The Crow's Nest

The Crow's Nest - pastel sketch on paper

I feel like I am a million miles away from anyone as I sit on an ant infested boulder to sketch a crow's nest in a tree and, later, a young Golden Eagle being mobbed by the protective nester. The madness of self fights with the tickle of invading ants, and the crackling heat that wafts up the crag to choke out the chill air that lingers in this highland glen makes my throat yearn for a dowsing in the cool burn water that gurgles far below. That chill came with snow on the hills that frosted a promising start to Spring, and nature has had to reboot, and, for some strange reason, I think of burnt toast being scraped into the sink to make it edible once again.

Sketching today

And, I am nearly a million miles away from the humdrum of modern life as I scrape chalk pastel on to paper, the walls of my cave so to speak, and a dozen, watching Red Deer make primitive shapes against the heather and I want to spear them with pastel sticks for arty, sweet venison; it's that simple. Another time fashioned shape cuts the blue sky through with huge, piercing eagle wings that prick the anger of a nesting crow, and at that point, the soul filled gut knows that home is here, and pride that all this still exists swells that beast inside called Scotland.

Common Sandpiper hunting insects

These hills and glens of Scotland are writ in history and the inherent 'flora and fauna' that ride with that history waxes and wanes to survive; there is no abiding perfection as nature fluxes against the 'hand of man', or indeed itself. My invasion on this glen casts but a tiny footprint, yet, the interfering 'hand of man' soars high. One of two young Golden Eagles that I see above me flies with a feathered limp, a cruel hunchback of satellite tagging technology foisted without choice on to a wild bird. The lump galls the aquiline outline and breaks the back of streamlined beauty. The right to artificially affect 'flora and fauna' in any way must surely rub the moral scruples of the perpetrator, and I include raptor satellite tagging alongside, and an equal to, illegal raptor persecution here.

Common Dog-violet

The sanctimonious preachings from those who sponsor, support and fit satellite tagging harnesses to wild birds of prey to 'hopefully' abate raptor persecution do so without unquestionable proof that satellite tagging does no harm to the future welfare of the bird and will indeed stop persecution by bringing those culpable persons to justice. In my opinion, their hands are as bloody as any who would shoot, trap or poison a protected wild bird. In fact, they wash their hands of any satellite tagging problems that are reported to justify 'the elephant in the room' metaphor; Mike Groves and I have now recorded six problem cases, just in the Angus glens. 

Common Heath moth, male and female coupling with one male flutter dancing 

This afternoon, while on a wee break, I watch both young eagles soar and hunt together. Their wings are dashed with triangles of white, like domino pieces in negative, and they do play a dodgy game with the passing resident adult eagles and maybe I suspect that the young couple are last year's siblings, tolerated by the grown ups. One youngster soars, then stoops at speed into a distant corrie and the bird catches something, maybe the Carrion Crow that was croaking there before. The young male eagle bounces around in a topsy-turvy, fluttering struggle with wings held out for balance. He rolls talons on the black fat between the prey's shifting skin and bones beneath, then tries to grasp again with puncturing talons. The crow's nest will be empty this year as the eagle rises aloft, and a pestilential crow crows no more; licence not required.

Petty Whin

To the best of my knowledge I have never found Whirligig beetles in the glens of Angus, so I was intrigued to find a colony birling around on the surface of a moor pool. Their shadows rippled magically with unseen surface messages, as these wee beasties can use a type of echo location to find prey floundering on the water surface. They also have pairs of double eyes that see above and below the water simultaneously and amazingly have the most efficient paddle power system in nature to propel them across the surface. Watching their spinning antics can be hypnotic, and I manage to see one catch and devour a water ditched, midge-fly.

Whirligig beetle and shadow

The moor pool was unusually covered in floating algae and again this can be interpreted as an indicator of airborne nutrient pollution affecting the ecology of this highland zone. I feel that changes are afoot in the highlands of Scotland that are not readily recognised and are not yet allocated with a truthful explanation. I often see areas of heather muir-burn that have opportunistically turned to fast growing grass and moss instead of regenerating as heather, as they would have done maybe 100 years ago, and in my observed opinion things are not quite right. Whether it is environment condition change or nutrient pollution or heather beetle or a caustic combination of all we do seem to be losing some heather coverage and certainly many heather slopes remembered from the past are now covered in grass, berry and bracken.  

Golden Eagle immature male

These evidential changes to habitat are part of nature's history now and maybe now is the time to take measure of these unwelcomed changes to an internationally valued habitat called the heather moor. The dogged tradition of muir-burn may well be outstripping the uncontrolled influences on habitat, leading to heather loss, and consequently the 'gung-ho' approach some grouse moor estates seem take to muir-burn must change. I can see the value and reasons behind muir-burn well enough, but fear that tradition does not mix with ecological reasoning. Today I stare at one huge area of muir-burn that went out of control a few years ago and fear that it will lose its heather cover for good ..... time will tell. 

Golden Eagle immature male and female

While the celebrated and blinkered advocates for moorland change peddle their agenda driven wares to vote hungry politicians, the change that they are seeking may well and truly be under way but that change may be out of their hands and placed into 'God's' and 'Nature's'. Tinkering with a naturally evolved and historical system could be dangerous to the welfare of much 'flora and fauna' that does already make a home on the mountains and moors of Scotland. As we all have found out, if something works leave it well alone, for the next twist of the spanner may well and truly be the last straw for an already threatened habitat and its native species.

Regurgitated fur pellet from an eagle

Sadly this nation's people have become a flock of sheep where the instance of one whistle from a solitary shepherd sends them to the 'land of no common sense'. This fabled land has seen the enthronement of many campaigners whose biased sanctimony is prescribed to others who know no better. Politicians can die in this land at the hands of those who lead them there. Crow licences, pigeon licences, climate change, satellite tagging and vanishing eagles are laced with a celebrity poison that panders to the cute and cuddly tree hugging and pet cuddling brigade who are duped into giving money to celebrity backed 'nature' charities ..... for they will not listen to common sense and they are dragging everyone and nature to an uncertain fate.

Golden Eagle

That crow's nest has great meaning to me. A crow, despite its verminous reputation, builds a lovely nest of latticed twigs, in this case Rowan, and the lining is beautifully bowered into shape with wool and down. I have watched a crow building a nest and what a bad temper it displayed when twigs did not fit correctly. Like us it would 'swear' when things went wrong but persevered through change until that unattainable perfection was satisfied ..... something akin to the creation of real art perchance. That crow was not afraid of changing what it had already constructed to make it better and hopefully those who manage, or own, the moors of Scotland will learn from that dissatisfied old crow to future proof their very existence for the assuagement of the many, and the benefit of the few who still work the land.

Golden Eagle harassed by a Kestrel male

Wood Anemone

Common Buzzards

Lousewort

Willow Warbler

Moor pool with algae, a sign of airborne nutrient pollution

Ring Ouzel hunting underground insects

Wheatear taking off

Tormentil

Red Deer losing their winter coats

Milkwort and Woolly Fringe-moss

Downy Willow

63 year old feet in a 10,000 year old burn

Satellite tagged eagle, the transmitter aerial seems to be mysteriously missing

Meadow Pipit parachute display

Tiger Beetle

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

All text, sketches and photos are done on the 12th May 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