As I type, I can confirm that all the snow at the house has now gone (last bit 28 March) and the turnips in the garden have re-appeared – last seen, just before Christmas. Early March saw a -18 deg C and -9.5 deg C on 10th, but since then the temperature slowly rose and reached a dizzy 13 deg C a day ago. On the 5th March, as I sat eating my breakfast a snow-plough, dispensing sand drove past. No snow, no frost and a gentle thaw, and off he went up the road. Perhaps I’ve got it wrong, but I thought these things were supposed to drive round the roads to clear them of snow, something they have done little of during the worst of the weather. The mind boggles. The track to work though remained “challenging” for cars until mid-month and though I was able to cycle to the end of the track on 14th it wasn’t until the next day that it was possible to bike all the way to work, the first time since 16 December last year.
As the weather started to warm up the first mistle thrush was heard singing briefly, on 3rd March along with coat tits and chaffinches which were starting to spread back into the forest and robins could be heard at dawn at the house. By 16th the first song thrush could be heard at Firwood, and a day later one was singing at Forest Lodge, the same day that treecreepers and goldcrests were also clearing their throats. I have no doubt we will have lost some but the latter two have been heard singing in many parts of the forest so many must have survived the frost and snow. Wrens though have just about been wiped out, and three mornings of Birdtrack
(
http://www.bto.org/birdtrack/index.htm ) monitoring between 19 & 21 March found just ONE bird, and none have been heard on other casual outings round about.
Lots of birds have moved in though and a walk from the house along the B970 and back through Mondhuie (Speyside Way) a week ago, found 48 species of birds, linnet and golden plover being two of the more unusual for that circuit. I did though solve the mystery of the "possibility" of a pine marten emptying the squirrel feeder over-night - rooks! Using their very pointed bills they were lifting the piece of perspex on the front of the box and just letting the peanuts fall onto the floor before eating them. They do say they are quite intelligent so let's see if they can manage to get the wood screw out!
It’s funny though how you can get lulled into a false sense of security. On 14 March, and with most of the roadside snow now melted a blackbird managing to enjoy a bathe in the water bowl in the garden I thought it would be a good time to re-visit the aspen stand near the River Nethy, last visited on 6 December. Access to the trees is via the track between Forest Lodge and Ryvoan Bothy (near Glenmore) so quite a way out, but with the snow thawing all around, this shouldn’t be a problem. Wrong! I should have realised that there could be problems as the 4x4 started to struggle to get through some bits of the track – whilst still in the forest, but out in the open below Rynettin (all on OS Sheet 36) the track was mostly okay having had a fair bit of sun on it during the previous week. It was on the approach to Memorial Wood that the fun really started as the track leaves an open bit of regenerating moorland, descends round what staff affectionally call “suicide bend” before climbing to emerge on an open bit of
track along the side of Memorial Wood. On the descent to “the bend” I could see I was heading into trouble, the track was still in shade and little of the deep snow had thawed, and as the bumper bashed through the odd deeper section of snow, I had visions of having to make an embarrassing phone call to Ross at Forest Lodge to arrange a tractor tow. I had entered a different world just 3 km from “the office”. Once I had gone down the hill there was no way back so I though all I could do was push on and try and get out of the other side. At the bend, at the bottom of the short descent, it took many attempts just to get the vehicle round the bend, but we made it, now all I had to do was climb out the other side. The first run at the hill (in 4 wheel drive and with the diff-lock on) gained a few metres before I had to reverse back to the bottom. The second run gained a few more metres before reversing again, and so it went on. Reversing was almost as difficult as going forward and had to be done “on the mirrors” to keep up the momentum. 20 minutes later I got to the top of the hill and was hugely relieved to see that the sun and mild wind during the week had reduced the depth of snow along the side of the wood. All I needed now was a place where I could turn the vehicle round ready for the return journey. Thankfully this was possible at the wee dragonfly pool – but should I make the return journey straight away? Now or 3 hours later, what would be the difference, so waterproof on, camera bag on the back and Leki poles at the ready I left the track to head for the aspens.
Under the trees the snow wasn’t too bad, but in the open it was knee deep (above) and several times I was in as deep as my thighs. Once in to the aspen trees though, there was very little snow so it was quite pleasant checking the trees for lichens but with a nagging thought about the return journey. This return trip had been planned to try and accurately record the location of some of the rarer lichens found during the 2001 survey. Two species were re-found during the earlier visit so this visit was to try and confirm the continued existence of
Schismatomma graphidiodes a lichen with a brilliant common name of “speckled script lichen”. During the earlier survey a tiny patch of this Red Data Book (V) species was found on a single tree.
[Red Data Book category 2 Vulnerable. Definition:
Taxa believed likely to move into the endangered category in the near future if the causal factors continue operating. Included are taxa of which most or all of the populations are decreasing because of over-exploitation, extensive destruction of habitat or other environmental disturbance; taxa with populations that have been seriously depleted and whose ultimate security is not yet assured; and taxa with populations that are still abundant but are under threat from serious adverse factors throughout their range.
