The Beauty of Owls

Posted on November 3, 2012 by borderslynn

One of the lasting memories of my first night at our cottage was to be looking out of the rooflight window on a magnificent starry night, when a white apparition flew past. I was so shocked, it seemed supernatural. It was all white and the local farmer told us it would be a Barn Owl. He had Barn Owls nesting in his barn, and so it was probably one of the parents hunting for food for its young. It was such a beautiful sight. That vision summed up the beauty of this wild area in its iconic form as it flew silently by.

The owl is an example of one of the earliest hunters of mammals. Fossils have been found in the USA and France. The Ogygoptynx and Berruornis dated to the late Paleocene era show that owls were already present as a distinct lineage some 60–57 mya (million years ago), and, hence, possibly also some 5 million years earlier, at the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. This makes them one of the oldest known groups of non-Galloanserae landbirds. To think, humans nearly wiped them out in the UK through dangerous farming methods and a deliberate desire to kill them.

A month ago, another amazing sight. A Long Eared Owl settled in the ash tree by our garden. It was only there for a brief rest, then flew to the forest nearby. I had never seen one before. But I quickly checked my ‘Bird ID App’ and learned this particular owl is rarely spotted as it is super secretive. It may have been a tired immigrant resting in the open as they arrive from Scandinavia to spend the winter. This species is attracted to the large conifer forests in Scotland. They are more common in Scotland and according to a fellow bird lover, the one I saw had bred here in the summer (he found the nest at the top of a tree in the forest) but the wet weather seems to have drowned the young in the nest.

The weather this year was exceptionally wet in England and Wales. By June 12th more than 75mm of rain had fallen. At that time of the year, the jet stream should have made a more northerly track, steering the wind and rain towards northwest Britain, Iceland and Scandinavia. We got torrential rain here on the 22nd June. On 28th June 3 supercell storms hit Newcastle on Tyne, the first ever event of this kind, causing flash floods. The next day we had a violent storm, but not as serious as the one in Newcastle, but resulting in flooding in Scotland. Maybe that storm coincided with the hatching out of the Long Eared Owl chick. According to Philip Eden, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, “the first half of June across the UK was the wettest for 150 years – and let’s not forget April was the wettest on record too.”

Melting sea ice and accelerating Arctic warming are causing changes in the jet stream that are bringing more extreme weather. Recent research, including studies by Georgia Institute of Technology and Rutgers University, has linked Arctic warming to increased risk of a variety of extreme weather events.

The Times said: “The Western Isles, which have so far escaped their usual July downpours, will be reunited with the weather that they have lent to the South for the past few weeks.” The Met Office told the BBC to pass on that “there are now signs that the unsettled weather will become more focussed towards northern and western parts of the United Kingdom.” And so it did. Mid July was wet in Scotland.

Paul Hudson, who presents the weather for the BBC, said in his blog “The jet stream is a fast moving zone of winds high up in the atmosphere, caused by the temperature contrast between cold air to the north, and warmer air to the south. It’s along this boundary, where warm and cold air constantly battle each other, that most of our rain bearing weather system form……. Recent research has also pointed the finger at weak solar activity as a possible explanation for the cold, dry winters that Europe and the UK has experienced in the last few years. These were caused by the jet stream being unusually far south, and the research conducted by Reading University concluding that such winters could become more common in the next decade or so as a result of expected weaker solar activity.”

Barn Owls originally evolved in a warmer and drier climate than we have in the UK. They are poorly insulated and need extra energy (food) during cold weather to make up for an increased loss of body heat. Increased winter rainfall is a problem too. Barn Owl feathers are very soft (an adaptation for silent flight) but not very water resistant so hunting during rainfall is avoided. Prolonged rainfall (which prevents hunting) alternating with periods of intense cold (which suppresses small mammal activity) can prove deadly.

Barn Owls are not particularly territorial. The direction in which individual juveniles disperse seems to be random. The local landscape here is ideal for this owl as it is mountainous, with dense forests (which are being gradually logged) and open water. Young barn owls will seek out temporary roost sites (or clusters of closely-spaced sites) that are occupied for between 3 and 15 weeks and are up to 1km apart. Eventually they will settle when they are content.

The dispersal period ends in late November. Birds that haven’t established a permanent home range by this time are probably forced to do so: reduced prey availability and deteriorating weather making survival the highest priority. Survival is linked not only to food supply but to the species’ highly sedentary behaviour. Barn Owls that stay in one place and get to know the landscape in great detail stand a better chance of survival than those which keep moving on. This is due, in part, to the sensory limitations of nocturnal foraging.

Numbers of Short Eared Owl also arrive in October/ November with the Long Eared from Scandinavia to join those who have remained resident in the UK. This is the least common owl in the UK so I am not sure if I have seen one, though if I play its call on my App I think I may have heard one at night.

But I hear the Tawny Owl most of all, it is the most common owl in the UK and likes being close to people. A very vocal bird, particularly during Autumn and Winter. I can also hear them in early Spring on clear calm nights. In the mating season I have heard the female answer the male’s hoot with ‘kewick’ in a duet. Tawny Owls remain within their nesting territory all the year round and pair-bonds last for life. Tawny Owls are dependent on their parents for food up to three months after leaving the nest. As the young owls gradually learn to fend for themselves they also establish territories. The Tawny Owl defends its territory vigorously against neighbours with ‘song’, with threatening behaviour or in flying skirmishes. Predatory mammals, too, such as cats, foxes and dogs, are driven from the vicinity of the nest. Occasionally a Tawny Owl female with nestlings may attack a human approaching the nest, even in daylight, and may even draw blood with its talons. In Britain at least two people are known to have lost an eye from attacks. (Eric Hosking, the famous bird photographer, had this happen to him quite early in his career.)

