Issue 101, Autumn 2020

Highland Birds The Newsletter of RSPB Scotland’s Highland Local Group

Photo: Gannets, Nigel McMillan (RSPB Highland Local Group) Inside this Edition:

• From the Organising Team • Local Birding, February • Loch Ruthven and Strathdearn • Gulls and Plastic • Looking back on 100 Issues • The Age of the Swallow • Book Reviews From the Organising Team that with Christmas approaching, none of us want to Alan Jones and Maureen MacDonald place ourselves in unnecessary situations with the risk of infection – this has been a difficult year, Hello member/s nobody wants to spoil their chances of a happy Christmas with family and friends if it can be We hope you are well, been able to enjoy the avoided. However, if restrictions allow, we may summer and the birds visiting your gardens. Who have a morning outing on Saturday December 5 would have thought, at the beginning of 2020, the which could be followed by a pub lunch somewhere. world would end up in the grips of a pandemic? We If we are able to have a November indoor meeting, are very fortunate to live in Scotland: although some names of those interested in a December outing of you who stay in the central belt area have seen a would be collected then. At present, RSPB higher rate of infection, here in the north, the rate of volunteers are not permitted to car share; by that infection has been significantly lower. The most time, this restriction could be lifted, however, we feel important thing is to stay safe and well through the it is up to the car owner/owners to decide if they are uplifting of lockdown; we can then look forward to willing to share their vehicle with others and, if so, 2021, when, hopefully, life will return to some form they can decide if they wish passengers to wear a of normality; although probably not as we knew it face covering whilst in their car if it is not mandatory. before Covid 19. One other alteration is the Bird Count on Sunday January 3, 2021. Mary and David Galloway are As you can see from your enclosed Programme, we unable to offer hospitality due to the risks which may have organised a full composition of indoor and be involved. Instead, they have requested that outdoor meetings for the 2020/2021 session. participants send their records electronically, thus However, following the present RSPB guidelines enabling them to determine the winner. which state that neither type of event should go ahead until December 31, 2020, we can advise you The 2020/2021 session is going to be a series of that this will be reviewed at a meeting on October 5, “If’s” with circumstances possibly changing 2020. We therefore decided to cancel the indoor continually. We understand that we all have to be meeting on September 24, and the outing on very cautious just now and during the winter Thursday October 15. As we continue to come out months, but, if restrictions allow, we look forward of lockdown, we need something to look forward to to welcoming you to the first indoor meeting or field so, we made the decision to leave the remaining trip, whichever comes first. meetings and outings for 2020 in place. If necessary, depending on the instructions from the Please remember that your welfare is paramount Scottish Government, the RSPB and Greyfriairs with the RSPB and us; we will cancel any event at Church, we will cancel each event as we approach short notice depending on directions received from it, if required. A bulletin will be displayed under the RSPB. “News” each month in the Group’s website which you can refer to; if not, please feel free to phone for Take care and please keep checking the website. information. Maureen MacDonald The Annual General Meeting covering the year As seems to have been the case with everything 2019-2020, which was to have been as part of our else in 2020, this edition of “Highland Birds” is Indoor Meeting on Thursday April 25, will now be different from usual. We had expected it to consist held at our next Indoor Meeting, whenever that mainly of reports of our Indoor Meetings and Field takes place. Trips, from March onwards; however, none of these

