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| Loch Lee from Craig Lour, Invermark - chalk pastel on paper |
The Golden Eagle was hunting over the moor in the sharp, morning sunlight and taking a chance to fly while the conditions were reasonable. The pressure is on for these big raptors to find food now as the daylight hours shorten and the weather begins its cycle into winter over the high hills of Scotland. Some of the first snow of the year still lingers in drifted ribbons of white on the highest Cairngorms north of Royal Deeside not that far away, so this big eagle knows that he has to hunt at every opportunity to survive.
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| Golden Eagle hunting, head focussing on the ground |
A covey of Red Grouse break cover from the heather and scatter in all directions to confuse the eagle, one chancer of a grouse scoots over his head as his gaze concentrates on the ground with his triangular shaped head pointing acutely earthwards. But the eagle does not seem to be interested in the grouse escaping at speed on curved wings filled by the following wind, his quarry I am sure is the Mountain Hare. Some are sheltering in the peat hags up top and are moulting their summer pelage, it seems, by turning a bit grey as the white winter coat begins to show through, consequently they are an easier target, when seen against the dark heather, than a grouse. It is often claimed that raptors will be able to see wind turbine rotors in front of them while hunting but what I see today doubts that theory and confirms the evidence that raptors look to the ground whilst soaring for prey and are therefore very vulnerable to frontal rotor blade strikes and death.
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| Sketching on Craig Lour |
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| Morning Sun and Moon - chalk pastel on paper |
The morning started bright with a low sun that razored the edges of the hills with yellow coronas and contrasted warm colours from another season against the cold, purple shadows that will progress into the winter unchanged. The Moon was once again my soul companion on this walk into the land of bellowing stags and cautiously I scan the hills for any rutting activity to avoid. The lunar hemisphere hangs cranked over to one side as if listening to our earthly sounds, warming to its release from an enduring silence. The high slopes of the glen are still the focus for stags and their harems, several groups can be seen so I will steer clear of those and head for a quieter area on the other side of the glen, where I find my friend the eagle soaring and a rather handsome, if not confused, adolescent stag looking for action.
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| Sketching today |
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| Maskeldie from Caidloch - chalk pastel on paper |
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| Sketching on Cairn Caidloch |
Its never a good idea to bump into a stag at any time but during the rut this could be disastrous, as a few have found out by being gored by a hyped up royal, so precaution is wise by treading with your eyes open especially in gullied slopes. This afternoon my eyes were certainly open but blind to the wandering vagaries of a bachelor stag on the haik. Aware of some stags roaring on the hill across the way I had stopped to take some photos of the distant action but did not realise that I was being watched from behind by our vagrant stag. He lumbers down the sedge covered slope towards me with his neck rough swaggering from side to side with the pace of his trot but stops off to the right by about fifteen metres, surprisingly close. This fellow is a young stag with only six points to his antlers but the leading pair of points or tines are 'murderously' long and sharp.
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| Red Grouse chancing it with the Golden Eagle |
Our eyes meet, in a round about sort of way, as I peer through a raised camera to capture the moment when wild beast meets artist dressed in red, maybe not the best colour for this sort of 'matadorial' encounter methinks. He eyes me up, then turns and waits dumbfounded. He turns to look again and stamps his fore-leg in an attempt to move things on, but I remain stock still with the camera up to my eye, clicking away. My rucksack is on the ground along with one trekking pole which would be my only form of defence if this beast goes for me and as he turns my way I glimpse the whites of his eyes through the lens.
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| Bachelor stag, fancying his chances with the artist in red! |
He starts a prancing, boisterous trot towards me and, chancing it, my first thoughts are to protect the camera so I down tools into the sack and pick up the pole. It is surprising just how far the eyes of a stag protrude from its head and they look vulnerable to injury when battling antler to antler. I have often thought this year of what I would do if a stag took me on, but never came up with a plan because there are no trees to climb here and usually no boulders to shelter behind so the obvious one was put into action and that was to do a John Wayne style, 'ya-ya-ya', while standing my ground. The 'big stick' pole finally persuaded him to turn and scrabble back up the slope above me, honest no fear but if it had been one of the really big Invermark royals I would not have fancied my chances - proceed with caution!
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| Stag encounter, showing the whites of his eyes - big stick time |
Still quaking in my boots, progress is made up the mountain side over a rocky, scree slope and each sharp boulder is covered in treacherous, slidey lichen soaked from the heavy overnight rain. It is not long before I bump into the real thing round the corner, two big royal stags are roaring from the edges of an accumulated harem of hinds that seem to be shared by both stags and, for sure, this time I head for the hunkering cover of a boulder to take more photos; this 'chancer' always seem to chance it more somehow. This time my actions are far too brusque and obvious leaving the herd no option but to skedaddle up the glen roaring as they go.
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| Young Roe Deer |
The autumn bird migration from Scandinavia is well under-way with hundreds of Fieldfares and a smattering of Redwings foraging over the moors for old, fallen Blaeberries and Crowberries. A large flock flies into the, now gale force, wind on top of Cairn Caidloch but are very unsettled and flit over the heather like a wind torn wave. Later on, as I sketch the view towards Glen Lee, a female Merlin braves the wind to dart after them down into the more sheltered glen. October is late for a Merlin to be on the higher hills but I suppose if there is still a food supply in the form of Redwings there will be raptors hanging around to take advantage of the autumnal migrants.
More to the liking of my nervous disposition are two, sweet Roe Deer sheltering in the rank heather on the east side of Craig Lour. They seem to be this year's off-spring because their features seem particularly kiddish and they give me at least ten minutes of camera time as I follow them down into the Bog Myrtle and long grasses near the forest where a flock of three hundred Fieldfares settle to roost in the trees to mark an end to the day, and the end of my wild venture.
Glad to be a part of nature today and, admittedly, I am sweired to leave the custody of the glen of my ancestors.
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| My handsome pal, probably three years old but look at that dagger tine on the right, ouch! |
All sketches and photos done on the day and are artist copyright.
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.
on the haik - Scots for wandering aimlessly looking for something.
'murder' buck or stag - beast with long leading points/tines that are unbranched.
sweired - Scots for unwilling.