The Tawny roost in our sycamore trees which stand by our cottage, tall aroboreal sentinels guarding the approach. In the warmer months, when the bats fly around, this fascinating hunter has plenty of opportunities to catch bats and take its pick of the rodents which live in the vegetation and dry stone walls. Before winter sets in the Tawny Owl will eat incubating birds, such as Blackbirds, Woodcocks and Pigeons, picking them off their nests. It will catch rabbits, moles, mice, shrews, voles, and other rodents. It is happy to eat earthworms, insects (beetles especially), birds, frogs, fish, lizards, molluscs, and crustaceans. This diversity abounds around our cottage and this food chain has improved since the farmer stopped dipping the sheep on the land which I have now turned into a garden. The fish have increased since sheep and cows no longer contaminate the water in the immediate vicinity.

In the past, Tawny Owls have been severely persecuted, dying from poisoned bait or pesticide use in agriculture. Their numbers struggle to remain stable, and Scotland is losing them faster than in the rest of the UK. The most common fatalities connected with man are collisions with vehicles, trains or wires, and getting trapped in buildings. Our new landowner is planting broadleaved trees throughout her estate, and as these get established, owls will use that habitat to hopefully increase in numbers in this territory.

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Weasel Family

Posted on October 25, 2012 by borderslynn

There are many badger setts around and beyond our cottage. This is the European Badger (latin name Meles meles), part of the Weasel family. It evolved over 2-4 million years, since the end of the Pleistocene era. Researchers have speculated that the ancestor of the Eurasian badger was Meles thorali, which had a Palaearctic distribution during the late Pliocene (about 3.6 to 1.8 million years ago).

The bear, wolf and lynx were killed to extinction to keep livestock safe; now the largest carnivore left is the badger and it tops it’s food chain.

The badger doubles its weight from around 7.25 kgs in spring to 14.4 kgs in autumn, and measures just under a meter in length, nose to tail. So just now it is heavier as it rummages around the landscape turning over the ground with sharp claws to find earthworms in the main, and insects and grubs. They also eat small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds, as well as roots, fungus and fruit. Badgers rarely drink; instead they obtain most of their water from their food. There is a plentiful source of food around just now but winter will test their survival chances (but then, winter tests all of us).

The only threat to badgers is man and his activities. In the south of England populations are at their greatest while in Scotland their frequency varies from common to scarce the further north you go, and as the altitude increases and the availability of food decreases. We live nearly 900 ft above sea level which does not seem to worry the local community of badgers. They are members of the stoat and weasel family, and there are plenty of them running around too.

At night we know they are busy using their keen sense of smell and excellent hearing. Their eyesight is poor, as might be expected for the animal who lives below ground sleeping all day. We have seen them through the day though, no doubt searching for food in the spring when their cubs are born. These will stay underground from around mid February until a couple of months later. Like the fox cubs, they will then learn to

The sandy soil and trees around us are ideal for them to construct
tunnels and chambers. As they can make a home over 10 meters long from the entrance we can never know how near or far from us they are at any one time. We can quite expect they are digging the foundations of our cottage away, but nature will always take back what is hers.

Badger territories, the area of land collectively defended by a clan, are determined by the quality and quantity of foraging in any given area. Good quality – small territory, poor quality – large territory.

The latrine areas around badger setts provide favourable habitat for Elder bushes (Sambucus nigra) and nettles (Urtica dioica) because as the badger dung decomposes it releases nitrogenous components into the soil; elder and nettles have a preference for nitrogen-rich soil. We have elder trees and plenty of nettles around our cottage!

Like the deer, has delayed implantation and the fertilized egg develops into a blastocyst which isn’t fully implanted into the uterus until mid winter when badger activity is at its lowest. Badger life is hard and less than 50% survive to their second year.

The badger has no natural predators (which in itself is unnatural) and has only man to fear, and generally speaking it is through ignorance rather than design that most persecution occurs.

It is estimated that road traffic accidents account for up to 30% of badger mortalities. Insensitive developments do much more damage to wildlife than first thought which is where knowledge of clans, territories, foraging areas, and in fact all wildlife movement are most important.

Another member of the Weasel family is the Otter. There are two sections of the burn, which runs north by our cottage, where otters are known to be active. I have never seen one myself, but again, they are nocturnal. We have trout in the burn which the Dipper and Heron are often seen in position waiting to snap up their prey. The otters will be similarly engaged at night in the clear waters, which, the further you go north reach high into fells with various tributaries feeding into the burn. The more isolated the land, the safer the otter will feel.

There is scientific evidence to suggest Otters have been on Earth for the past 30 million years. In order to survive that long though they have had to evolve in a variety of ways. It is speculated that the Otter as we know it today may have evolved significantly about 7 million years ago. The European otter (Lutra lutra) can be located by its ‘spraints’, or droppings. These are left under bridges (which have recently been built over the burn in three places up the glen) and footprints are often found along the banks of the burn. When the otter shelters in daylight it finds a ‘hover’ which, as it sounds, will only suit whilst it is safe.

Otters have been hunted for centuries for their pelts, but now mostly to remove competition for fish. Today the hunting of Otters is severely limited by law.

However, people continue to hunt them for sport. They are small enough to conceal and following a river course can lead to their presence. If caught, these hunters may be prosecuted and either go to jail or have to pay a huge fine for their barbaric act.

Gavin Maxwell endeared us to the Otter when he wrote ‘Ring of Bright Water’ in 1960. It was Maxwell’s own story and was made into the film of the same name which I saw many years ago. Of course, it was a tear jerker as he made a pet of the otter which he purchased from a pet shop (what a terrible thought that a wild animal could be for sale). Whilst away from home he leaves the pet with his partner who is exercising the animal and a ditch digger kills it. I always fear something will happen to my pets if I leave them. Indeed, when I have had no option but to leave them, more often than not something awful has happened.

