a lady and her young son to the hide where we equalled the record of 10
badgers in view simultaneously. Earlier in the day I had set up
a trail camera to get an idea of how often the pine marten is visiting the
feeder now that it is not arriving early enough to be seen during badger
watches. On Wednesday I checked the camera to find that a pine marten
had arrived at 9pm on the Monday evening and again at 3am on Wednesday.
On Wednesday evening I attended the AGM of the Tomintoul and Glenlivet
Wildlife Group in my capacity as a coopted member of the Management
Committee; all went well including the fun wildlife quiz at the start of the
evening in which my team "The Wildcats" came second. On Thursday I
took a friend and his two daughters to the hide where we saw at least seven
different badgers; probably more, considering all the comings and goings.
We hoped for a pine marten but no luck. We checked the camera while we
were there and the pine marten had not turned up at all the previous
evening. On Friday a fellow wildlife guide took his clients to
the hide where they too had had lots of badgers plus a pine marten.
The pine marten arrived at 7pm, which is remarkably early and may have had
something to do with the change in the weather; the evening ended with quite a blizzard. On Saturday I
began searching for likely sources of rotten pine wood in the forest with
which to re-stuff all the crested tit nest boxes in plenty of time for next
Spring. Sunday started with a strong frost so collecting rotten
wood was not going to be an option so instead I filled up the woodland bird
feeders again. On Monday 29th I began taking action on preparing
Abernethy Golf Course for a possible visit by a film crew next Spring to
talk about wildlife and golf. As a first step we'll put up more
nest boxes, including a pine marten box, and more feeders. I spent
part of Tuesday in the shed refurbishing a squirrel feeder and then online
tracking down a friend who specialises in building pine marten den boxes.
Wednesday found me at Clashmore near Dornoch at a preparatory meeting for
re-examining the planning application for a new golf course at Coull Links,
the original application having been approved by Highland Council (against
their planning department's advice) resulting in such an outcry that the
Scottish Government called it in. There were more than a hundred
people at this first meeting. There has also been talk of a
public enquiry but whether that is part of the calling-in process or an
additional step I do not know. In the evening I placed a firm order
for a pine marten nest box.
Thurs 1st to Sun 4th November
On Thursday the
dogs and I visited the old Springwatch dead snag (in which crested tits had
nested ten years ago) to see if it would now be a good source of dead wood with which to stuff the crested tit boxes for next year.
It was now very soft indeed so Heather and I will remove some of it for the
nest boxes. Nearby there is an old abandoned badger outlier tunnel
which had not seen use for many a year but there was now a clear path
through the grass leading to it and the walls of the tunnel are smooth with
use. There is no actual spoil heap so it may not be badgers using it -
I see a job for a trail camera here. Played golf and ricked my
back but managed to finish upgrading the new squirrel feeder ready for
baiting the new pine marten box when it arrives; probably Monday, we're
told. Checked the hedgehog cam in the garden and it hasn't picked up a
hog for a few weeks now so they're probably settling down for the winter.
That's the best of the cameras so it's now free to use to monitor the golf
club pine marten set-up, the dodgy Acorn cam can watch the Springwatch
badger tunnel which leaves the other good camera spare. I spent much
of Friday nursing a bad back but got up to the badger hide at 4pm to remove
the pine marten camera. While I was there I scattered a few peanuts
and called to the badgers. One came out after five minutes and another
two eventually joined in but they looked rather slow and sleepy so I felt a
bit guilty waking them up. Maybe I should call a halt to these visits
for the winter. Back at home I checked the camera card and it only had
one brief clip of the pine marten, partly due to the card being so full of
woodpeckers and jays that it had run out of space two days ago.
On Saturday Bea and I visited the Springwatch dead snag and filled two
rucksacks with dead wood. Before leaving the site we set up the
Acorn camera to monitor the old badger sett, although it seems it might be a
fox that's in residence, judging from the feather immediately outside the
entrance; prey remains? On Sunday we went to Abernethy golf club and
set up a peanut feeder and a trail camera near the tree in which we intend
to fix the pine marten den box. This is in the hope that a vague
promise from a TV company to film wildlife on the course comes true.
If it doesn't, it'll still be useful to have some solid wildlife
conservation projects on the course to publicise and thereby help sell our
Club to visiting golfers.
