Small Cow-wheat is Special

Small cow-wheat (Melampyrum sylvaticum) grows on at least 2 sites on Atholl Estates. This is pretty good going as it's only found in 18 sites in the whole of Britain, most of which are in Scotland. Now is the perfect time to see it as it's flowering, and relatively easy to distinguish from its common cousin - common cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense). It likes to grow in areas that are somewhat damp and shady, and also steals some nutrients from other nearby plants - it is a hemi-parasite. Its seeds are dispersed by ants, in fact, ants assisted with some conservation work here to spread out the range of one patch of cow-wheat, by taking the seeds further than they had been put by humans.

Removing bracken from a small cow-wheat site

Small cow-wheat flower

The seeds of the small cow-wheat are dispersed by ants. Where this doesn't happen, the flower doesn't spread to new areas and simply becomes very concentrated in one small locality. This is happening here to some extent and so, in conjunction with the National Park, we are trying to help the flower's future success by dispersing some seeds, and also keeping back invasive plants such as bracken and horsetail.

One of our small cow-wheat sites is very easy to visit up Glen Tilt, and we hope to have some interpretation on site soon.

Small cow-wheat is one of the species involved with the Cairngorms Rare Plant project, which aims to deliver urgently needed action for four threatened plants of high conservation importance in the Cairngorms National Park. www.cairngormsrareplants.org.uk/

We also got the priveleged but very sad close-up of a male pine marten today. It had been hit on the road near the House of Bruar but was still in very good condition. The canine teeth and claws are particularly impressive so close up. We have many pine martens living in the woods here, but being nocturnal and shy, they are rarely seen. We will use this one for educational purposes.

Open Day 2012

The 5th biennial Atholl Estates Open Day took place on the 30th of May last week and was, by all accounts, a great success. The estate opened its gates to over 600 school children from schools across Perth and Kinross so that they could come along and find out about the running of a modern Highland estate. Everyone from the Works Department, the Horse Trials, the Gamekeepers, Pony Trekking Center, Forestry Department, Farm, Castle Gardens, and more (including the Ranger Service!) were on hand to provide activities and insights into just what it is that they do. And to have a little fun along the way, of course!

Well prepared children arriving for the Open Day

Tight competition on the Works Department obstacle course

School children setting off on a tractor tour

It was great to see all the children laughing and smiling and enjoying their day out. Hopefully they will all have learned something about Atholl Estates too. A lot of children certainly seemed to enjoy our 'Scottish Outdoor Access Code Challenge' game - seeing who could throw the most 'rubbish' into the bin from 3 metres was very popular, as was putting out our 'fire' (painted on plywood) by knocking it over with wet tennis balls!

The staff seemed to have a good time too, so roll-on two years time for the next one!

Osprey Antics

It was a whole month ago now that we took the Blair Atholl Nature Club on an outing to the Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve, run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. That we're only telling you about it now just goes to show what a busy month this has been!

It was a great day out for everyone. We learned about the wildlife that lives on the reserve and lots of interesting things about the reserves star attractions, a pair of breeding Ospreys. Everyone's favorite part of the whole trip was building a life-size model of an Osprey nest. Appreciating all the effort that goes into building a nest roughly the size of a double bed really makes you appreciate the lengths these birds go to and the strength they posess.

Inside the osprey nest holding two replica osprey eggs

Many thanks to the Scottish Wildlife Trust Ranger for organising and entertaining the Nature Club! It's

Bark Britain

We ran our Bark Britain sponsored dog walk today. We couldn't ask for better weather, lovely and sunny, but not too hot for the dogs. Thanks to everyone who took part, we raised more than £500 for Macmillan Cancer and Medical Detection Dogs today. Special congratulations to Cara, a border collie with only 3 legs, who still managed to complete the 10 mile route.

Look carefully - I've only got 3 legs!

Black Grouse Count

Last weekend we finished off our black grouse surveying for this season. Black grouse (Tetrao terix) are an upland species, usually found somewhere between 250 to 500 meters altitude on heath and farmland, usually near trees or other forestry which they use for shelter. The males display to compete for the attention of females and gather together on areas of open ground to show off their prowess. The site where the grouse congregate and display is known as a 'lek.' Females also gather at these leks and will select the top male to mate with.