I am happy to know there are otters where I live and do not wish to see them or disturb them if I can help it. I used to see the deer and now they are shot by the gamekeeper. I feel superstitious that if I see an otter someone will kill it. The hunting fraternity killed the fox cubs when chased by the hounds, vehicles hit the badgers on the roads. I hope I never see a dead otter.

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Insects around me

Posted on October 14, 2012 by borderslynn

Living in countryside with no living dwelling within sight of our cottage makes for an interesting life. Day and night we are presented with an array of insects. My favourite book as a child was ‘My Family and Other Animals’ by Gerald Durrell. The closest I got to his collection of every living thing he could bring to study when he was a boy, was tadpoles in a bowl outside and my caterpillar ‘house’ which I constructed out of a box and a sheet of glass to prevent their escape. My mother did try and rescue injured birds and she brought them indoors, but nothing else was allowed over the threshold.

Each day I am confronted with the ground I walk on knowing it was once the floor of the Iapetus Ocean. I cannot help but think of how ancient it is. I want to know how ancient are the creatures which inhabit the landscape.

I am a novice about so many matters but the Internet and books help me try and understand what I am seeing around me. I have learned the evolution of insects dates back to the Devonian period, and this Neolithic Period reminds me of a notice not far from where we live which points to the ‘Neolithic Route’. I have never had the chance to follow it, but one day I will.

The National Geographic tells me

When the Devonian period dawned about 416 million years ago the planet was changing its appearance. The great supercontinent of Gondwana was headed steadily northward, away from the South Pole, and a second supercontinent began to form that straddled the Equator. Known as Euramerica, or Laurussia, it was created by the coming together of parts of North America, northern Europe, Russia, and Greenland.

Red-colored sediments, generated when North America collided with Europe, give the Devonian its name, as these distinguishing rocks were first studied in Devon, England.

The Devonian, part of the Paleozoic era, is otherwise known as the Age of Fishes, as it spawned a remarkable variety of fish.

Apparently, the oldest definitive insect fossil is the Rhyniognatha hirsti, thought to be living around 407 to 396 million years ago. Maybe fossils of it lie beneath my feet but I would never know.

Whilst the UK has suffered the wettest summer since records began in 1912, there have also been soaring temperatures which led to mosquitos infecting penguins in London Zoo, killing 7 of them. These extremes, including early frosts then great heat, followed by heavy rain, have hit fledgling birds and insects. The slugs and snails have done well, and in Scotland there are 77 species of land snail.

During major radiation periods in the Carboniferous and Permian periods, winged insects or Pterygotes and their subclass Endopterygota (those which progress through larval, pupal, and adult stages) almost died out. Somehow a few survived until they evolved in the Triassic to become what we see today. The Triassic extended from about 250 to 200 million years ago.

Insects diversified in a relatively brief 100 million years. In Scotland alone there are around 14,000 species. Perhaps our human species will also nearly all die as climate change ravages our planet. It is possible that a few humans will survive and maybe evolve like the insects of the past.

The conifers, mosses, flowering plants, insects, mollusks, birds and mammals I see around me look much the same as they did during the Pleistocene, the time period that spanned from 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. The mammoths, longhorned bison, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths, and many other large mammals became extinct, but no-one really knows why.

Many species of butterfly are in decline in the UK, but wildlife is being driven northwards. Butterflies are recognised as sensitive indicators of environmental change, including climate change, and of the health of the countryside. By recording butterflies and moths it is possible to plot movements of those who seek cooler or those who seek hotter temperatures. The Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Marsh Fritillary and Chequered Skipper, which are becoming rare in the rest of the UK, are moving north into Scotland in response to climate change.

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on a sedum

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on a sedum


This year was my first as a member of Butterfly Conservation. I had never been able to confidently identify the range of butterflies I was seeing, and certainly never knew about moths. The dreadful weather has harmed their breeding and numbers are drastically down for sightings around the UK. But I was rewarded for my sightings, such as they were, being told no-one has ever reported from the remote location in which we live.

I never saw the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Marsh Fritillary and Chequered Skipper. So I wondered why not. It seems all butterflies seek out particular grasses and wildflowers and are sensitive to types of environment. Agricultural methods have gradually destroyed many of these habitats.

By trying to find the wildflowers each butterfly required I realised how poor my knowledge was of the phenomenal range which grew in my environment and I have only begun to spot them growing. Then I have had to be sure of identifying them correctly. Here are an example of what these three butterflies, recently having moved to Scotland, have been said to require:

The Pearl-bordered Fritillary caterpillar only lives on violets and as a butterfly needs edges, or open spaces within, south-facing woodlands with a mosaic of light bracken and, more particularly it must have Bugle, a small plant that produces a ring of blue flowers on top of each set of leaves. This is the most rapidly declining butterfly in the UK.

Marsh Fritillary requires Devil’s Bit Scabious which also attracts Tortoishells and Red Admiral. Currently the Marsh Fritillary has only found ideal conditions in Scotland in south Lochaber, Argyll and the Argyll Islands. The Chequered Skipper.

Chequered Skipper is confined to north-west Scotland where it was first discovered in 1942, and where its distribution is centred on Fort William and where the larval foodplant is Purple Moor-grass. First, this grass is not purple, though its flower heads are a pale purple.