Mon 5th to Sun 11th November
On Monday
morning I took a small rucksack full of dead wood and managed to refill the
first 7 of the 20 crested tit nest boxes. Box 3 had been
interfered with, not for the first time. Last year someone had ripped
the lid open and destroyed the fastenings in the process; fortunately that
was easily fixed. This time someone had tried to wrench the whole box
from the tree and almost succeeded. They had managed to break a small
section of wood from the base and bent the stainless steel fixing bolt
but had given up at that point. What is the matter with people
!!!??? I'll fix it easily enough but such pointless vandalism is
dis-spiriting. On a more positive note, on the way home I bumped
into the local RSPB Ranger and the National Park's volunteer coordinator and
we had a super catch-up on local issues. Tuesday was a golf day but
first thing I managed to get out and repair nest box 3 and rejig the lid of
box 7, then in the afternoon caught up on some behind-the-scenes wildcat
stuff. On Wednesday Bea and I and the dogs refilled (and refurbished
where necessary) and other ten crested tit boxes; quite exhausting.
In the evening we dragged ourselves off to the Scottish Wildlife Group North
Group monthly meeting at which Dan Puplett gave ua a talk on wildlife tracks
and signs. It was very well worth the effort; a fascinating insight
into the craft of tracking. On Thursday I checked the Acorn
camera at the old badger tunnel and kicked myself because I had forgotten
how badly the Acorn deals with night time images - and we're dealing badgers
here! Doh! I also checked the Bushnell at the golf course
but it has not yet recorded any wildlife so I'm asking myself if it's too
far away from the feeder. On Friday Bea and I and the dogs swapped the
Acorn camera at the old badger tunnel for the much better Bushnell Aggressor
camera and at the same time collected more dead wood from a rotten standing
snag with which to finished the crested tit nest box job, which we duly did
on the way home. Later I had a long chat with RZSS about the
wildcat project, following which I set about organising another meeting.
On Saturday Bea and I played golf and while we were there we checked the
camera at the 6th hole to see if any wildlife had found the new feeder - the
SD card revealed that a red squirrel and number of small birds were taking
advantage.
Mon 12th to Sun 18th November
On Monday Bea
and I went to the badger hide and checked out the goldeneye boxes and the
tit box. We removed old nest material and topped up the woodshavings
where necessary Later we checked the camera at the golf club to
find that a pine marten has found the new feeder so we're in business.
Next job is to install the pine marten den box in the hope of having young
martens born on the course next year. Tuesday was mostly a write-off
due to the need to take the Jeep to Inverness to have its brakes fixed.
To kill time I installed myself in the Cafe at Eden Court theatre and
entered all the badger hide data into a spreadsheet so maybe the time was
not entirely wasted after all. On Wednesday we checked the golf course
camera again to find more pine marten footage, this time showing that at
least one marten has learned how to lift the lid. On Thursday we had a
brief meeting of minds at the golf club about the new pine marten box and
agreed to try to rig it up on Monday; there'll be six of us so we should
manage. On Friday I checked the Aggressor camera at the
Springwatch sett; there were two videos of a fox and several of roe deer
(both sexes) but nothing for the past four days and judging from the poor
quality of the last few clips I reckoned the batteries had died so it was a
trek back up there later on with fresh batteries. On Saturday I
checked the camera again but despite its new batteries it had taken no
pictures but when I took it home and tested it, it was working OK, so that's
a mystery. Later I went to the golf club and bolted a fixing ring onto
the pine marten tree ready for next day.
Mon 19th to Sun 25th November
On a frosty
Monday morning (-4C) Bea and I plus volunteers Drew Durrand and Steve Gannon
and Roger the Greenkeeper attacked the job of rigging the new pine marten
den box in trees beside the sixth fairway. I gave a wee briefing on
how I thought the job should be done and the other lads just got on with it
- it only took fifteen minutes. Brilliant. Before starting I
shifted the Bushnell camera that had been monitoring the peanut feeder so
that it now pointed at the den tree so we've got a video record of the
operation. Bea also took photos and videos so at some point I'll piece
together something for YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and the Club website. Here's
a preview:
At various points in the day I filled up some woodland feeders, on which subject the Community Garden people are asking about BoGWiG supplying them with peanuts too for their feeders. At dusk I popped over to the badger hide to see if all was well - it was; 3 badgers came out within five minutes of my arrival. On Tuesday I took my old pal Emma R and three of her colleagues from the Cairngorms National Park to the badger hide. We only had a maximum of two badgers in view at any one time but they were with us on and off for most of the two-hour session. No pine martens this time. Clearly the badgers are slowing down when compared with the feverish activity of the past month so it is appropriate that we will shortly take a break and leave them in peace to make the best of the winter in their own ways.
Mon 26th to Fri 30th November
On Monday I
caught the bus to Edinburgh for a Scottish Wildlife Trust get-together and
briefing from the Chairman and Chief Executive, after which there was a
lengthy, wide-ranging discussion in a nearby pub. On Tuesday I had a
meeting at Scottish Govt offices about wildcats before catching a train
home. On Wednesday I went looking for some poo in the woods that Bea
had found the previous day on a tree stump. It was right where she
told me and I'm pretty certain it was pine marten, which was confirmed after
I posted a picture of it on Twitter.. On Thursday Bea had a committee
meeting of the SWT North Scotland Group while I checked the pine marten nest
box camera on the golf course; it had not been triggered this week.
