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| Broad Cairn at Sunset - pastel sketch on paper |
The blessed bird waited, and waited, for we travellers to pass, then flew in anonymity as a speck over the glen. Silently unnoticed by the many, his head was tucked back into a ruff of golden plumes, a downy scarf for days like this zephyred in from the Arctic. In a lover's trance, that delays the moment, our Sun was long in coming this chill morning. The life giver then grudgingly moused its way up from the foot of the glen and licked the sides of The Bassies and Corrie Farchal with rose tinted warmth that betrayed the cold violet snows all around. The Golden Eagle pulled to one side with pointed wings, only once during the mile of high level cruising over the glen void to adjust course, then bombed down into the corrie basin to hunt over the ice bound rocks and becomes that shivering speck once again. Like a spectre dissolved, the dark shape is absorbed by the white mountains and it becomes a highland spirit within that landscape so grandly set out before us.
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| Sketching today, instant frozen fingers |
We, as mere mortals, visit the kingdom of nature briefly to experience their lives and hardships. The eagle soars high into colder space than we can imagine and endures hours of a dark freeze that few can survive. The winter hours of daylight are short and hunting for prey is determined by weather conditions that can be ferociously extreme. The skills of survival that an adult eagle displays in such an environment is frankly awe inspiring and today as one Golden Eagle sets off on an early morning hunt another eagle, this time an adult White-tailed Eagle, carried on the rays sent by the setting sun heads for its roosting place. It flirts playfully with the bitter wind above the snow cornices of the high corrie, twists and turns in a shivery fit then seems happy to soar a while to check us out, down below, a mile or so away. Finding these eagles so high up on the snow covered mountains fills me with intrigue about their survival in such a hostile habitat.
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| Golden Eagle |
The Golden Eagle has always been at this place in the high mountains, but the White-tailed Eagle is a recently reintroduced species and seems to have adopted the heights of the southern Cairngorms as home. In contrast to their predicted and usual habitat along coastal regions, recent evidence suggests that White-tails are very adept at Blue Hare hunting and surprisingly manoeuvrable for their giant size so have adapted to life on the mountains here, even although some research findings declare that White-tails will not, or rarely, kill animals such as hare or lamb. Their accepted dietary preference is for fish or carrion so their survival on the inland mountains of Scotland is still a bit mystifying. How grand to have the start of day blessed by the Goldie and the end of that day sealed by the presence of the White-tail. I thought that I recognised this mature eagle from the very pale head colour but the pictures are not clear enough to say whether it is one of the reintroduced and tagged birds, let us hope that it is not alone.
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| White-tailed Eagle |
On the treacherous boulder scree, that stacks a stairway to the summit of Broad Cairn, a Ptarmigan belches out a call that is carried on the wind, but our prediction of seeing the covey that live on these frozen heights was not forthcoming. As we ascended, every boulder poised step, teetered with the painful threat of plunging knee deep into the powder snowdrifts between the lichen encrusted granite rocks. Martin had carried his camera equipped quadcopter to the top of Broad Cairn and we thought that it could be used for Ptarmigan surveying over the inaccessible and snow engulfed boulder screes. Technology has a way of fighting back at minus five and a wind chill that leeches power from the copter's battery plus the fact that satellite communication for the guidance system was sporadic, so the survey was aborted. The potential for copter surveying is vast and could easily be used for inspecting remote nest sites on cliffs, forests and hard to reach mountain ledges to search for plants.
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| White-tailed Eagle |
The Blue Hare and Ptarmigan have temporarily abandoned the ice scoured heights of the Cairngorm plateau to occupy the mid slopes where conditions are less severe and maybe a couple of degrees warmer. In stark contrast to the wilder elements found on the mountains here, a Robin Redbreast stalked our footprints and with unignorable persuasion begged for crumbs. My frozen sandwich was broken into a few lumpy crumbs and held out on my hand. Amazingly the tiny bird flew up to my encrusted palm, hovered hummingbird style for a second then landed to pinch the biggest lump, which it duly proceeded to choke on. This wee beggar is not alone because during summer months Chaffinches charm walkers into sharing their snacks, here and at many of the Cairngorms car parks.