Two Black grouse males lekking on Atholl Estates.
Photo: C. Gilhooley

Although black grouse are not considered to be threatened as a species, numbers of black grouse have declined in the UK and the bird is now completely gone from many of the sites where it would have formerly lived. The decline of the species in the UK is largely due to habitat loss and disturbance as well as predation from foxes and crows, etc. Perthshire and the Cairngorms National Park however remains a stronghold for the black grouse and the numbers are thought to have been increasing in recent years.

The surveying that we carried out meant that we had to be up to observe the lek sites and count the number of males in attendance in the very early morning, at around dawn. The highest number of grouse that we counted at an individual lek site was 30 but leks of 8 to 12 were also common. In Russia, gatherings of 150 are not uncommon - this must be a very noisy congregation as the loud, bubbling call of the male  can carry for up to a kilometer and appear very noisy in the quiet of the early morning. During the display the cock (male bird) crouches down and fans his lyre-shaped tail to display his striking white under-tail feathers while partially spreading his wings and inflating his vivid red wattles (the red protuberances above the eyes).

Our count data will be collected by the Perthshire Black Grouse Study Group and when everyone involved has submitted their figures we will be able to get an accurate picture of how the population is doing this year. The reason that we won't know for sure until all the numbers are in, is because the lek sites and the sites that individuals attend can vary each year.

If you'd like to find out more about the studies of black grouse, or know of black grouse in your area and would like to get involved with counts there's plenty of information available at the Black Grouse UK website.

Songs of Spring

The migrant birds are fast returning from their winter homes. Last weekend willow warblers returned to Blair Atholl. Chiff chaffs have been around for a good while. These 2 birds look very similar, and their song is the easy way to distinguish them. they are both a yellowy, green, brown colour and quite hard to see, but the chiff chaff advertises his presence singing Chiff Chaff, Chiff Chaff, Chiff Chaff... endlessy. The willow warbler manages a lot more of a tune, with a lovely song that slowly descends in tone.


Spot the difference, the chiffchaff is the one on the right!

photo credit: Hans Hillewaert

We are eagerly awaiting the first swallows. They have already been back in Pitlochry for quite a few days so they should be here any day.

The good weather earlier in the spring has also meant that a lot of birds got a good headstart breeding and we have already seen a lot of birds' eggshells on the ground. Hopefully a sign of hatching rather than predation.

Really Wild Cats?

Yesterday was the closing conference for the Cairngorm Wildcat project. After four years of intensive study and working with landowners to champion the plight of the Highland Tiger, the project is coming to an end. But that won't be the end of the work aimed at saving the wildcat from extinction in Scotland. There was a real sense of positivity at the conference. A feeling that the close of this project  was really the beginning of a new phase, one where something might really start to be achieved, building on the knowledge, experience and relationships that the project has helped to develop.

Wildcat - the highland tiger sneaks through a hole in the fence

There were many interesting things discussed but one of the most immediately startling was the reminder that one of the greatest threats to the 400 or so 'true' wildcats still in the wild remains the threat from hybrid and domestic cats. A staggering 90% of the wild-living cats that inhabit the Cairngorms National park are thought to be either domestic or hybrid cats, only the remaining 10% are 'true' wildcats.' These feral and hybrid cats are a threat to the wildcat because they compete for the same resources (food, habitat, den sites, etc.) as well as transmitting diseases but they can also compete for mates meaning that there can be a reduction in the 'wild lineage' if the 'true' Scottish Wildcats are prevented from breeding with each other. As there are about 17,000 people living in and around the National Park and 1 in 6 of us own a cat, responsible cat ownership is perhaps more relevant than ever before. Have a look at the pictures of the wildcat (above) and hybrid (below) and see if you can tell the difference.

Hybrid cat - the white 'socks' are a dead giveaway.  

So the hopeful outlook of the conference will, with luck and more than a little hard graft, translate into an optimistic outlook for the wildcat. Certainly, there is a lot of goodwill for the Scotland's last wild feline. Now we have to turn its recovery into reality.