Patience, dear boy, patience. I refilled the peanut feeder while I was
there. Friday saw the final visit of the year to the badger hide at
which 3 badgers were seen - I can now finalise the stats for the year -
watch this space.
Sat 1st to Sun 9th December
Rest day on
Saturday but on Sunday Bea and I braved the frost to do a few basic jobs:
fill woodland feeders, get the log book from the badger hide and leave some
food for the badgers and pine martens, then at Abernethy Golf Club we serviced the camera and feeder
and set up a second camera so that we've got the nest box and the feeder
covered. Stay tuned. On Monday I worked out the stats for the
badger hide for this year and added them to the summary for the past 19
years. Interesting reading:
Tuesday was a long day, up at 0430 for the early train to Edinburgh for an animal welfare meeting then home late on the LNER Chieftain. Wednesday to Friday was mostly domestic stuff but I did manage to check the cameras at the golf club; pine martens had visited the feeder during one of the past four nights but the den box is still unvisited. Heard on Weds that Jonny Hughes, SWT CEO is to move down to Cambridge to take over as CEO of WCMC. A sad loss to SWT but we all wish him well. On Friday morning I set up the crappy Acorn camera at a site where capercaillies are known to have passed in recent years. The camera is notoriously unreliable but will take half reasonable still daylight pictures if it's in the right mood - it can stay there till Spring rather than moulder in my office, you never kown it might a caper in the snow. When I got home there were a lot of comments on social media about the Press and Journal's scathing remarks about the latest dodgy claims of pure wildcat kittens being found in Aberdeenshire. I hope this is a sign that the Press at large is at last beginning to catch on to the fact that they can only rely on Scottish Wildcat Action for proper evidence based reporting about wildcats. Had a quiet weekend - except that I did try to read some papers ahead of next week's meetings but gave up.
Mon 10th to Sun 16th December
On Tuesday I
took the train to Edinburgh for a LINK Wildlife Sub Group meeting. It
was originally supposed to have been in Stirling but it was moved because
the RSPB rep had to give evidence in the morning at the Parliament.
Annoyingly, after giving evidence, he was called to RSPB urgently so
couldn't attend the LINK meeting after all. On Wednesday I went back
to Edinburgh, this time by bus (it's cheap), for the LINK Christmas
Reception. This year's event was brilliant and, as usual, one of the
best networking opportunities of the year. It all ended up at the Bow
Bar and I then stayed overnight at a Travel Lodge in Waterloo Place.
On Saturday I checked the two cameras at the Abernethy Golf Club - sadly no
pine martens were recorded on either camera for the period mid morning 10
Dec to mid morning 15 Dec. Christmas is nearly ipon us so I'll be
doing very little other than keeping things ticking over and plotting for
next year. One idea is to fix an osprey platform in a tree at Milton
Loch and we may even have been offered some funding for it - watch this
space. Saturday night was wild with strong winds causing local power
cuts and knocking trees over in the woods.
A pine tree and a birch tree down in Boat Woods after last night's
gales
Mon 17th to Sun 23rd December
Long walk to Loch Vaa with the dogs on
Monday.
Near the loch we found three piles of poo in one place and a single piece of
poo in a different place. I figured the single might have been pine
marten, although in appearance it was not typical, and ther triple was dog
(brown), fox (black) and another fox (white) or the same fox on a different
day after a eating differently in between. You judge for yourselves.
On Tuesday and Saturday I checked the cameras at Abernethy Golf Club - no pine martens were recorded since the last check but plenty of red squirrels. I also checked the Acorn camera at Box 16 - nothing had triggered it. Lots of Press activity this week with RZSS publishing the latest state of the wildcat as we understand it and an open letter in the Guardian to Scottish Ministers urging them to do something to enact the promised legal protection for beavers. Saturday was my birthday - I am now entering my 80th year and ready to slow down I think. Leading major wildlife conservation projects is a great privilege but I'm getting a little battle-weary. Getting people and organisations with even slightly different views or philosophies to work together takes time and patience; I find myself running short of both. This is perhaps unsurprising after many years of working with troublesome species like beavers, badgers and wildcats.
Mon 24th to Mon 31st December
On Thursday I checked the the golf club
cameras; they'd recorded lots of squirrels again but no pine martens.
Later I went to the badger hide and a badger came out for peanuts and to say
hello at 4pm. Here ends the 2018 diary. I may do
things differently next year, concentrating on social media and only
updating the 2019 diary occassionally.
If I was to summarise my 2018 it would be to say it was a mixture of extremes, from solid progress and great fun in some respects to abject failure and gut wrenching frustrations in others. Perhaps that's just life.