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| Summer's End -Young Curlews 13/8/23 |
Nature's land runs silent at times, for it is drawing breath after summer's rush and a satisfied stillness brushes over the heather moor tinting the land purple in a culmination of floral glory. Summer's end on the moor arrives with a bounty of the year's success. Young Curlew with half grown bills form a creche in the pasture fields that heave with bowing seed-heads, and these maturing waders call out in youthful hoarseness an echo of that haunting moorland call that we know so well.
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| Black Grouse 13/8/23 |
And, through those seedy fields skulk a trio of Black Grouse always stretchy neck alert, unapproachable, and primed to bomb off silently on zingy white flashed wings. Nearby, a crop of young Wheatears dart and dive a white tail o'er the insect laden grass waiting for that migratory urge, and in a dance to the blue ether this year's Swallow youngsters skim the grass for buzzing flies, and moor born Meadow Pipits gather in twittering flocks for an exodus down the glen.
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| Young Curlew 13/8/23 |
And, they make sport for the dashing Merlin that follows the flocks from the moor, down the glen and onto the coastal haughs where this year's young Golden Plovers and Lapwings will winter, then in springtime return to the moors of Angus. One small flock of juvenile Golden Plovers jets around on razored wings, unsettled but remaining until that final autumnal message comes. Lapwings used to nest in many a coarse field throughout the country but now, because of agricultural quick turnover, are confined to these upland pasture havens; their last glen haven.
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Golden Eagle sub adult male 13/8/23
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The anatomy of a Scottish glen is absolutely unique in ecological terms and nourishes so much flora and fauna. A glen is the life force that offers up various ground habitats from grassland haughs to mountain moorland, and water habitats from bog to burn. Every creature, be it animal, bird or insect within the glen needs a different home that provides, shelter, sustenance and breeding conditions. This glen womb is more important than heather moor on its own or upland sheep pasture on its own.
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White Ling 13/8/23
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This magic mix of habitats is found nowhere else and is a precious part of Scotland's future; it must remain untouched and should never be undervalued. The temptation to disengage heather moorland as a separate entity, somehow explicitly associated with Red Grouse shooting and judged solely on productivity is wrong. The ups and downs, especially the downs, of the grouse bag should not encourage moorland owners to sell out to forestry; a moor is for life and a glen moor is life.
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Golden Eagle satellite tagged adult male 13/8/23
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Summer's end on the high moor should offer up a wealth of young Red Grouse but, on this day, the pickings are very slim. A long, moorland bash only flushes a handful of grouse at this heathery, glen location which, admittedly, might not be typical but it seems grouse numbers are generally down once again and that worries me. This continuing downturn in grouse and hare numbers has a considerable knock on effect for the Golden Eagle population of the area, and breeding success, as far as I know, has been poor.
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Merlin 13/8/23
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The story goes that grouse traditionally wax and wane in numbers during a cycle period of maybe four years but that waiting period has long gone past and, through my experiences, something is seriously wrong and it is about time the 'authorities' paid attention to the plight of not only the Capercaillie but of the Red Grouse as well. Surprisingly there have been cases where Red Grouse, Ptarmigan and Capercaillie have been bred successfully in cages, so it might be time for that 'know-how' to be introduced to the average glen estate or, indeed, nature reserve.
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Vapourer Moth larva 13/8/23
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A solution for many nature problems is out there but mending the minds that fix nature is not easy, for example the RSPB's defiance against the Hen Harrier brood management scheme introduced by Natural England that has proven to be a great success in boosting harrier numbers, even allowing harriers to be reintroduced to lowland farm habitats. Subjective agendas seem to be rife in those who could apply scientific husbandry or protected predator species control to boost threatened species but prefer to abstain until the 'threat of extinction' we need money flag is hoisted.
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Black Grouse 13/8/23
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Walk in any Angus glen at this time of year to feel that heaviness of nature's existence, the colours of change, the flourishing of real time 'rewilding' and experience that primeval temptation to pick scrumptious Blaeberries from the hills at the moment. In the past years, there have been marked changes in regenerating tree growth with thousands of sapling Birches taking a hold, and many estates have planted native trees, game cover trees and shrubs ..... in fact, some glens look exactly like the 'idealised' graphic illustrations invented by anti estate activists to show what rewilding could do for an area; ironic methinks!
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| Golden Eagle sub adult male 13/8/23 |
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| Golden Eagle adult female 13/8/23 |
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| Golden Eagle sub adult male 13/8/23 |
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| Red Kite 13/8/23 |
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| Wren 13/8/23 |
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| Kestrel 13/8/23 |
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| Willow Warbler and Stonechat 13/8/23 |
All text, photographs and sketch done on 13 August 2023 (unless dated otherwise) and subject to copyright - no reproduction.
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 Lapwing, Curlew, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Dotterel, Snipe, Red and Black Grouse, Ptarmigan and many raptors nest on the ground, it is advisable to keep dogs on leads at all times especially 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 inquisitive disturbance to named species.
Canon camera 200D with optical zoom lens EFS 55-250mm used; please note that the zoom range ZR distance if given is calculated by OS map from subject location to camera.
