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| Golden Eagle and White Cloud - pastel sketch on paper |
The worst thing in life is having to live with other people's lies and false accusations against you. Some people use their elevated position within organisations and groups to falsify reality to suit their agendas. I am grinding my axe here, because there have been frequent propaganda like statements issued by celebrity natural history 'experts' and also through the vaulted corridors of the RSPB, and other uninformed, yet verbally reactionary, organisations like Common Weal, that the Angus glens have a sparsity or no wildlife because of game shooting interests on the moors.
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| Sketching today |
I am not a game shooter, nor do I support or get supported by any game shooting interests, in fact I report on many 'thorny' issues found on grouse moors, but I do report truthfully on what I see in the way of wildlife despite being a very amateur naturalist. The photos on each blog article are taken on the day that I went out into the hills and glens of Angus, and as you can witness by looking at my many years of blog activity there is plenty of wildlife living on the Angus mountains and moors relevant to the altitude zone you journey through.
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| Satellite tagged male Golden Eagle landing |
So for someone to travel from their Edinburgh RSPB offices up to an Angus glen to make a generalisation that there is no wildlife and that the moorlands are barren wastes, it is time that they looked again, but next time look more carefully and try coming up more than once a year. Nothing is perfect here, I know that fine well and my trust in the grouse moor management system teeters on the very edge at times. For example my frustration with some inexcusable muir-burning near or at raptor breeding areas can boil over, and today I find one area of good rank heather, where Merlin falcons bred last year, has been completely burnt out. The birds have hopefully moved to a nearby location so we will check this out at fledging time, but for all the heather in this glen why pick this nesting area to burn .... that should not happen if all the muir-burn code procedures are followed.
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| Satellite tagged eagle with severe plumage displacement caused by the transmitter on the back |
The so called 'expert' from the RSPB investigations department declares that the Angus glens have no Hen Harriers, well the glens did have two known breeding attempts last year and one the year before, and ringtail Hen Harriers are frequently seen nowadays, so it is a lie to say that there are no Hen Harriers. Should an RSPB employee be economical with the truth or intentionally misleading to promote an agenda against game shooting ..... in my opinion, no and consequently trust in the RSPB is at an all time low with many game shooting estates and individuals.
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| Flying with baggage |
Hypocrisy runs wild in the convoluted corridors of the RSPB organisation, on the one hand they coffer monies from grants and their members to supposedly protect all wildlife, yet they secretly prescribe culls of so called vermin wildlife on their own nature reserves. And, similarly, a celebrity naturalist like Chris Packham, who is linked to the RSPB, supports and popularises the forced satellite tagging of wild eagles without any concern for the bird's future welfare should the transmitter harnessing cause a problem for the bird's welfare. As you can see from photos taken today of a maturing male Golden Eagle the plumage around the transmitter is suffering from severe displacement, laying bare the insulating under feather down.
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| Common Gull harassing a Common Buzzard |
I remember investigating the case of the satellite tagged Golden Eagle named Angus 26. Mike Groves had photographed the bird in Glen Clova with its transmitter dangling and hanging dangerously around the neck by the harness strap. The tracking authorities had declared that the transmitter was not working properly and presumed that the bird was missing, probably dead but the transmitter or bird was never found. Later in a messaging conversation Ian Thomson of the RSPB flippantly suggested that the transmitter was probably one that he had picked up at some time. I requested the transmitter serial number from him to correlate evidence, but he never replied. I can only presume by his off-hand manner that he did not have the Angus 26 transmitter and that his reply was intended to defuse my investigation into the negligence of the tracking authorities when Angus 26 was written off.
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| Curlew, shortish bill on the male |
Lies and counter lies and hypocrisy seem to be the rule nowadays to sway public and political opinion regarding raptor persecution and game shooting activities, and no one has much success in denying media spawned lies; as the saying goes, 'mud sticks'. Unfortunately when someone states a lie is a fact they cannot go back to rub it out. The lie becomes fatter and fatter until it becomes ridiculous and unbelievable. The Angus glens no wildlife lie has now become so fat that it will eventually choke itself in time, bit by bit.
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| Young Dipper |
Today I was out checking on the young Golden Eagle pair that were seen doing 'lovey-dovey' things in early springtime and then I had hoped of great things from these youngsters in a new territory for Angus. Certainly the male photographed is showing territorial behaviour, he keeps an eye on things in a certain area but there is no nesting, yet ..... maybe he would do better without the satellite tag. I have no way of knowing whether the transmitter is working or not, and tracking authorities do not reply directly to requests for information and that is how they keep the upper hand on allegations of vanishing eagles and persecution.
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| Golden Plover |
The RSPB employee, mentioned earlier, also stated that there were no Curlew or Mountain Hare in the Angus glen that he supposedly visited. Well today the air was full of calling Curlew and a few Mountain Hare showed an ear to the camera. One hare had a deformity of the lower mandible giving it a 'chinless wonder' look as it hopped a lollop through the blossoming Cloudberry plants. It is such a shame that those people in responsible positions abuse their titles, but power does that to stupidity I suppose.
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| Kestrel hovering |
Then we have the great and the good Chris Packham defending the rights of Carrion Crows and Magpies to thrive by campaigning against the general licensing scheme to cull them in order to protect all nesting birds. Now he is demanding that deer should be culled to protect nesting Nightingales in certain areas ..... I am sure that Nightingales are more susceptible to crow attack than deer grazing attack, what hypocrisy and lordly demands; he reminds me of a screaming child in a sweetie shop, or maybe a bull in a nature shop, one or t'other!
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| Golden Eagle being mobbed by the Kestrel |
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| Reed Bunting above the rush beds |
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| Oystercatcher pair |
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| Wheatear |
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| Lapwing on a dipping display |
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| Common Snipe drumming |
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| Ring Ouzel |
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| Teal |
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| Stonechat |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Mountain Hare with a deformed lower mandible |
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| Meadow Pipit nest |
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| Cloudberry |
Notes;
All text, sketches and photos are done on the 19th May 2019 and subject to copyright - no reproduction.
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