Criteria. Species declining throughout their range. Species in vulnerable habitats and recorded in less than 15, 10km map squares.]The first thing to do on arrival was to get a bite to eat, though as normal, this was taken whilst looking at the aspen trees! With lunch finished I made my way to th
e tree where I knew from the report, the lichen had been recorded, and, for this visit, I had a good photograph of what it looked like (it’s not covered by the standard “Dobson” ID guide). After a bit of searching – there it was, one patch about the size of a 50 pence piece, with 2 much smaller patches close by. Out came the camera to get a decent photo and the Garmin was left for a while to provide an accurate grid reference. The most distinctive feature was the reddish-grey background (right) on which the “scripts” occur as can be seen in the attached photograph. Having gained a little knowledge about some of the other important aspen lichens from my outing in January, I thought it was worth checking out as many of the other trees as possible before it was time to head home. And there it was again, another patch of speckled script lichen, but on another tree! A couple of hours later, as the rain started to fall, the lichen had been found on another 3 trees, and it was time to call it a day and see what fun there
might be on the track home. Not a problem, the tracks made earlier in the day had allowed a bit of thawing snow to run in the tyre tracks and the vehicle sailed in and out of suicide bend – well sort of!
The period since the last diary has seen quite a bit of time staring and pointing at aspen trees, the latter practice allowing a photo to be taken to show where on the tree the lichen has been found (left). More
Sclerophora pin-heads have been found in two new as
pen stands and a search close to Forest Lodge re-found the same lichen on an alder tree where originally found in 2001. Whilst in the woods it has been obvious that spring has been progressing a-pace. Duck weed suddenly appeared on a water-course at Forest Lodge, celandine leaves by the River Spey and the clover shaped leaves of wood sorrel (right) in many of the woods. In the garden snow drops appeared just as quickly as the snow disappeared and there are masses just about everywhere. A few colourful
crocuses have been flexing their petals on the sunnier days. A visit to the reserve’s tiny patch of hazel found catkins (left) hanging everywhere and, on some of the smaller branches a new lichen for the reserve was found, another species with a brilliant name
Graphis scripta (right
). Me finding a new lichen, which I am personally going to call Hazel Script! Not to be left out I fou
nd a single green shield-moss capsule on a Norway spruce root.
This month has also seen another historical landmark for the Osprey Centre – the installation of a mains power
cable to get the Centre away from the problems associated with an on-site gas generator. The weather almost put an end to work starting before the end of the osprey season, but with the thaw setting in mid-month, trenching started at the Centre and within the first week the cable linking the Centre with the transformer at the car park was completed. With the easy bit completed work started with the much heavier work associated with getting the cable underground between the car park on the B970 a mile away! Just by chance I was on hand to photograph the arrival of the cable at the car park before the task of burying it began. As I write
, the cable has been buried as far as the Loch Garten/Mallachie and the first of two road crossings is just about to be made. Don’t hold your breath though; the installation won’t be completed in time for the opening of the Osprey Centre later this week.
After many years of folk across the Cairngorms not having a real handle on the numbers of deer across vast areas of high ground, the Red Deer Commission took the decision a few years ago that they would take on the task of organising a reasonably accurate count – from the air. A long way ahead of this decision staff at Abernethy undertook a huge logistical exercise twice a year, to put enough folk on the ground to count all the hill ground and the southern half of the forest. Thes
e outings provided reasonably accurate counts, the number of deer counted then being used to work out the annual cull required to maintain a population that was compatible with allowing some natural regeneration of the forest to take place. It was a system that worked well and after 20 years the reserve still holds a reasonable number of deer but also has about 1000 hectares of new woodland developing. The new system as operated by the RDC though has superseded the old method and the count now requires a reasonable spell of weather so that several adjacent estates can be counted on the same day, reducing the potential error that could be possible if the count took a few days and deer were able to move between estates. So, a week ago, the call went out for help for a few folk to go out towards the edge of the woodland, and walk noisily through the forest, pushing out any red deer that may be sheltering there. As the walk through the forest is completed the helicopte
r flies over the edge of the forest and adjacent moorland and the RDC staff on board take photographs with a highly sophisticated camera of all the groups of deer they encounter. The photographs are then used to allow counts of the deer to be made complete with GPS details of where the deer were photographed. Amazing. The best bit of out morning outing though was right at the start. Three Abernethy staff had been joined by staff and students from Elmwood College (
http://www.elmwood.ac.uk/full_time_courses.php ) for our section of woodland and as we made our way across an area of boggy ground there, right in front of us was an adult golden eagle (left), flying towards us and at no more than tree height! An amazing encounter and something the students would remember for a long time.
After 34 years of working at Abernethy I have just 2 days to go before I retire on the 31 March. Having stepped down from the Senior Site Manager role way back in 2002, my part-time work since has allowed me time to build our house, see a bit more of my family and chalet guests and to spend much more time in the field looking and recording. I will be for ever grateful that the Society allowed me to reduce my hours and gradually ease my way towards retirement, though it will be a couple of years yet before I will qualify for the state pension. Last Thursday Janet prepared an amazing me
al so that the folk who I have worked closely with over so many years could all get together, at Forest Lodge, for one last time. Pete, my long term boss from the North Scotland office started proceedings with a few kind words, and colleague Andy was on hand to present me with an amazing set of microscopes to enable me to get even closer to the things I encounter on my travels. I gather contributions had arrived towards the purchase from throughout the Society, quite humbling really to know I had been remembered by so many folk who had work with me at Abernethy and from others who I had met up with at some of the many conferences and courses over the years. So, the end of an era is nig
h and for a little while I will take stock and enjoy not having to get up for work for the first time in 48 years! You can guarantee that I won’t be sitting at home watching day-time TV, there are just too many distractions in the surrounding countryside for that. It has been an honour and a privilege to have been involved from the birth of the Abernethy Reserve, to see a 600 hectare reserve expand to almost 14,000 hectares to become the most important nature reserve in Britain. I also have to say a big thank you to Janet for the major part she has played in supporting me AND the RSPB through much of this time. A brilliant journey and great to have been involved.
Enjoy the read
Best wishes from Stewart & Janet
Loch Garten a day after the thaw
All photos © Stewart Taylor