Silver Y moth on autumn glory sedum

Silver Y moth on autumn glory sedum

The same applies to Moths. I had never taken in these equally wonderfully marked and colourful insects. Where had I been? Now I was seeing them everywhere and photographing them and asking a contact at Butterfly Conservation to tell me their names. Then I had another shock. Their names were so special too. `Beautiful Golden Y’ was the first I spotted. Then there was a number of them all appearing the same month (July). Silver Y, Gold Spangle, Clouded Bordered Brindle, Silver Ground Carpet, Small Magpie, Gold Spot.

Beautiful Golden Y moth on cranesbill geranium

Beautiful Golden Y moth on cranesbill geranium


There are thick growths of nettles around the garden and this is where most of the caterpillars develop until they become moths or butterflies. The Silver Y moth and the Red Admiral butterfly had their last feeds in early October from the flowers of my Autumn Glory sedum before they set off for warmer climes in the Mediterranean. The Peacock Butterfly did the same but will hibernate despite the bitterly cold winters we usually get here. The Small Tortoishell was drinking up the nectar too before going to southern areas of England.

Red Admiral in yellow ligularia daisy

Red Admiral in yellow ligularia daisy

It is easy to destroy nettle beds thinking it will improve the garden, but I realise through Butterfly Conservation that they are hugely important to many moths and butterflies as a vital habitat and for other wildlife too.

In the Bronze Age burial grounds fabric woven from nettle has been found.

An old Scots rhyme about the nettle offering advice to harvest nettles first thing in the morning and to cut them back hard:

“Gin ye be for lang kail coo the nettle, stoo the nettle
Gin ye be for lang kail coo the nettle early
Coo it laich, coo it sune, coo it in the month o’ June
Stoo it ere it’s in the bloom, coo the nettle early
Coo it by the auld wa’s, coo it where the sun ne’er fa’s
Stoo it when the day daws, coo the nettle early.”
(Old Wives Lore for Gardeners, M & B Boland)

The many uses for nettles, such as a herbal tea or for medicinal purposes, explains why they grow so prolifically close to remote cottages and bothys. In the race to have manicured gardens, people destroy them with weed killer and destroy the wildlife which depends on them at the same time. The food chain is constantly being damaged by ludicrous ideas of radical gardening and farming methods until we find our own food supply is no longer secure or plentiful.

Peacock butterfly on autumn glory sedum

Peacock butterfly on autumn glory sedum


The nettles are dying down now and have been about 5ft high around the garden. We have had a poor weather year and I have seen battered butterflies struggling to survive. Wintry weather is already creeping in despite it being Autumn. I wonder if insects will have been so beaten up that it will be a few years before they recover. Or will the weather remain poor for the foreseeable future? Who knows? Perhaps we all have more adapting to do if climate change continues to shock us with extreme weather (as is very likely).

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Roe Deer

Posted on September 19, 2012 by borderslynn

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to suddenly catch sight of a doe with usually two kids. The neat white tail of the mother is so attractive and her wonderful leaps and bounds across the difficult terrain of the fells fill me with wonder as her young follow faithfully, believing her to be their protector. She intends to be with them until they can cope on their own, and then she will chase them away to find their own territory, leaving her clear to mate again.

Some would say that Roe are probably the most fascinating and interesting species of British wild deer. Their behaviour is thoroughly individualistic. They are so elegant and graceful and seem to me to symbolise euphoric freedom as they blend into the magnificent landscape surrounding our cottage. But freedom is always an illusion.

Escaping from our sight, the roe deer

Roe deer were originally native to Scotland since becoming marooned here when the land bridges to Europe were finally covered by water. The majority of the world’s Roe population lives within the former Eastern Bloc.

Remains identified as Roe in Britain have been found dating back to the Interglacial period (400,000 BC) along with other species now extinct in Britain. There are three subspecies and the European Roe, Capreolus capreolus stands between 60-75 cm at the shoulder with bucks weighing between 24 and 30 kg, whilst the does are 2-6 kg lighter.

The Roe feed mainly on grass, leaves, berries and young shoots. They love very young, tender grass with a high moisture content, i.e., grass that has received rain the day before. Roe deer will not generally venture into a field that has had or has livestock (sheep, cattle) in it because the livestock make the grass unclean. All year round their antlers damage saplings and the bark of young trees since they rub against them to progress the antler growth. The average length for European Roe antlers is between 20-30cm. The bucks shed their antlers between October and December, the older bucks shedding first.

Roe were numerous through Roman and Saxon times, but suffered a steady decline through the mediaeval period. A few miles from our cottage there lies a medieval deer park. This is a reserve, with an enclosing bank with a ditch within the enclosed area (designed to make it easy for deer to leap in, but difficult for them to get out). Armies would use these parks to camp on their way to battle too. The effort to build these deer parks would have been considerable and they have remained largely intact after centuries.

William the Conqueror created laws that protected his royal right to kill deer, anyone else would be penalised by death. After the Normans, Roe were later declared as being ‘beasts of the warren’ (unworthy of noble hunting) in 1338. This was great news for the expanding peasant population who were then allowed to hunt them as a food source. Medieval Scots also ate swans, peacocks, seals, lampreys and porpoises. They ate lots of birds including small wild birds as well as geese and pheasants. Fish was very popular, they ate herring, pike, salmon and bream as well as eels.

Forest clearance and over-hunting led to Roe deer becoming extinct in England by 1700 in southern and central England and all of Wales. In Scotland the Roe remained in wooded patches. Deer were still a protected species until the 19th Century, even though Henry VIII had long since abolished the law which gave the death penalty for non royals to kill deer. The ‘royal beasts of the chase’ were the red and roe deer, and to this day are still associated with royal hunting activities. It is still a class of sport for people who can afford to pay for the experience. Only gamekeepers get paid for killing deer on behalf of anxious landowners protecting their trees or crops.

