Loch Wharral to Loch Brandy, Glen Clova

Glen Clova from Loch Wharral - pastel sketch on paper

In Angus we are fortunate to have many wonderful landscapes that are revealed as you climb out of the beautiful glens onto the mountains that form a precious, visual sanctuary for all to savour. The hills that yield that visual amenity are not necessarily high ones and some of the best views in Scotland can be found in lower Glen Clova where the valley winds its way down towards the distant sea.

Loch Wharral

Loch Wharral is a place that I have never visited before and in contrast to the neighbouring Loch Brandy which is grander and set in a more rugged corrie, this loch is calm and subdued and undisturbed. A welcoming party of eight Goosanders, in eclipse plumage, take off from the mill pond surface to fly high overhead with white wing bars flashing in the early morning light. The view down the glen from the Shank of Catstae that rises next to the loch addictively draws me in and I clap down on a wet tussock to start a sketch and Mike accordingly heads off to explore. The distant sea glints with golden highlights beyond the dark, scolding Tops of Fichell and Catlaw, and I am in my element of ever-changing colour, form and light......ach the impossible frustration of trying to capture that which the camera cannot!

Today, I experience an overdose of fantastic landscapes painted with ever changing colours that become purer and more translucent in a cultural symbiosis to match up with my inherent love of  these Scottish mountains. Deep ash-grey clouds step back to the gilded horizon in ragged ribands that bump the rising white mists lingering in the moody, violet tinged corrie gullies. Those mists swirling into yellow vapour as the sun dissolves their chill, and like the warm breathe from the stag that bellows its intent from the high, sharny green slopes above the path to Loch Wharral, are all signs that Autumn has finally arrived. 

Sketching today above Loch Brandy

The aim of sharing my experiences of sketching and observing nature in the Scottish highlands is one of dedication to that landscape so that we may appreciate it a little better, and pure intention to the flora and fauna occupying that landscape so that nature's presence might be valued more. Not far from this place, Angus Council is advertising ranger led outings to view Golden Eagles nesting at a traditional location in the glen as part of their organised spring-time walking events. Groups are allowed to view the eyrie location from four hundred metres away and that location is described in published leaflets and web pages. Another web page that I know of, shows photographs detailing the explicit location of an Angus eagle's eyrie and unnecessary disturbance to the eaglets.

I am not quite convinced about the correctness of these activities, no matter whether they are 'ranger' led or 'licensed', because for the purposes of this sketchbook I try to maintain a distance of at least eight hundred metres away from any eagle nesting activity that I might be aware of, or encounter.
When I am carrying out zoom photography or sketching, any pauses to carry out these pursuits are kept to a brief time period of up to fifteen minutes before moving on, therefore there is no measurable disturbance to any nesting birds and throughout the most sensitive times during incubation I avoid any nesting areas completely. Also, when writing descriptions I avoid mentioning place names or publishing photos that might identify a location which is conservation sensitive.

Golden Eagle into the wind, tail view (200 x zoom)

The intrusive disturbance to some of these raptors caused by obsessive nest ringing, where data recovery rates are negligible, and the long term effects of satellite tagging far outweighs any temporary upset caused by an innocent, passing observer. Although satellite tagging is all the fashion to record 'armchair' data about the movement of these birds and dogmatic advocates are keen to declare that the transmitter with its long aerial and harness causes no harm to the bird, they cannot be certain of this because once a bird is fitted with a transmitter on its back, that is the last time that the bird is examined unless, in extraordinary circumstances, the bird is found dead.

The harness stitching is supposed to disintegrate after a set period of years but that cannot be guaranteed and, at the end of the day, the protective rights of that wild bird are being breached by the probability that the imposed device interferes with that bird's reproduction, flight aerodynamics, ability to preen, hunt and thermal comfort. I remember watching one Red Kite, with a transmitter on its back, twitching uncomfortably in mid-flight every few wing beats, and some recovered birds have been found to have lesions where the harness or transmitter has chaffed the skin. The preference in certain parts of the world is that transmitters are glued to the bird's back feathers so that the device will be moult fugitive. In my opinion, unnecessary interference through over-enthusiastic ringing or tagging and the competence of the license holder should be reassessed by the licensing authorities and, in conclusion, the benefit to the 'researcher' is greater than the benefit to the wild bird.

Loch Brandy, Glen Clova

The Golden Eagle narrowed its wings to face the wind blasting up from the ridge and with steady, calculated progress headed over the crags and proceeded up the glen as a dark, strangely truncated shape with rippling wing feathers that twisted with an invisible vortex of air into two curves of beauty. Finding an eagle is a magical bonus at the end of the day and this bird entertained us for a while with the occasional flap of its wing tips as it cut through the aquamarine backed heavens before bowing out over the green velvet laid edges of the moor. I must admit, on seeing this eagle's tail view, that this bird looked in tip-top condition, being well rounded with a full adult plumage.

Golden Eagle, tail view (50 x zoom)

Ravens, nay a profusion of corbies, busied themselves up and down the glen sides, back and forth over the moors 'prowking' with deep, bubbly croaks that heralded a display of acrobatic tumbling between prospective pairs, or maybe the further bonding of well proven couples. I suspect that at this time of year Ravens are communing together to facilitate food foraging and also to establish their winter roosting sites. A couple of Common Buzzards were calling over the crags of Wharral and their drawn out 'kiows', thinned with the gusty wind, complimented the roars from a herd of stags that were grazing on the upper moors of Glen Lee that spread to the north-west with the grey, granite mass of Lochnagar in the background. 

Raven

October usually means a drop in temperature that sends reptiles underground to hibernate, so it was unusual to find this Common Lizard, living fairly high up the hill-side, making the most of the last insects and milder weather prevalent today. On closer examination of the photo I notice that this lizard has a bug just behind its head, it does not look like a tick but may be a species specific parasitic mite. Lizards on a hot day are razor fast to disappear out of sight but this individual was content to pose for a while while it tangled with the tails of dry grass, and I am always amazed at their wee, fingered 'hands' with micro interlocking collared scales on each finger, almost fashioned like a gauntlet glove on a suit of armour.

Common Lizard

Throughout the day a certain moth had been frequently fluttering around and as one of them circumnavigates my head I gently bring it to ground for a closer look. Its antennae are huge and feathery in close-up, the wings are chestnut russet with a white spot and Mike is fairly sure that it is a Vapourer. The female has no wings, so I presume that the male shown here uses his antennae for locating a female as she issues forth her pheromones, weird world we live in!

Vapourer Moth

Vapourer

Well, the seemingly more acceptable version of renewable energy has already made an appearance on Rottal estate further down the glen and a similar micro hydro-electric scheme has now been installed on the down slope from Loch Brandy, that is claimed to generate 230 kilowatts of power.

Mini dam for hydro-electric

Fine, I am all for this sort of thing and the piping installation is mainly underground, except when the buried construction waste that consists of scraps of black pipe and blue packing straps come through the surface to effectively spoil the landscape. I hope that the twenty lengths of big, black pipe that have been left will eventually be removed from the hill-side.  Full points for a local renewable energy scheme, but I am afraid it gets 'nil pointe' for the shabby, plastic mess that is left on the hillside and the incomplete rehabilitation of the mountain environment.

Hill construction waste, not the pleasant face of renewables

Stags and Lochnagar

Landslide slough crevasse on The Snub above Loch Brandy

Upper Glen Clova

Notes;

All photos and sketches are 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.

eclipse - plumage moult phase in ducks.

licensing authority - generally this is Scottish Natural Heritage.

Map of the area