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| Craig Maskeldie from Craig Damff - pastel sketch on paper |
The charming thing in life is the ability to acquire love, knowledge and skill to pursue an ambition that is truthful and pure. To be denied that possibility of achieving an ambition is the saddest thing in life. The denial of factual knowledge is a tool used by many organisations to practice deceit in order to benefit their aims. I learned some facts today that reflect on the poisoning of the Golden Eagle found in Glen Lethnot as discussed in my previous article 'Ghost of Fearnan'. The preferred misinformation offered up by experts is that if an eagle consumes the deadly poison Carbofuran laced through a carcass bait it will immediately die at or within a very short distance of the spot where the poison bait was laid.
Not quite correct it seems, this poison is widely used nowadays by poachers in Africa to poison vultures attracted to the de-horned carcass of a Rhinoceros or de-tusked Elephant. Circling vultures can alert game-wardens to the position of a poacher's last kill. One poisoned carcass can have the potential to kill around six hundred vultures but, amazingly, some vultures that have consumed the poison become ill but survive with intervention and treatment with the antidote from conservationists like VulPro. Also, twenty Condors in Chile were found poisoned by an unknown substance all at the same time (Carbofuran is used in South America), rehabilitated and then released. So large birds can survive a poisoning incident or conversely they might well ingest sub-lethal quantities of the poison and still have the constitution to fly considerable distances and live for several hours or maybe days before succumbing to the poison's direct effect which could be accelerated by exposure to weather conditions or starvation.
Then surely the lack of scientific evidence and calculation that is forthcoming from the prosecuting authorities casts doubt on most poisoning incidents where an eagle such as Fearnan is found on a 'culprit' estate and until the level of toxicity evident in the bird can be related to expected physical condition and hence the longevity of the bird or the possible distance it has travelled, then misinformation is going to be the accepted standard. There is no support in my mind for game-keepers, farmers or estates that commit illegal persecution but what we need is a more exact science being presented by the examination laboratories and police so that these acts can be pinned down through accurate calculations, maybe then some progress will be made. The last darkening hour of Fearnan, and his like, will be used to occlude justice and further the aims of organisations that just might benefit from these persecution incidents.
Then surely the lack of scientific evidence and calculation that is forthcoming from the prosecuting authorities casts doubt on most poisoning incidents where an eagle such as Fearnan is found on a 'culprit' estate and until the level of toxicity evident in the bird can be related to expected physical condition and hence the longevity of the bird or the possible distance it has travelled, then misinformation is going to be the accepted standard. There is no support in my mind for game-keepers, farmers or estates that commit illegal persecution but what we need is a more exact science being presented by the examination laboratories and police so that these acts can be pinned down through accurate calculations, maybe then some progress will be made. The last darkening hour of Fearnan, and his like, will be used to occlude justice and further the aims of organisations that just might benefit from these persecution incidents.
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| Sketching today - photo Mike Groves |
Three Whooper Swans cowered from the gale force wind and huddled together in a white scrum on the finger shaped lagoons at the end of Loch Lee. Hardly a beast moved in this wind except, we twa daft gowks who wanted to visit one of the last locations where the poisoned eagle had roosted, according to the satellite tracking map. We passed the absent tree where the White-tailed Eagles had built their nest before someone cut it down, an illegal act that subsequently destroyed a new beginning that could have benefited the area so much. The other aborted nest not far away is a painful reminder of the novice birds' attempts to make a home here in North Angus and I doubt if they will come back to this place. Sheep graze beside the conifers in perfect peace now without the perceived threat of aerial attack from territorial White-tails and by the way, this part of the glen is a popular spot for sheep since the partial clear felling of the conifer plantation many years ago has led to increased grass coverage. The garrons used for stalking have been moved from the stables in the glen down to the Kirkton fields near the loch.
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| Loch Lee from Earn Craig |
A pair of Common Buzzards battle with the wind over Hunt Hill and one attempts to sky-dance with anchor shaped, plummeting wings and, for me, this act heralds the first signs of the resurgence back to longer daylight hours that birds seem to feel the minute that the winter solstice is over and, dare I say it, the approach to Spring. One creature that was not in joyous mode was a Northern Eggar moth caterpillar that struggled to move across the grassy path in slow convulsive wriggles that defied the command of hibernation. The ridge where the eagle Fearnan last roosted is just above us. Wrapped in fresh snow and protected from our Sherlockian investigations by the howling gale it was not a place that bode welcome to furthering our knowledge about what happened to this bird, so that will have to wait.
Two Ravens were calling from the snow drifts above the crags and then wafted buoyantly along the sheltered cornices of the ridge. A herd of Red Deer, with the will of death upon them, reluctantly stood to attention at the head of the Cornie Burn but just gathered themselves into loose ranks to stare at us and then stare at the deep, cold snow as the escape route, then do nothing. The Blue Hare scurried between us in a convoluted, snow filled, peat trench that trickled with water just on the point of freezing and then in a panic hid under the heather cornice that drooped over the black, black peat. One move too many from us and off it shot up the hill-side in a controlled sprint that never missed a measured step from these huge rear paws. The tiercel Peregrine Falcon sees it all from his lofty vantage point as he launches like a cross-bow shaped bolt into his declared air space over the Falls of Earn Craig and circles overhead into an ever dizzying void that rushes the blustery wind up the steep slope to wobble our knees down to the security of terra-firma. He remains on territory until the female returns from her peregrinations down at the coast or in towns where an ample supply of feral doo is on the menu.
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| Red Deer sheltering from the gale and waiting for more snow |
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| A very slow and cold Northern Eggar Moth Caterpillar |
My sketch darkens with the leaden clouds as they gather at the tail of the wind that is slowly abating over the hills of Glen Esk and my mind shares the darkening hour suffered by Fearnan the Golden Eagle but my imagination goes further when I do not see any sign of eagle on the horizon. Just how far does my fear travel for the raptors living in this area of North Angus after an event like this poisoning - it goes on to the next day and the next week and the next month when I will be looking out for our precious yet endangered eagles.
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| Craig Maskeldie and a levitating Mike |
Notes;
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.
feral doo - hybrid pigeon
twa daft gowks - two silly people, gowk is Scots name for cuckoo
Weather - overcast, strong, gale westerly wind, abating later. Some lying snow thawing.
Carbofuran
VulPro
Map of the area