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For Goat’s Sake
Dealing with wild (or properly “feral”) goats over the past couple of weeks, I managed to pick up a great book on the subject by G. Kenneth Whitehead. Goats have been in the news recently after the RSPB decided to cull some on the banks of Loch Lomond and over to Loch Katrine where I… Continue reading
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Struggling With Science
Having spent the past few days trudging through some pretty dry scientific material about grouse nutrition and territory size for an ongoing Heather Trust project, I bumped into an unassuming paper last night called “phylogeography and subspecies status of black grouse”. The way science is currently being thrown around as a weapon of combat in… Continue reading
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A Grey Squirrel
It was very worrying to catch a glimpse of a grey squirrel while shooting woodcock on a local farm earlier this week. The little devil came dashing through a stand of young ash trees, and only avoided being shot because it had never occurred to the gun it ran past that it could have been… Continue reading
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Wet Management
I caught the tail end of an online debate recently in which an RSPB representative was defending the ongoing failure of a black grouse conservation project on Lake Vyrnwy in North Wales. By contrast to keepered management at Ruabon (which the RSPB recently claimed as their own, for some reason), the birds at the Lake… Continue reading
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Winter Weather
Looking back at the last five winters, we’ve had quite a spread of variety. 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 were both characterised by fierce cold, extended periods of snow and bans on shooting wildfowl and waders. By comparison, 2011/2012 was a soggy, mushy affair that never really came to anything, stumbling uncertainly into spring after a few… Continue reading
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Confidence and Secrecy
Further to my recent post about grouse mortality over the winter, I am starting to see why losses come in so steadily at this time of year. On a normal grouse moor, it is easy to see grouse cocks standing up proudly on every tussock and grit box, noisily advertising their position to all and… Continue reading
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Aberdeenshire Hinds
Just as a further mention of the day’s hind stalking I had last week in Aberdeenshire, I must say that my eyes are opening to the world of deer. The group of hinds we stalked was spectacular in the bright winter sunlight, and the experience of crawling through the black grass made my heart thump… Continue reading
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Jack Snipe
Well worth recording the fact that I saw a jack snipe on the Chayne for the first time this afternoon. I’m quite sure that I’ve seen these little birds before, but I suppose that it would be more accurate to say that this is the first one I have ever been 100% certain of. It… Continue reading
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Shooting Stock
I was thrilled to be asked up for some hind stalking in Aberdeenshire last week, and all the more excited to find that the area is home to a seriously impressive population of black grouse. During the course of a few hours out on the hill, I saw more blackcock than are present in the… Continue reading
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Over-Winter Losses
According to the statistics, grouse are most vulnerable to predation during March and April, but I find that there can also be a burst of very destructive predation pressure during the back-end and early winter. Young grouse hens are dispersing into new and unfamiliar places, old cocks become distracted by their obsession with territories again… Continue reading
About
“Shout on, Morgan. You’ll be nothing tomorrow”
Swn y galon fach yn torri, 1952
Also at: https://andtheyellowale.substack.com
Bog Myrtle & Peat 