happened this year! With regard to the Field Trips we would inform you that we have cancelled the Christmas Lunch this We have included a report by Jim Fulton of a field year; we do not think the majority of you would be trip in February, which, despite being included in the happy to travel in a minibus even although we have original draft of our Spring Newsletter, somehow got booked two which would allow social distancing. left out of the published edition. We have also Nairn Community Council, who were supplying the included a sort of “what might have been” version of minibuses may not want their volunteer drivers to be the March field trip, in which Maureen MacDonald subjected to any risks – it is too soon. Also, we feel looks back on previous visits to Loch Ruthven and order from me, 35% of your total purchases will Strathdearn, and what she has seen there. come back to this area i.e. for every £10.00 you spend, the North Scotland Regional Office receive th The Spring edition of this Newsletter was the 100 , £3.50. During the year 2019/2020 £628.00 was and we had hoped to include an article looking back collected by Highland Local Group and will be spent over its history, but at the time this was not possible. in this area. This would not apply with on-line orders. However, as half-promised, it appears here in Newsletter No. 101. If anyone would like a catalogue sent to them, please let me know. One feature of “Highland Birds” over the years has been articles about group members’ trips abroad Maureen MacDonald and the wildlife they have seen. Mostly, these trips have been to the warmer parts of the world; Local Birding however, in this issue we have an account by Field Trip: Saturday February 1 Laurence Reeve about a visit to Siberia and Eastern Nine brave souls ventured out and met at the RSPB Russia. office car park for a local birding outing. The first port We were approached by Kirsty Knight, a student at of call was under the bridge at North Kessock where the University of the Highlands and Islands, who the previous day had given us a selection of asked if we would be interested in hearing about her seabirds and three otters, but today, few birds and research into the effects of plastic pollution on no otters. herring gulls. We are keen to support local work by young people in their work with birdlife (and wildlife more generally) when we can, and we are very pleased to include an article on Kirsty’s research in this Newsletter.

We have also included an article on swallows and their migration by Danilo Salveggi, Director General of the Lega Italiana Protezzione Ucelli (Italian League for Bird Protection). Our Highland Group has been a member of the UK branch LIPU for 20 years, so again we felt it would be appropriate for our group members to read about some of the work which they have been supporting overseas. After all, migrating birds know no national boundaries! Heron, Robert McKenzie (RSPB Highland Local Group) Finally, the reduced opportunities to watch birds during lockdown has meant that I have spent more Onward to Redcastle, hugging the shoreline, we time reading about them! I have included in this saw teal, wigeon, mallard and herons, as Newsletter three reviews of recent books about expected. The rain fell heavily, keeping the smaller birds and wildlife. birds out of sight, but we saw the common tits here.

Alan Jones Stopping at Killearnan Church we enjoyed a walk past the old quarry to a well-supplied bird table RSPB Sales Ltd which gave us great spotted woodpecker, siskin, Depending on whether we are able to have an tree sparrow, etc. indoor or outdoor meeting before December, I On to Dingwall, where, at the Point, we saw a little wanted to let you know that I will have the usual grebe, dunlin, redshank, curlew, etc. We stopped selection of general and Christmas items in stock. If here for a well-earned lunch break. we are unable to meet and you wish to purchase items, please either email me or phone; Then on to Strathpeffer and up to Loch Kinellan delivery/collection can be mutually arranged. where we saw goldeneye, tufted ducks and numerous coots, finishing with two pheasants, You can order online but, unless there is a special offer on, you incur a postage charge. Also, if you giving us a total of 42. All in all a very enjoyable day “devil’s elbow” where wheatears can be seen on with reasonable weather for February. the wall sometimes feeding young – not nearly as many nowadays. Coming along the flat area at the Jim Fulton top, this has been good for swallows – these numbers have greatly reduced over the years. At Loch Ruthven & Strathdearn the two-storey white house on your left, a buzzard Field Trip: Saturday April 24 was keeping a lookout from the top of the chimney Unfortunately, due to lockdown, this field trip had to pot. Approaching the straight road looking down on be cancelled. However, I thought I would share the east end of Loch Ruthven, this is “cuckoo row”; apart from this year, I have always seen at least one some of my memories of these locations spanning many years as a Highland Local Group member and cuckoo on the telephone wire or a fence post. One a Loch Ruthven volunteer. year, I was very fortunate to witness two male cuckoos at opposite ends of the telephone wire trying to impress the female cuckoo who was sitting on a fence post between them. I watched them for a short time because I did not want to disturb them; but, I never stopped smiling for the rest of the day – money cannot buy these moments, it is just a case of being in the right place at the right time.