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| White-tailed Eagle |
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| Martin surveying with the quadcopter |
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| Glen Clova sunset |
The wind scattered clouds finally drew a curtain on the day to shut out the warming Sun and turned the glen once more into nature's deep freeze. Winter coveys of Red Grouse made their final preparations for the night by flying to favoured roosting places, sheltered away from the life or death wind. A Raven heads into that wind, relishing the cold that might deliver an edible victim by the morn, maybe an ailing Red Deer that will keep the larder well stocked for a while but, for the moment, it shadows the eagle's hard work for a scrap left at his table.
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| The beggar Robin |
The Ranting Soap-box;
Eagles in the freezer awaiting autopsy, no more.
In Scotland there exists a traditional system where the majority of wealthy land-owners use that land for sport shooting, either commercially or for personal entertainment. To begin with, as a principle of the common man's existence, that sport is seen as an elitist pursuit and is generally frowned upon by the common man for reasons that include cruelty or persecution. No, let us rewind, the sport itself is not seen as a pursuit that is bad, it is the people who practice the sport that are seen as symbols of an overlording, bourgeoisie lifestyle that is unobtainable by the common man and is therefore conceived as being bad. The sport has historically been a pursuit of royalty and the landed gentry, so it flies the flag inherent to that upper-crust lifestyle. So, to boil it all down, in Scotland we have a whole load of common folk who despise shooters and the enablers of that sport termed game-keepers or land managers, called factors.
Shooting innocent birds is bad enough in many common folk's eyes without the fact that the sport encourages illegal actions against protected predators that prey on the things that shooters want to shoot, simple. Grouse-moor based shooting estates generally have a bad reputation for raptor persecution, which means that a few game-keepers, who have killed certain species that include the Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Hen Harrier, Goshawk, Common Buzzard, Short-eared Owl and the reintroduced White-tailed Eagle, have defamed the whole game-keeping profession.
Certain game-keepers kill raptors to protect or improve the grouse population so that the land-owner has more birds to shoot and that creates the first tier of persecution - greed. Certain game-keepers kill raptors to conform with employer requirements meaning that these game-keepers might lose their tied house and livelihood if the game bag does not improve next year and that creates the second tier of persecution - employer threat. Certain game-keepers kill raptors because they can get away with it because of geographical remoteness and that creates the third tier of persecution - lawless opportunity. Certain game-keepers kill raptors by professional expectation meaning that is what game-keepers do and will always do creating the fourth tier of persecution - tradition. Certain game-keepers kill raptors because of their inability to identify species or through bad practice or lack of legal knowledge creating the fifth tier of persecution - ignorance.
Thankfully, the majority of game-keepers are trained professionals and keep within the law. Needless to say, if that was not the case I would not be able to describe to you some of the wonderful, protected raptors that I have found in my area of the highlands of Scotland.
At the end of the day the common man's contempt shown towards the shooting industry has indeed been conceitedly created by that industry and has done itself no favours. The fact that the shooting industry creates thousands of rural jobs and supports many businesses is not a good enough reason in the common man's eye to wholeheartedly support it. There still exists a belief in the 'them and us' principle and that applies to all sides and needs improving through better relationships. Putting the persecution drivers of greed, employer threat, lawless opportunity, tradition and ignorance firmly in the bin will help but, if biassed acrimony is to be dissolved, the shooting industry has to rid itself of raptor persecution completely and with revised, measured co-operation with government advisory bodies, set a new sustainable natural balance which will then be applauded by the common man.
Notes;
My new book 'Wildsketch' is available from Blurb bookshop
All sketches and photos are done on the day and are subject to 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. Observe protected species at a respectful distance usually from about 1000 metres and for short periods of time only.
Deer stalking is ongoing at the moment so please check local information and follow requests to alter your plans. My hill wandering in some areas is confined to Sunday when no stalking occurs.