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| Moon over Hunt Hill 2 - pastel sketch on paper 25 x 30 cm |
A strong but unseasonally warm westerly wind made me feel a bit undecided about where to go today so I decided to follow the Moon as it set over Hunt Hill, anyway it sounded like a slightly romantic thing to tempt me onwards after sketching. I had made my way up towards a hill-side dyke, that must have been built as a sheep fold on the ghost croft of Littlebridge in Glen Lee, to introduce an element of farming history into the mountainous landscape sketch. The remnants of man's presence in these glens always fascinates me, whether it be a dyke or a ruin or field rig system they all stand for struggle and hardship in a difficult environment centuries ago.
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| Sketching today in Glen Lee |
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| Littlebridge dyke |
The visual elements in a landscape change rapidly when the wind blows clouds across the sun and a second ago's yellow brightness is plunged into violet shade. The sketcher's hand tries to accommodate some of those changes on paper but usually confusion reigns and the end product is tinged with inventiveness to wash over the dozens of landscape images that the eye is processing, it's not easy. Some sketches work out first time and others will always be missing the very thing that caught your eye in the first place. Looking into the light with the corner of your eye being blinded by the sun, wind throwing the paper around, midgies in your hair, cold fingers and a wet bum can all take the steam out of the sketcher's initial visual passion.
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| Predated goose |
My route chasing the Moon's descent leads me past the Falls of Unich and the cliffs of Hunt Hill onto the seldom visited Craig of Damff which in turn leads on to Drumhilt two miles to the north-west where the faint lunar surface finally bid its farewell and kissed the horizon. Under that very Moon a Pink -footed Goose, heading south on the final leg of its migration south, fell prey to an eagle, possibly White-tailed or more likely Golden as I have seen both hunt on this ridge. Its stripped carcass glistens with fresh blood and every morsel has been surgically devoured leaving only the skeleton, feet, head and wings.
I have seen a skein of geese turning round at the sight of a White-tailed Eagle in Glen Lee so it is possible that one took out this goose and, further on, there is also a Blue Hare kill that sprouts a big, dark-brown breast feather which is tangled in the heath. The goose's intestines are left to one side in one concise pile and I note that there is a layer of fat attached to the gut, so this one was well fed and healthy. I have often wondered if a White-tailed Eagle is agile enough to catch a hare and seemingly this is possible as one of the Invermark keepers had witnessed a successful kill by one of these huge raptors. Anyway, whatever consumed this goose did so with 'silver service' at hand, an extremely thorough and neat job.
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| Glen Esk form Drumhilt - pastel sketch on paper |
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| Sketching today on Drumhilt |
Red Deer are still not showing signs of rutting although a few roars were heard coming from the corrie slopes, so the season's spectacle cannot be too far away. I came across two herds of deer, one led by two stags and the other led by hinds with a stag bringing up the rear and all of them were panting, tongues lolloping with the effect of very warm weather. Kneeling behind the tall cairn on Craig Damff as the herd came over the corrie edge I was fairly well hidden from view and the stag in the photo was still wondering what all the steer was about but chose to follow his herd of hinds over the ridge and down into the glen of Unich Water.
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| Glen Lee stag |
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| Stag on an uphill gallop |
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| Red Deer hinds |
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Red Deer hinds and calves, note the Carrion Crow in the background
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A few years ago I had found a one metre tall, round post with wire loops half way down it which coincidentally matched pictures of a pole-trap set up for trapping raptors that I had seen. Innocently, and ignorantly, I sent a picture of the one that I found to the local wildlife protection officer to find out what the post was for and to ask if it was a disused pole-trap. The officer, who wasn't certain what it was either, never got back to me but through a third party I was told that he had asked the game-keepers about the post and was told that it is there for tying up stalking ponies when they are on the hill. Anyway it never went further and I think it was right to find out about these posts and now, today, I have the answer from one of the estate keepers who determinedly reminded 'the boy frae Brechin' of the error of his ways, so if you see something similar on a stalking estate the post is there for a legitimate reason.
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| Ruby Tiger moth caterpillar |
Seven Carrion Crows and one Kestrel were playing the same game today and it wasn't football but a trickier one that involved catching grasshoppers that have sprung to life in a late summer flush. On the sunny high slopes these birds were patrolling back and forth across the grass patches in the heather and then dropping in to catch a hopper on the ground. The crows would perform fancy jumps and acrobatics to capture an elusive prey and the male falcon dropped down from a hover and then scuttled over the ground to despatch a hopper with its talons. Fascinating to watch and it just shows how diverse the diet of these hill birds has to be to enable them to survive. Several large pellets that I found recently have beetle wing cases through them, maybe produced by Raven or Common Buzzard that also search for insects when other food is elusive.
Notes;
All sketches and photos done on the day.
Please be aware that it is illegal to disturb nesting eagles or other raptors and you may do so inadvertently in your journeys into the highlands. I do not recommend searching for any of the species mentioned in this blog because this may cause undue disturbance to them. With my knowledge of the areas described in this blog I can locate and observe protected species at a respectful distance usually from about 1000 metres for short periods of time only.