Hunting obsessions in England led to several reintroductions of Roe during Victorian times and colonies were established in Dorset, Sussex and East Anglia. This, combined with woodland and forest planting in the 20th century has meant that Roe deer have become widespread and abundant today. Reintroduction spread to Northern England and Scotland. The present Roe deer population is probably at its highest since the Middle Ages. Income can be generated for landowners who can offer hunting holidays.

Even in the built up area of Gateshead where I used to live, we would often see young deer race across open fields and across a busy main road into wild grass areas. Roe deer typically occur in open, deciduous, mixed or coniferous woodlands. They also inhabit moorland, and large gardens in rural or suburban areas. They are common here in the Scottish Borders, consequently the winter kill of does will soon commence and the stealthy gamekeeper will be driving by our cottage for night hunting.

Earlier this year our dogs found heads and legs of deer scattered about the fells. Being Labradors they brought them to us proudly. Not a pretty sight for lovers of this exquisitely designed beast, especially when the dog wants to play with the limbs and crunch the heads. Not easy to bury these things successfully from the heightened sense of smell of a retriever. It did mean that as the things rotted we kept being presented with decaying items for the next few months.

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Forest

Posted on September 13, 2012 by borderslynn

When we first arrived at our remote cottage to live there was a large forest of conifers up the slope of the fell on which we lived. The fell is 599 metres, which is just short of being a mountain. We live on the lower slopes but we are the highest dwelling of the valley. We saw two winters of snow covered fells and the forest of conifers was like a Christmas Card. We thought it was wonderful to see each day. Then it was chopped down, which was a shock to us. Apparently it was 30 to 40 years old. It took 2 men with specialised machinery working night and day in a bad winter to cut it down within 3 months. They lived in an RV during that time, but it must have been grim. Certainly the devastating scene they left was grim. The dark gash on the fell remains an ugly scar to this day although they have dug it over and cleaned it up as best they could. This taught me about the work of the Forestry Commission which I did not know existed until we moved to Scotland.

Our original landlord had his estate planted with Sitka Spruce, Scots Pine and Larch (as advised by the Forestry Commission) and a large area of broadleaved trees to cosmetically conceal the growing pine forests. Then a new owner took over and she planted broadleaved trees over most of the estate. She chose Oak, Birch, Rowan, Hazel, Willow. She has covered the tops of the fells too, only leaving the peat bogs and marshes and other unsuitable ground free of trees. She had sought advice about the Ancient Woodlands which once existed here and her plan is to re-introduce those trees and thus increase the biodiversity of the land.

This caused me to take an interest in those ancient woodlands.

Apparently, after the last Ice Age, a gradual process of tree re-colonisation began in Scotland. The, in botanical terms, pioneer tree, was the Birch. It was the dominant tree and used for everything imaginable by the humans who began to resettle in this country when the climate permitted. At one time, the great Caledonian forest stretched across 3.7 million acres of the Scottish Highlands.

Around 5 thousand years ago the Caledonian forest initially consisted of birch, hazel, pine and oak. This woodland cover extended to Shetland and the Western Isles. Ancient woodland is directly descended from the original woodland that developed after the retreat of the ice sheets in Britain 10,000 years ago. Early agriculture led to clearing land and the invasion of Scotland by the Roman legions of Agricola in 82AD, having the greatest impact in the Lowlands, led to at least half of the natural woodland disappearing.

Temperatures were warmer when the ice was retreating, but became cooler again, and wetter which, combined with human activities, led to woodland being replaced by peatland. During the 17th and 18th centuries many of the remaining woods were heavily exploited for timber, charcoal and tan-bark.

Major changes in land-use in Scotland occurred after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 with consequences for woodland extent and distribution, including the Clearances (where people were replaced by sheep), the switch from a cattle-based to a sheep-based economy and the rapid increase in commercial plantations, which had only occurred on a small scale until the work of the ‘Planting Dukes’ of Atholl around 1740. The Perthshire website proudly boasts:

The seat of the Dukes of Atholl is at Blair Castle, north of Pitlochry. Generations of these so-called ‘Planting’ Dukes shaped the landscape seen today, especially around Dunkeld. Between 1738 and 1830, the family planted around 27 million conifers in the area. Some even say some of the rocky faces of Craig a Barns, just north of Dunkeld, were planted using cannon loaded with larch seed! Also in 1738, young European larches were collected in the Tyrol to be grown on at Dunkeld as the source of seed for these large scale plantings. One of these original trees survives – the Parent Larch, planted near the west end of Dunkeld Cathedral and the ancestor of many of those trees seen on the Atholl estates. See it as part of a gentle ramble – signposted and waymarked – from Dunkeld.

The Military Survey of Scotland, compiled by General Roy around 1750 has helped verify the continuity of woodland cover across the whole of Scotland.

At the beginning of the 20th century, woodland management was at a low ebb in Scotland. For the woodlands as in much else, the First World War changed everything. Lloyd George said in 1919 that Britain “had more nearly lost the war for want of timber than of anything else”. The date of that quote is significant – in 1919 the Forestry Commission was created with the primary aim of preventing such a strategic weakness from arising again. Since the 1940s the area of woods and forests in Scotland has increased from perhaps 4% of total land area to a current figure of some 17.8% mainly as a result of large scale afforestation. These quick growing timber forests became notorious when cut down they left barren landscape scars. Such plantings continued to wreck the scenery until the mid 1980s when the PR improved by the Commission becoming more sensitive to landscape, biodiversity, recreation, rural development and community involvement. Now timber is not as much in demand, wind farms are the new money maker for investors. They cause dreadful harm too to the once wild landscapes of Scotland, but they give investors a good return as they are subsidised by us, the ratepayer.

