Eagle Learns about Leks

Wow. An amazing sight very early this morning. While out counting black grouse lekking (displaying) as part of ongoing monitoring, a juvenile golden eagle appeared. The black grouse all disappeared in a flash and the young eagle didn't catch one, but it hung around. The urge to lek is so strong in the male black grouse that they started coming back fairly soon and the eagle had another swoop in.

A young eagle - note the white tail and white undersides to its wings

A male black grouse at a lek. An easy target???

I watched for about half an hour and the eagle had no luck. Black grouse are generally only occasional prey for an eagle, but if this one does learn to catch them, then he has breakfast lined up every spring as the birds not only congregate but make a bubbling call as well, alerting the eagle to where they are. However, as eagles are generally lazy hunters it might well be that it's all too much hassle.

Snow Melt Adds To Heavy Rainfall

The weather has been very wet here since the early hours of Sunday morning. Heavy rainfall combined with milder temperatures has meant that much of the snow from the higher ground has been melting, swelling the rivers and burns and making them run in high spate. You can see from the picture and video below just what a difference this can make

A tranquil view of Gilbert's Bridge in Glen Tilt on a 'normal' day.
The river is relatively calm. in this picture

The video above was taken from the top of Gilbert's Bridge on Sunday morning. 

The river was in heavy spate and flowing very fast!

Lambs and the Springtime

Well it must be spring because the lambs are appearing. The temperatures outside tell us it is still winter, but our cross-breed sheep started lambing last week. It should be a lovely time of year, but unfortunately the extreme cold weather has made things very tough for the ewes and lambs. There is no growth at all of the fresh, nutrient-rich grass which is so important at this time of year for the pregnant and lactating ewes. Our sheep lamb outside and would normally be grazing on the rich, green field now, but instead they are having to make do with winter rations. Some ewes are very hungry, others have re-absorbed lambs or lost them after they have been born. The mothers with triplets are suffering most as they have to give so much to their lambs. It will take some time now for the soil to warm up enough for the grass to grow, and until then we risk losing more lambs every day because the mothers can't provide enough for them. Sad indeed.

Mother and lamb in the 'special care unit'

You can help by keeping disturbance of the sheep to a  minimum by keeping to paths and keeping dogs on leads amongst the sheep.

You can also help struggling our sheep and cattle farmers throughout the country by making an effort to buy British meat.

Let's hope that by the time the Blackface lambs are due in May, things are looking a whole lot better for them.

Last Chance - Make Your Vote Count for Nature!

Caledonian Pine woodland

Image: RSPB

Today is the last day of voting to award €20,000 (£17,000) of funding to a European wildlife project. All of the projects nominated are excellent and details can be found here. 

The RSPB have a reserve at Abernethy Forest, near Aviemore in the Cairngorms National Park that is up for the funding, which could be vital to the success of their project to restore Caledonian pine woodland from fragmentary, to continuous habitat.

But they need your votes to get the money! So please read the letter (quoted below) from the RSPBs Abernethy Forest, site manager and then head over to outdoorconservation.eu or TGO Magazine to cast your vote!



Please vote for Abernethy

We are delighted to announce that our project to re-connect Abernethy forest with neighbouring Glenmore has been shortlisted by the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) for a potential award of nearly 20,000 Euros.

This project will be an exciting step towards restoring Scotland’s magnificent Caledonian forest - but we need your vote if we are to be successful in securing the funds!

Please click here, to vote for our project “Restoring Scotland’s Caledonian Forest”.
We will need thousands of votes, so please do share this link with your family and friends!
This area is now the capercaillie’s final remaining stronghold in the UK. The expansion and re-connection of individual forests, such as the two forests of Abernethy and Glenmore, is crucial to provide the extensive habitat these birds require.

We hope to plant 30,000 trees in this area over two years, to create a huge wildlife corridor – set to benefit an array of incredible woodland wildlife. There will also be new interpretation at nearby Ryvoan bothy to describe our vision for the forest and the species which depend on it.

Voting ends on 28 March, with the winning project announced shortly thereafter.
Thank you for your support.

Jeremy Roberts 

Senior Site Manager
Abernethy Forest

Please VOTE NOW

If you have problems voting the above link you can also vote through the TGO magazine website.

Opening Ceremony - Blair Atholl Information Centre

Today was the official opening ceremony for the newly refurbished Blair Atholl Information Centre. John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable  and MSP for Perthshire North, came to cut the ribbon. There were also members of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Perth and Kinross Council, Atholl Estates and the Blair Atholl Area Tourism Association, as well as representatives from local businesses, all present.

School children from Blair Atholl School came along too.They took part in some activities inside the Centre and were involved in a key role in the ribbon-cutting ceremony - holding the ribbon!

Most importantly there was a fantastic cake, supplied by the thoughtful staff at the Cairngorms National Park Authority. Today was a double celebration, not just opening our new Information Centre, but also that this year marks the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of the Cairngorms National Park. After thorough testing, everyone seemed keen to agree that it was very tasty!

The Cake! Kindly supplied by the Cairngorms National Park Authority, marking
the opening of the Information Centre and 10th Anniversary of the National Park

Many thanks to everyone who came out to make today special. Perhaps also, even bigger thanks to everyone who has been involved 'behind the scenes' to enable this great new facility transition from idle daydream to happy reality.

If you're passing near Blair Atholl, call in for a peek around, and perhaps a chat with one of the Rangers on duty!

Litter Pick Postponed

The Blair Atholl Community Litter Pick that was scheduled for today at 10 am has been postponed due to the weather. There's just enough snow lying on the ground to cover up the litter.

The litter pick has been moved back to next week

 Wednesday 27th March at 10am

Last year's litter pick: bright, sunny and warm... not like today!

Information Centre: Grand Opening Friday

The Blair Atholl Information Centre, operated by the Ranger Service, is getting it's 'Grand Opening' this Friday, 22nd March. The centre has been in use since completion of the refurbishment work carried out last summer but now that the car park and external facilities have been finished, it's time to celebrate the fact and prepare for the coming season. The 'ceremony' should be quite fun and as well as local dignitaries and MP's coming along, the local school children and other members of the community will be coming too.

If you come along on the day -or if you're just passing through- call in and have a look around. You can leave us a message in the visitor book to let us know how your visit went. We'd love to hear your stories and any comments or suggestions you might have.