Loch Ruthven can be very rewarding some days, others, not so, but over the years I have seen the following:-

From the hide: osprey, a woodpecker family, (in the pine trees opposite) a wren family, stunning Loch Ruthven, Andy Hay (rspb-images.com) male reed bunting, Bonaparte’s gull, red- throated divers calling, little grebes, red kite, Leaving from North Scotland Regional Office car willow warbler, chiffchaff as well as several duck park taking the distributor road (B8082) until we species and not forgetting the main attraction at come to the roundabout for Stratherrick Road, we Loch Ruthven, the Slavonian grebes and their will turn left onto the Torbreck, Essich road. Just chicks. after Achvraid Farm, on left amongst the bushes, I have seen yellowhammer and magpie. Passing Loch Ashie on the left, the small trees here are very good for small birds i.e. chaffinch, blue, great tits and siskins; continuing on the General Wade Military Road, red kite can be seen. Approaching Loch Duntelchaig looking down, I have been lucky to see a black-throated diver with two young; this was near the end of the breeding season just before the young fledged. Turning left for Loch Ruthven I have observed a large flock of redwing in April and also red-legged partridge later in the year. Once over the cattle grid, on the rocks to your right I watched a raven family, two adults and three young Slavonian grebe, Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com) who were obviously receiving instructions from the adults. As you come down the brae, common One occasion is still very vivid in my memory even sandpiper have been seen at the water’s edge as although a few years have passed; one pair of well as on the wall. Just a couple of years ago, at Slavonian grebes were defending their nest against the beginning of the season, I had a superb view of an intruder, this spat lasted 25 minutes with the pair a male black-throated diver, on the water, not far out attempting to drown the intruder – murder in front of from the end of Loch Duntelchaig, resplendent in his my eyes! It was amazing to watch, I was pleased breeding plumage. Carrying on up the hill and the intruder eventually accepted defeat and swam through the trees we come to Loch Ruthven’s away probably with a few bruises. On another occasion, I arrived at the hide to see the pair of Continuing on the B851 until the junction for the Slavonian grebes, who had built their nest in the Garbole road passing Loch Farr on the right, this is reed bed just in front of the hide, swimming around a very interesting road, challenging at times, and the nest which was totally destroyed and the eggs depending on the weather conditions it can be in the nest taken – the culprit was thought to be an excellent for raptors. I have seen, as you would otter. It was upsetting to witness the birds very expect, red grouse. Nearing the end of this road, distressed and upset – you could see and feel their coming through the trees I saw a large flock of pain. mistle thrush and in the field opposite the junction at Garbole several golden plover . Between the hide and the beach area: whooper swans, common sandpiper, osprey with fish and a The last stop, the car park at Coignafearn where on long-tailed tit family flitting through the trees just the scree opposite were ring ouzel, golden eagle above my head. and peregrine; then, in the distance, a flying white- tailed eagle. Beach area: On the small island of stones which shows when the water level is low, a red-breasted As you can see from your 2020/2021 programme, merganser family (2 adults and 5 young,) common the 2020 outing has been rescheduled; now I am not tern, black-headed gulls and common gull. promising you that you will see all these species because my sightings have been spread over two Between the beach and the car park: robin, and the seasons, spring and summer. However, hopefully most memorable, the grasshopper warbler in one we will see as many as possible. of the willow bushes singing its head off (unfortunately, I could not hear its reeling song but I Finally, you all must have memories of exciting could clearly see its open beak.) sightings over the years – why not share them with us in an article? It is always a privilege to observe From the car park: peregrine in flight, buzzard, nature at all times. kestrel, golden eagle, merlin flying low, jay, meadow pipits and osprey family (2 adults and 2 Maureen MacDonald young,) swallows, house and sand martins, swifts, raven and crossbills in the pine trees A Visit to Russia opposite.

Leaving Loch Ruthven behind and continuing to the junction at Croachy, in the field on the right I have seen lapwing with young; also, the unforgettable three wood sandpipers feeding in this field where a large part had been flooded.

Snow Leopard, Laurence Reeve (RSPB Highland Local Group)

At the end of February this year we left Heathrow bound for Moscow and ultimately the far east of Russia/Siberia. Moscow is a beautiful city and some of the best art/sculpture is actually to be found on the vast underground rail system! From Moscow we flew to Khabarovsk, a flight of over nine hours! From Wood sandpiper, Mike Langman (rspb-images.com) the airport we transferred into a mini-bus to take us to our hotel in Khabarovsk and after a quick wash etc. we went out to explore our part of the city. The mighty Amur river runs through the city and at this collared female and her three-year old daughter time of year is frozen from bank to bank! (never together), as well as Siberian weasels,

The following morning, we set out headed for the Durminskoye forest, our home for the next five days. The camp in the middle of the forest is very basic but the accommodation was dry and kept warm by large wood-burning heaters. At night the temperatures went down to -20c but during the day was around -2 to +2c, about the same daytime temperatures we had been having on Speyside.

