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| Crag Waterfall - pastel sketch on paper |
I just love it when my eagle comes to see me sketching in the heather and in a fascinating reversal of zoo principles I am the one behind bars being looked at, maybe pitied as well. Nowadays I do not have to search laboriously for hours to find him, all I have to do is sit and sketch for him to appear. Soaring inquisitively high above with his head turning down to look critically over my shoulder, he is not afraid. The eagle glides around my sketching spot on outstretched wings and he will come back to visit during the rest of the day's remaining wanderings. It is always best, and more rewarding, to let nature discover you by being timelessly absorbed in the landscape rather than searching through it in brief transit to tick a species list. Until your inner self is that deer on the hill or that moth in the heather or that eagle in the air, your heart will have no place here in the highlands of Scotland.
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| Sketching today |
So forgive me if my eagle charming seems to be an easy option but I do punish myself in other ways by searching out Adders and that can be intense, hard work. Charming snakes into making an appearance never seems to work which means that you have to look for them in patches of heather with boulders that provide underground shelter. On a warm, bright day most snakes will be found basking near their rocky shelters if they have fed recently and do not move far unless they have to hunt.
A Slow-worm lies beneath my feet doubled up into a tight U shape and totally still, as if dead. My shadow settles as my pace stops and that shadow's movement was enough to startle the Adder that was patiently stalking this large Slow-worm. It panics in a rustling spin to find cover under a large cap of a stone near my feet and swiftly I bend down to touch the Slow-worm to see if it had succumbed to the snake's venom, but no, it speedily slinks into a wee tuft of heather and grass next to the serpent's hide-away.
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| Gorgeous female Adder |
A stand off on all sides ensues, the legless lizard stopped in the tuft, the snake poked its head out from beneath the stone to taste for human and I waited for a resumption of the belayed stalking action. And waited. And waited until patience ran out, forcing me to creep around the stone in hope of seeing something. Well, flippantly I feel, the snake was lying out in a coil taking the sun beneath the brim of the stone but soon zipped into the depths of the stone's cranny to dart its head at me in mock attack, then unsettled, vanished into the depths below. Fed up with the protracted suspense I leave them in peace to resume their saga of life and death in this silent, slithery pursuit.
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| Slow-worm |
Another very shy female Adder, that never showed her head buried in the heather roots, did reveal her fat belly in a constriction of old skin that is nearly due for sloughing off. The scales have already detached from the expanding structure within and lie flat like elongated islands on the old darkened skin. The way she is acting and her bulging girth leads me to believe that she might also be pregnant or has just consumed its monthly meal, maybe vole, mouse or lizard. A snake this size, half a metre long, will have over one hundred pairs of ribs that can flatten their profile in order to absorb more solar radiation.
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| Female Adder before skin sloughing |
Another beast of the glens that can change shape very easily is the Golden Eagle when in flight. Every second that an eagle is in the air requires hundreds of changes to wing and tail feather positions and the coordination of bodily aerodynamic shapes. This afternoon I had the luck to witness a high speed stoop over the hill tops and I could only hazard a guess at the speed of the bird, probably it was over one hundred miles per hour. The shape of the bird's body while stooping was incredible. The dive began with the classic anchor shape when it pulled wings inwards to show an outline with prominent 'elbows'. The wing tips are lodged alongside the gathered tail to create a continuous fan, in effect the bird becomes an upturned hull shape.
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| Golden Eagle stoop, first stage |
The stoop is constantly adjusted by changing its complete body shape, until the point comes that I do not recognise it as an eagle at all. The outline turns into something that could have flown from the drawing board of a stealth aircraft designer. The head and chin onto the breast flatten into a triangular shape widest at the shoulders with the 'elbows' now drawn back and lowered towards the tail. I am still in awe over this seemingly impossible shape that has more in common with a Flying squirrel than a bird. Pulling out of this stoop caused every feather on that eagle to ruffle up into a vortex as its long legs dropped to act as air brakes and made an incredible sight. The eagle will rarely strike its prey in this high speed mode, that is too risky for such a big bird. The stoop is used to get to the distant prey within seconds and then the eagle will spiral down to lock onto the victim's position and only then strike.
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| Golden Eagle stoop, amazing second stage |
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| Golden Eagle male, out of stealth bomber mode |
June is nearly upon us and means that wild flowers will finally bloom to add a touch of colour to otherwise drab hill-sides. The higher moors, with wet peat underfoot, yield a carpet of white flowering Cloudberry that does turn into a berry that is edible when 'green' but as it matures into red ripeness becomes a bit foosted to the tongue for some reason. The return of the Cuckoo heralds the blooming of the Cuckoo-flower and, by the way, two Cuckoos flew up and down the glen constantly today with a brave wee Meadow Pipit trailing their tail feathers to keep them moving along. Strange that the pipit knows that these birds are a threat yet it will devotedly rear a young Cuckoo in its nest for weeks.
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| Wheatear fledgling |
The marsh loving Butterwort was actually used in olden days as an alternative to rennet for turning milk into butter and cheese. The tiny white stars of Northern Bedstraw sparkle from the undergrowth and their minuteness belittles their delicate beauty. I think most of the Milkwort found in the glens is the common variety because the flowers vary from deep blue to white and therefore is not Heath Milkwort, although this also occurs. The lilac tinged white bells of Cowberry hang their heads in clusters to outshine, with feminine modesty, many of the more colourful floral varieties in the glen.
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| Butterwort |
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| Milkwort |
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| Cowberry |
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| Lady's Smock or Cuckoo-flower |
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| Northern Bedstraw |
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Chickweed Wintergreen
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| Cloudberry |
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| Horse Bot fly on Mountain Hare fur plucked by an eagle |
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| Grouse dust bath |
Notes;
All sketches and photos are done on the day and are 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 I can locate and observe protected species at a respectful distance usually from about 1000 metres for short periods of time only.
No map for conservation reasons and no wildlife was unduly or knowingly disturbed by my presence or for the purposes of this web page other than what would be expected on a normal hill walk.
foosted - mouldy or fermenting.