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Blue Moon

Posted on September 5, 2012 by borderslynn

Blue Moon

Looking back on August it was an interesting month for a number of reasons. 2 full moons occurred – which is termed the Blue Moon. It will occur again in 2015.

It was also the month Neil Armstrong died. Langholm, in the Scottish Borders, was a place he visited some years ago to find out about the Armstrong Clan when he visited their museum. His photograph is on the display there, dressed in his astronaut outfit. On news of his death, various people of Langholm spoke on the radio about the memory of the surprise visit of this special man. All over the world, those old enough to remember, relived the morning we watched transfixed as he stepped on to the moon in 1969.

The night of the 30th August was the coldest ever recorded for this month in the UK.

I saw the fading Blue Moon today in the western sky as the sun was rising in the east. When the moon was born, around 4.5 billion years ago, it was about 22,500km (14,000 miles) away, compared with the quarter of a million miles (402,336 km) today. Patrick Moore has been explaining the Universe to his UK audience since I was a child. He is now 89. He has always had a particular interest in the Moon, particularly the far side, a small part of which is visible from Earth as a result of the Moon’s libration; the Moon has remained his specialist subject all through his life. But he talked us through the long transmisson gaps of the morning when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. The BBC had lost the tapes of their historic commentary, but listeners had called in to BBC Radio 4 to say they had retained quality recordings. After all these years we heard clips from these pristine tapes and it was so evocative.

Patrick Moore will no doubt be excited that researchers are still pressing to study the dark side of the moon just as he has always thought there should have been more dust collections from that side. The moon is directly exposed to the solar wind (streams of high-energy particles, consisting mostly of hydrogen atoms and ions (protons) constantly emitted by the Sun). But the side facing the sun will have the depth of dust destroyed by the Sun’s rays, but the dark side will not. The history of the impact of these solar winds will be archived over several billion years in the depth of dust on the dark side. Understanding what is happening to the Sun is obviously important as we depend on it for Life itself. The Sun has been found to be changing in a complex way and scientists can more easily study the moon to find out what is happening to the sun.

The BBC website explained the following:

The migration of the Moon away from the Earth is mainly due to the action of the Earth’s tides.

The Moon is kept in orbit by the gravitational force that the Earth exerts on it, but the Moon also exerts a gravitational force on our planet and this causes the movement of the Earth’s oceans to form a tidal bulge.

Due to the rotation of the Earth, this tidal bulge actually sits slightly ahead of the Moon. Some of the energy of the spinning Earth gets transferred to the tidal bulge via friction.

This drives the bulge forward, keeping it ahead of the Moon. The tidal bulge feeds a small amount of energy into the Moon, pushing it into a higher orbit like the faster, outside lanes of a test track.

This phenomenon is similar to the experience one feels on a children’s roundabout. The faster the roundabout spins the stronger the feeling of being slung outwards.

As the Earth’s rotation slows down, our whole planet may start to slowly wobble and this will have a devastating effect on our seasons.

During August, researchers from the University of Bern, Switzerland, made a significant breakthrough suggesting an answer to this Lunar Paradox.

They think they have a new explanation for how the moon may have formed rather than the one we are used to hearing about a major collision between Earth and an impactor the size of Mars, known as ‘Theia’.

Scientists have simulated the collision, 4.5 billion years ago, between Earth and an impactor the size of Mars, known as ‘Theia’ this process is known as the ‘lunar paradox’. Contrary to belief, the moon appears to be made up of material that would not be expected if the current collision theory is correct. ‘Our model considers new impact parameters, which were never tested before,’ said lead author Andreas Reufer.

Exploring a different geometry than previous simulations, they considered new impact configurations such as the so-called “hit-and-run collisions,” where a significant amount of material is lost into space on orbits unbound to Earth.

“Our model considers new impact parameters, which were never tested before. Besides the implications for the Earth-Moon system itself, the considerably higher impact velocity opens up new possibilities for the origin of the impactor and therefore also for models of terrestrial planet formation,” explains lead author of the study, Andreas Reufer.

“While none of the simulations presented in their research provides a perfect match for the constraints from the actual Earth-Moon-system, several do come close,” adds Alessandro Morbidelli, one of the Icarus’ Editors. “This work, therefore, suggests that a future exhaustive exploration of the vast collisional parameter space may finally lead to the long-searched solution of the lunar paradox”.

This is all very interesting but most of us non scientists love the Moon for its radiant light when the countryside is otherwise pitch black. But it depends on your circumstances why you may prefer a moon – or not. WWII pilots called such light the ‘Bombers Moon’ as the illumination helped them take aim more directly. The Moon’s light also reflected in bodies of water which would help with identifying places such as dams. The citizens below feared a full moon knowing the bombers could hone in on their location more exactly. Escaping from well guarded territory was also not a good idea on a moonlit night.

During the day yesterday there were several fox hunts. I saw two cubs break cover and be pursued by the 40 or so hounds near our cottage. I don’t know if they escaped but my heart hurt to watch this ‘sport’ at such close quarters. The full moon will prevent the night time fox hunts where the lampers use a 4×4 and three men to kill the fox. One man drives, one man shines a bright lamp, one man aims the gun when they have identified the fox, usually frozen in fascination by the light, its red eyes looking back at the gun. All this happens around our cottage, and often the lamp shines in the bedroom window for some time. Do they think I am keeping a fox in there?

I used to have a Siberian Husky and she used to howl at the moon. She looked just like a wolf. I loved her to do that.

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The fox hounds are out

Posted on August 22, 2012 by borderslynn

I hear the fox hounds being brought out for their daily preparation for the season beginning September. Their baying sets my five dogs off barking, and I have to bring them in to shut them up. The local hunts involve men on trail or quad bikes where once they rode horses. The 4×4’s line up on the fell road above our cottage as they stand and watch ‘the fun’ as the menagerie charge madly over the rolling landscape.

