Highland Insider

I spent a wonderful day last week with Deborah Benham of Wild at Heart Eco-holidays, who kindly helped me with researching an article on the Bottlenose dolphins of the Moray Firth. I’ll put a reference to the article later, but I want to give a very hearty recommendation here, both to Deborah, who was a relaxed, knowledgeable guide who made the whole day a pleasure; and to Eco-Ventures of Cromarty for the best boat trip I’ve ever been on – and they’re wildlife-friendly too.

Check them out here:

Wild at Heart

Ecoventures

Link to the article in ‘Scottish Memories’ digital archive

Posted by Karen under Highland wildlife and nature & mammals & sealife | No Comments »

The weather suddenly warmed at the weekend and Saturday saw the garden and countryside transformed from its winter stillness into a humming, thrumming , buzzing venue for all the bugs that had been tucked up in the cold to come out and party in the sun.

I saw several peacock butterflies including two that appeared to be mating – one sitting still with its wings closed, the other perched on its tail end, using its wings to balance there. This went on for a good fifteen minutes. Is this usual for butterflies, or was this chap a real Casanova? Or maybe he was just not very efficient… Any insect buffs reading this, do enlighten me!

This other Peacock feeding on the heather flowers looked like it had been in the wars with its raggedy wings.

But the big insect event of the weekend was a swarm of beetles that appeared out of nowhere on Saturday afternoon and filled the air. We had to close all the house windows and clear a few dozen out of the kitchen. They appear to have been Heather Beetles (see pic above), which can do a lot of harm to heather moorland in large numbers: bad news for hungry peacock butterflies, honey bees and young grouse. Thanks to the  good folk at Wild About Britain who helped me identify the bugs.

Posted by Karen under Highland wildlife and nature & insects and creepy-crawlies & wild flowers | No Comments »

Sometimes I long for more variety in the woodlands around here. Most of the hillside is covered in regular, over-crowded pine plantations which, in their denser parts, seem almost dead with dry earth, little light and an eerie lack of noise.

It’s improving though. Four years ago the Estate sent the foresters in and great swathes have been cleared, letting in the light and opening up possibilities. They left wood to decay on the ground, providing homes and shelter for insects and burrowers. The ground was badly churned up by the lorries and tractors, but the damage was soon covered with new growth. The bigger cleared patches are already well covered in bracken and other ferns, and some even had a miraculous flowering of foxgloves after the foresters left; the seeds must have been dormant in the ground, and the clearings were awash with purple the season after the trees were cut.

In the clearing nearest us, which I can see from the window as I write, the Estate replaced the pines with saplings of oak and cherry, which will eventually form a patch of the sort of woodland I crave. If they keep doing that as new patches are cleared, Nairnshire might eventually have some woods to be proud of again. The remnants of the old native flora cling on even now, round the edges of the plantations where bluebells and dog violets appear in spring. Given the right conditions they could re-establish themselves like the foxgloves.

In the meantime, we’re noticing more birdsong when we walk up to the loch, which is at the end of a track that used to go through a particularly dark, dense area. Five years ago you could pass through it and barely hear a squeak; just the occasional wren in the undergrowth or a chaffinch or great-tit right up in the treetops. We were there the other day and the difference was audible as well as visible. A flock of coal-tits, a pair of bull-finches, general chattering from the treetops. A nice bonus was a wee gathering of crossbills, although they always did favour the pinewoods.

So, hope springs. But it takes a long time to grow.

Posted by Karen under Highland wildlife and nature & trees and woodland & wild flowers | No Comments »

It was the moment that marked the start of spring for me. Yesterday, by the loch, back to back with Lee, in sun warm enough for us to be sitting on my rolled-up jacket, watching the water ripple in the wake of a mallard coming in to land.

It was the first time in weeks we’ve seen the loch (almost) free of ice. For a long time it looked more like a snow-covered football pitch, and I’ve missed it. There were consolations, mind you. Two perfect sets of otter prints crossing the surface and continuing across the track into the woods, for example. The old boat that looked even more picturesque half-submerged in white ice. The musical ping that you got when you skimmed a pebble across the frozen surface.

But you can’t beat the sight of the sun filtering through branches onto the dark water, and the plop of a rising fish when the air’s still and mild. You can feel the winter’s worries melting away with the snow.

Posted by Karen under Highland wildlife and nature | No Comments »

The long winter brought an unexpected dilemma for us. All through the weeks of snow we dutifully kept the garden feeders topped up with peanuts, fat balls, even home-made ones when we were snowed in and couldn’t get down the hill for supplies. We watched with great satisfaction as the population of small birds flocked to keep themselves well-fed and watered. The feeders were so well used they looked like living feathery sculpures.

That was when the sparrowhawk moved in. It got its first blackbird in early February, followed by a coal-tit from the beech tree. Not long after that one of the resident buzzards landed in the garden, scattering the chaffies that were hoovering up under the hanging feeder. She didn’t get anything on that occasion, but the sparrowhawk took up a regular watch. One day near the end of the snows, we thought a blizzard was starting again, but when we rushed to the window we found the flurry of white was not snow but tiny feathers…

So, to feed or not to feed, that was the question. But there was no choice, really. The garden birds needed their food and the raptors needed theirs. We carried on stocking the bird table and feeders, keeping the hanging ones tucked away in a thorny rambling rose,  and let Mother Nature take the blame and the credit for the rest.

Posted by Karen under Highland wildlife and nature & birds | 1 Comment »

I watched a huge gang of geese flying over the fields around Castle Stuart near Ardersier this morning. They seemed confused, going off in one direction for a bit then changing and switching back again. They were still mooching around like this by the time I’d gone into Inverness Airport, drunk a coffee, drove through Adersier and back onto the road.

Further on was a field full of another three to four hundred grazing pink-foots, and there’s been a cluster of Whooper swans hanging around on the sunny side of a nearby farm for the past month. We reckon it’s so cold they don’t know whether they’re coming or going. It snowed today and there’s a north wind that would take the face off you, as my mum would say.

I was thinking the Whoopers were getting ready to head up to Iceland but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve arrived from further south and think they’re already there.

Posted by Karen under Highland wildlife and nature & birds | No Comments »