Raven Heat

Raven Heat - pastel sketch on paper

A desperate gasp of breath from the world's highest peak in the Himalaya might well be shared on the other side of this world by a ground hugging serpent in an Angus glen. My strange thought was inspired after watching a panting male Adder stare at me with an outstretched neck that cocked a peek from between two glen boulders. His one* lunged chest rose and fell in time with my excited gasps, and I felt at one with this gasping and frightened but still deadly beastie.

Sketching today

Three beautiful males dressed in stone grey, all flank flashed with an iridescent blue, and one female in the bright tan of freshly sloughed skin were seen today. The unusual warmth of late April toasted the heather of the glen and sent the snakes on a heated slidder through rush and stalk to find that elusive mate. The increase in Common Buzzards, I am certain, has added to the limited demise of the Adder in this area and I have found a couple of beheaded and predated snakes in recent years.

Male Adder peeking a look

The air that every creature on Earth breathes and shares is a precious, finite resource that facilitates all life, but within that air is transported many forms of worldwide sourced pollution. I am always fascinated and bemused by the layers revealed within melting snowfields on the Grampian mountains. Sooty layers are often seen that indicate dirty pollution falling in combination with precipitation that is termed as the nutrient pollution from nitrogen derivatives.

Spring flora, Primroses and Lesser Celandine

This airborne fertiliser acts on the land and water to change the ecology of sensitive upland heath areas. Some traditional aspects of muir-burn that lead to the loss of heather because its timely regeneration is subsumed by fast growing grasses and nutrient hoarding mosses must be re-evaluated. The Angus glen's heather coverage has been slowly converting to grass over the years and this is obvious to the older, 'witness' generations ..... like me!

Peregrine Falcon

The heath on the highlands of Scotland is tinder dry at the moment and is prone to devastating wildfire outbreaks. Please be careful when picnicking, camping or walking not to start a fire risk. Take all glass or plastic bottles away and extinguish barbecue pans properly. Happy Easter.

Golden Eagle pellet

Good neighbours, Wheatear and Meadow Pipit

Goshawk

Northern Eggar cocoon

Common Buzzard

 

Mountain Hare in summer pelage

Male Merlin on a grouse grit station

Wood Anemone

Kestrel

Notes;........article in progress............

All text, sketches and photos are done on the 20th April 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)

* The Adder has one functioning lung that extends down the body length, the other lung remnant is redundant. 

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