Celtic Britain used the Agassaei breed for hunting. Later The Romans brought their Castorian and Fulpine hound breeds. Hunting man and beast has been made more effective using dogs over the centuries.

The Arctic Fox (scientific name Alopex lagopus) was once native to Scotland, but is now extinct. It is a smaller size fox than the Red Fox, but as one might expect, the Arctic Fox has a thicker undercoat to withstand extreme temperatures. On the fringes of the Arctic, both types of foxes may co-exist. The larger Red Fox can out compete for food, but the more north and more cold the temperature then the Arctic Fox dominates.

Hunting in Scandinavia, despite the protection laws since 1928, has put Arctic Foxes in Europe into the critically endangered classification.

The brown hare was imported by the Romans, but the larger red fox, was imported more recently from Scandinavia after the early hunts of the 17th century wiped out the remaining fox population.

The last wolf in the British Isles was said to have been killed in Scotland in 1743. Auroch, the enormous wild bovine that once roamed the Isle, is extinct. The European elk—known in North America as the moose—was wiped out several thousand years before the Romans arrived; lynx and brown bear were gone by 500 AD; wild boar by the end of the 13th century. Beaver went missing 400 years ago.

The first recorded fox hunts were in Norfolk, 1534, believing foxes to be pests on the farm. More organised hunts occurred in the 17th century when packs of hounds were trained to hunt foxes, and then foxes and hares. Fox Hunting was developed by Hugo Meynell, Master of the Quorn Hunt between 1753 and 1800.

Hunting was and is to this day a royal sport. Kings and Queens of England have loved shooting wildlife since gun technology improved in the late 18th to early 19th century. King George V for example, on 18 December 1913 shot over a thousand pheasants out of a total bag of 3937.

When game shooting became popular, the increased income to landowners from the sport meant gamekeepers had to be employed to protect the birds being reared for the purpose of paid shoots. Thus foxes, magpies and birds of prey were culled to the point of extinction in the profitable areas where these sports were developed. The landowners landscaped the shooting areas to provide grouse butts (small stone, wood and turf constructions) and suitable habitats to rear game, which included forests for pheasants. In this way, shooters could lie in wait for the beaters to frighten the birds toward their awaiting guns.

The gamekeeper became important to the continuing income generation of the landowner and they now are associated with wildlife conservation, having a membership organisation today which teaches best practice, for example, the right way to snare a fox.

Game Laws were relaxed in 1831 which meant anyone could obtain a permit to take rabbits, hares and gamebirds. Consequently there are many people who enjoy killing sprees in their spare time. I used to hear rabbits being shot from dawn ‘till dusk on a Sunday in the North East of England. Here in the Scottish Borders I hear far fewer gunshots.

Hunting with dogs (including hunting for fox, deer, mink and hare coursing) was banned in Scotland by the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 and in England and Wales by the Hunting Act 2004. This was an attempt to prevent some forms of cruelty to foxes being perpetuated

Before the Act came into force in February 2005, foxhunts killed foxes in one of two ways: roughly half were chased until they went to ground, after which they were dug out with terriers. This resulted in underground battles between terrier and fox which could last many hours or days, and severe injuries were often inflicted on both animals, similar to dog fighting. The remaining foxes above ground were caught by the hounds to be torn apart when already exhausted from the chase.

The rural community view hunting as a crucial part of rural history, vital for conservation, a method of pest control.

The season is almost upon us and the sound of hounds baying and my dogs barking in alarm back at them will go on for months ahead. The fox is not supposed to be their quarry, instead drag hunting inspires the chase. But the foxes will die despite this, as they are not welcome in these areas where lambs are to be born each spring and birds reared for the shooting season now underway.

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Have gun will kill

Posted on August 20, 2012 by borderslynn

Ornithologists do not recognise the pheasant as a UK bird, although it has the most beautiful plumage of any bird resident in these Isles. It was an Asian bird, finally domesticated and brought to Britain by the Romans adding to their dietary requirements whilst away from Italy. When the Romans left, they seem to have taken the bird with them, as it does not appear in records here until the 1200s.

It will not be long before 20 million pheasant are released as game for the waiting, evenly spaced shooters, on various specially chosen pieces of land around the UK. These pheasants have been reared and fed up all year for the purpose of being shot by shooters who hope to get their money’s worth out of the day’s shoot. They don’t want the birds to be too fat so they will not rise into the skies above them. They don’t want them to be so unused to threats through careful rearing that they don’t even try to take evasive action. But, rearing this bird to be shot since the mid 1800s does encourage a type of bird which has lost its initiative to forage or think for itself. Never mind. There is big money to be made providing rural employment all year leading to the short shooting season.

When I first arrived here in the Scottish Borders I thrilled to the sight of a pheasant flying and pecking on the fell outside the window of the cottage. We often watched the young pheasants running ahead of us up the road near a small wood, their amusing gait making us laugh as they eventually ran at speed off onto the grass. We did not know they were there simply because the wood nearby was where they were being especially reared. Similarly, the red legged partridge would delight us as around 20 would appear suddenly outside the window, their markings incredibly beautiful too. But we soon learned they were being reared also for the shooting season.

And the carrion crow. Such an intelligent bird, fascinating to watch as they pick up a snail and break its shell on a fence just as I smash the shell on a nut, providing a tasty meal. We loved to watch them dedicatedly building their nest in the ash tree by the cottage. Their young hatched out and the parents worked so hard feeding their couple of chicks. One balmy evening they were beginning to fledge, all basking on the high branches, testing the pre-flight conditions with parents encouragingly sitting close by. Then a shooter drove up, took aim, and blasted the crow family out of their nest, killing one juvenile which was in the nest and winging a parent. The other juvenile flew earlier than it had anticipated. Crows are considered ‘vermin’ like the feral pigeons, and can be shot all year round. We did not expect this family to be shot as we sat in our garden sharing the pleasant evening with them.

