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| Black Grouse Fleeing the Blizzard - pastel sketch on paper |
Black Grouse are just fab, especially when a cock bird jets away, over one's head and then, very speedily, vanishes out of sight. He flies like bomber on auto-pilot at a height and speed that marks it out from the smaller Red Grouse. As a caricature, the bird looks a bit like a snobby lord suited in tails, with a double chinned neck, and a peering head that stretches from a boasting chest which, in turn, slims down elegantly to the curved out split of a tail that forms the majestic lyre shaped plumes when display lekking. Today, only one bird appears, but what an appearance as it flies from the jaws of an approaching blizzard, up and over my head with a silent, weighted grace that stilled the banshee wails from the chasing gale ..... superb.
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| Sketching today |
Another superb spectacle is the roller-coaster sky-dance of the Golden Eagle and despite gale force winds, that made me pray for cursing abatement, our eagle was in full performance. The adult male bird is trying to encourage an immature female into breeding, but he seems to be on a hiding to nothing at the moment. The female is too young, probably, with many a white feather signing her 'baby' passport, but you never know; it will truly be the benchmark for assessing change if this pair settles here ..... and is left in peace.
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| Golden Eagle immature female |
He calls out with a sharp, attention seeking, 'ye-ik', then drops in a gale sucked dive with wings tucked tight to the tail and the only control comes from the huge alula, or bastard wing, which protrudes, thumb like, from each of the wing wrists; he is virtually falling with style. His neck and chest flatten to form a space age triangle and the legs are drawn up to the knees, so to speak, ready to be deployed as an air brake to slow down for the next upward turn ..... awesome.
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| Golden Eagle male sky-dancing |
'When I was a loon', the Red Kite was limited to Wales but, now, reintroductions by the RSPB and SNH have ensured that the kite is a fairly common bird in my area of Scotland. In fact, the kite is a regular tick amongst bird-watchers nowadays and that touches a nerve with me because, 'when I was a loon', the Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl were moorland favourites, regularly seen and commoner than the Common Buzzard back then. Unfortunately, that is not the case at the moment in eastern Scotland.
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| Red Kite, so beautiful without sat tag or wing flags |
The need for local reintroductions, like the Red Kite, is an indicator of failure in a species to survive without the intervention of man. Similarly, a Hen Harrier brood management trial has been approved by Natural England to help the diminishing harrier population in England, but oddly enough the RSPB and Mark Avery have challenged this decision in court ...... the court found for Natural England. Surely this trial, if successful, would be a turning point for the harrier's future but, ironically, this would also sound the death knell for so many anti grouse moor and raptor persecution campaigns, and their donations, reliant on harrier persecution pathos; which makes me wonder about the surreptitious, and possibly sinister, reasons for the court challenge.
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| Red Kite with twig |
The recent snows have held up the wader invasion just a tad and hundreds of Lapwing and Oystercatcher wait in the wings for warming weather to come. The Curlew has thwarted the snowy chill to maintain territories in the higher glen pastures and many a Whaup is singing over the snow covered and rush weeded pastures that drain the heather moors above. Golden Plover are back in certain areas but surprisingly I have not seen, nor heard, one yet. I do notice that Mountain Hare are changing back into summer pelage with a few well hidden beasts developing dark patches to give them that Appaloosa look and, with Winter's topsy-turvy return, I wonder if Mother Nature is just as confused as the fickle weather.
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| Curlew |
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| Common Buzzard |
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| Lapwing flight display |
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| Blackface ewe |
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| Red Deer stags struggling in the soft snowdrifts |
Notes;........article in progress............
All text, sketches and photos are done on the 17th March 2019 and subject to copyright - no reproduction.
My new book 'Wildsketch' is available from Blurb bookshop
Income from book sales will form a donation to CABS (Committee Against Bird Slaughter)
If you are inspired to go out into the hills and glens of Scotland please leave it as you find it, respect the environment, do not litter or discard so called 'biodegradable' fruit and especially if you are a dog walker keep your beast on a lead and do not bag up its waste then chuck it by the wayside. I recently came across one black poo bag neatly hung on a tree branch for someone else to take home and also a bright blue one thrown in the moorland verge....why?
Moorland birds like Golden Plover, Dunlin, Dotterel, Ptarmigan and many raptors nest on the ground, it is advisable to keep dogs at heel or preferably on leads when walking on the high plateaux of the Cairngorms during summer months.
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.
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. Many geographic names and location recognizable photos have been omitted to prevent persecution or ringing-monitoring disturbance to named species.
Canon camera 200D with optical zoom lens EFS 55-250mm used; please note that the zoom range distance if given is calculated by OS map from subject location to camera.