The rural economy justifies these activities as high income deriving sports and locals will say ‘aye bin’ – meaning ‘it’s always been that way’. No-one likes their income threatened, but now climate change is doing the threatening as less birds survive the rearing period during extreme weather. What will the people replace this ‘sport’ with for the future? Or will they continue to think maybe next year will be better, when we now know climate change has given all the warnings that things can only get worse.

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Nature’s attributes half way up a mountain

Posted on August 15, 2012 by borderslynn

We live by a strongly flowing burn. We are used to wet weather, therefore the ground is often boggy, but it drains fast. We are half way up a mountain so the height increases UV light and the conditions attract fewer butterflies and moths than on lower areas. But we do see plenty of the British Green Veined White from Spring through to Autumn. It particularly likes being higher and can be seen fluttering around the fells when few other butterflies are around. The Small Heath is also found higher up from our cottage.

We have had a particularly wet year when the Jet Stream got stuck over the UK. Consequently it was dreadful for the poor insects and birds. Although the Green Veined White has been plentiful, not so the Small Tortoishell which I expect to arrive with other Vanessids such as the Red Admiral. Of the Brown butterlies only Ringlets abound, loving the dampness of the surroundings. I expect the beautiful Peacock soon, but I am fearful it also will not arrive in the numbers we are used to seeing.

The Moths are fewer too, but those I have seen are the Beautiful Golden Y, the Silver Y, Gold Spangle, Gold Spot, Clouded Bordered Brindle, Silver Ground Carpet and Small Magpie,

How exquisite all insects are, the spiders, bees and wasps, ants, flies of all kinds – there must be thousands of varieties and I am no entymologist.

The wild flowers here in August are typically:

Harebell, Sweet Cicely, Angelica, Meadowsweet (Lady of the Meadow, Meadow Queen and Queen-of-the-Meadow) , Tormentil (eart-barth (earth bark), Wild Thyme, Rough Hawksbit and a variety of Thistle.

These are acidic grasslands with heath bedstraw with bent and fescue grasses, amongst which grow the wild flowers.

In acidic grasslands, small heath and meadow-brown butterflies lay their eggs upon fine-leaved fescues. Short-tailed field voles, feeding on grass stems and roots, in turn fall prey to short-eared owls. Rabbits are common, particularly where the soil is easily excavated, and they too make easy meals for buzzards, foxes and stoats.

Jointed rushes grow in the boggy areas, which are many! At this time of year they have flowered and are going to seed like all the grasses.

The main raptor is the buzzard. We also have owls, long eared, tawny and barn. Amongst their prey are the numerous small birds which constantly busy themselves catching insects and eating seeds such as: tree, rock and meadow pipit; swallows and house martins; greenfinch, chaffinch, goldfinch; lesser redpoll; great tit; stonechat and whinchat.

Along the burn fly dippers and herons.

The carrion crow and not far from us, the ravens fly over the fields mostly where the sheep are grazing.

Every day is full of surprises. More to learn about, more of the richness of nature all around us. It was probably there to see when I lived a busy life in the city, but I could not stop and wonder. I was too stressed and distracted with the typical effort of family commitments. Now I can take my time, and I do.

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Glorious 12th

Posted on August 13, 2012 by borderslynn

Yesterday was the ‘Glorious 12th’ and all grouse (lagopus lagopus scoticus ) in Scotland would have been finding themselves the target of many shooters had it not been a Sunday. No game may be shot on a Sunday. From today they may be shot and so pull in much needed income for those employed in the shoots on land owned in Scotland.

I saw two grouse as I walked down our lane yesterday to put our rubbish out. We have had a very, very wet year and so there are far fewer grouse successfully breeding.

The League Against Cruel Sports believes the sport is barbaric and should have been banned long ago. A representative has said:

“Each year, from August to December, picturesque moorlands are invaded by groups of men and even children armed with guns, having paid for the pleasure of shooting and injuring thousands of terrified birds.”

Many Estate Managers have had to cancel the shooting due to the low numbers of grouse. This happened last year too.

One said:

“Hens that had hatched were unable to look after their chicks. Many nested again and their nests were flooded out, and in July the chicks that had survived were too big to shelter under the hens when the rain came again.”

But Scottish Land & Estates, which represents over 2,500 landowners in Scotland, say “despite the mixed picture in terms of bird numbers, country sports enthusiasts have dusted off their guns and headed to the hills to try and bag a brace.”

Shooting on the large estates of Scotland was particularly popular with the Victorians who were inspired by the romantic imagery of the Scottish Highlands brought to life by painters

A Typical day day of a party of eight guns, with accommodation, commissions, tips, ammunition and refreshments, could well be £50,000 plus. The 2500 landowners in Scotland make every effort to attract self-made men – occasionally women – who express their career success with a day’s shooting. These people are likely to be high-achieving, networking-savvy go-getters treating themselves and their friends to a unique thrill.

The Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) took up the sport when his mother, Queen Victoria, purchased Balmoral in 1852. Images of the romanticised man, with gun and dog on the moors became popular in paintings of the day and aristocrats flocked to take up the sport, particularly in Scotland.

Today there are nothing like as many birds as there were then, as the red grouse eats nothing else but heather. Global warming, the spread of parasitic ticks and the loss of moorland for forestry have come together as a perfect storm for the grouse.

Much of the money made from the sport is put into managing the land to improve conditions for grouse. In this way it is often claimed that without the millions of pounds income, conservation of the moors would not happen.

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