Each day we headed out into the forest either on foot, on snowmobiles or in four-wheel drive vehicles. We saw plenty of nuthatches, willow and marsh Siberian weasel, Laurence Reeve (RSPB Highland tits, Japanese tits, Eurasian and Siberian jays, Local Group)

Eurasian magpies and jays, marsh and Japanese tits, great spotted, grey-headed, lesser-spotted, black, Eurasian three-toed, and white-backed woodpeckers, and nuthatches everywhere. One morning I watched a pair of golden eagles displaying for about ten minutes just above me! Another hide was visited by a tiger during the night, as the deer-carcass put out to attract predators (in front of the hides) had been shifted and the huge pug-marks could be seen in the snow ! Siberian Jay, Laurence Reeve (RSPB Highland Local Group) On our drive back to the airport at Vladivostock we saw around a dozen white-tailed eagles flying and Eurasian magpies, large-billed crows and great perched in various trees! spotted woodpeckers. We also saw plenty of signs of Amur tiger, lynx, wild boar, Siberian roe deer and We flew back to Heathrow via Moscow and were Manchurian wapiti (elk). We also saw lots of tree- lucky to get back just three days before lockdown. A nests made by Asian black bears which now friend of mine was not so lucky and spent nearly unfortunately were still in their dens hibernating. We three weeks stuck out in Peru before being able to set out a number of camera-traps in the forest and fly back to the UK! managed to get a tiger on one and a lynx on another! The tiger footage was taken ten minutes I hope this small article will give members some after we set it up! It was interesting seeing all the insight into life in one of the more remote areas of pug-marks in the snow and scratch marks on the wildlife interest. tree-trunks etc. We managed quick glimpses of a sable, mountain hare and red squirrel. We tried Laurence Reeve staying out as it got dark to see if we could see anything else but the bigger mammals remained Plastics strike again: A study into debris within largely elusive! the nests of European herring gulls.

As we know, within the last decade the impacts of As our time in Durminskoye came to an end we marine debris, with emphasis on plastics, has drove back to the airport and boarded another plane escalated to a global concern. Plastic production is bound for Vladivostock. From the airport here we increasing by 8% annually; and plastic is now drove to another forested area, the Land of the entering the world’s oceans at an alarming rate. The Leopard National Park. Here we spent six days and United Nations Environment Programme reported nights in small hides looking for Amur leopard and that human induced plastic pollution is one of the tiger. From one hide I saw two leopards, a radio- predominant environmental threats to marine seabirds. Through encountering marine debris My research concentrated on the nest incorporation seabirds are at risk of ingestion, entanglement, and of debris by European herring gulls. In order to do nest incorporation. this, photographs of nests were collected from a gull colony on Lady Isle. Lady Isle is a small uninhabited Research has found that seabirds are highly island approximately 5.6 km from the Ayrshire susceptible to entanglement from marine debris. A Coast. 2018 study found that 55% of bird orders are recorded to have been entangled in plastics of The island has been of ornithological interest for various types including discarded fishing gear such approximately 90 years, formerly designated as a as plastic fishing line or synthetic rope. However, nature reserve when it was discovered to be home the likelihood of encountering an entangled seabird to a colony of roseate terns (Sterna dougallii) in the is low. Therefore, by monitoring the amount of 1950’s. Although the tern colony is long since gone, debris within nests we can establish an alternative, the island remains home to a variety of bird species, non-invasive method of monitoring the likelihood of including gulls. an individual becoming entangled. The 32 nests were photographed on the 16th May It is recognised that a variety of seabirds that build 2019 and in March this year I began to study the surface nests will collect and incorporate marine contents. Each nest image was then uploaded to a debris. Research suggests that this occurs modified computer software. A grid of 100 random unintentionally due to the similarity between some points was overlaid on top of the nest. debris types and natural nesting materials. For example, threadlike plastics, such as rope, can bear a resemblance to grasses and seaweeds. An array of other human debris such as plastic bags, balloons, discarded fishing gear and plastic rings from multipack drinks can all cause entanglement. Entanglement from such debris can cause restrictions in a bird’s ability to fly and therefore to forage for food, resulting in starvation.

European herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are known to frequently encounter debris due to the fact that they forage over both sea and land. They are also semi-colonial nesters which means their nests often exist in large numbers making them an Herring gull nest with grid of 100 randomised points. excellent study species. However, in the UK the breeding population trend is currently decreasing (Photo by Nina O’Hanlon, U.H.I.) along with wintering population declines. Herring gulls currently hold a “red” conservation status in the Each of the points was categorised according to UK. what lay underneath it, “natural material” or “debris material”. Natural materials included sticks, seaweed, feathers, eggs, grass, shells etc. The debris materials were sorted into 5 different categories, including: ‘sheet plastic’, ‘hard plastic’, ‘threadlike plastic’, ‘foamed plastics’, and ‘other’ (see table)

Herring gull, Grahame Madge (rspb-images.com)

Table of debris types

Material Type Description/Examples

Natural Natural material Anything natural within nest, e.g. Material sticks, seaweed, feathers, eggs, grass.

Debris Sheet plastic Plastic bags Material Hard plastic Bottle tops, plastic bottles

Threadlike plastic Rope, netting, fishing line, packaging straps

Foamed plastics Styrofoam, polystyrene e.g. packaging, fishing floats

Other debris Any non-plastic material, e.g. glass, metal, paper etc.

Threadlike plastic in close proximity to eggs poses risk The results showed that 100% of the nests of entanglement to hatchlings contained debris! The most common debris type (Photo by Nina O’Hanlon, U.H.I.) found was sheet plastic and the least common was threadlike plastic. However, the presence of sheet plastics should not be overlooked. Its presence can negatively These results were compared to nests from a affect the structural robustness, thermal second colony in South Walney, England. 37 nests were observed from this location and 54% dynamics and drainage properties of nests, contained debris. We found that the occurrence of consequently impacting the success of young debris types within this location was in fact the chicks. opposite to that found on Lady Isle. The most common debris type found was threadlike plastics and the least common was sheet plastic. Interestingly, there were no foamed synthetics found within any of the nests from either of the locations.

Graph showing differences in debris types between the two location

Sheet plastic near herring gull egg

(Photo by Nina O’Hanlon U.H.I.)

There is no doubt that global action is required to tackle plastic pollution but there are ways in which we as individuals can help:

What can you do to help?

As the results found that threadlike plastics were Take part in beach cleans within your local more predominant in the South Walney location, this area possibly indicates that this debris type is more Reduce single use plastics by, for example: using a available within the local area and therefore possibly reusable water bottle and taking reusable shopping indicates a higher level of fishing surrounding the bags foraging range of the gulls. Moreover, threadlike plastics pose an increased threat of entanglement to nesting individuals compared with sheet plastics. Recycle The Environmental Research Institute, based in The first issue reported on the establishment of the Thurso, is an academic partner of UHI and have local “junior” branch of the RSPB (then the Y.O.C., launched a website to monitor entanglement and or Young Ornithologists’ Club) in December 1987; nest incorporation of both sea and land birds on a an article on a “Little Auk influx into the Inner Moray global scale. Firth”; a piece on some work by the Highland Ringing Group on ringing and wing-tagging curlews If you have any images or notes of nest (with an appeal to the group members to notify the incorporation or entangled birds (past, present or Highland office of the RSPB if they saw any of these future) please visit the following website to record marked birds); a report on the establishment of a your findings: https://www.birdsanddebris.com new RSPB reserve at Loch Ruthven (to be followed Follow their findings on Twitter @BirdsDebris in the next issue, the Editor promised, by “an article on another new RSPB reserve in the Highlands – If you are interested in this research and would like Abernethy Forest”); and a report of an oil spill in the further information please email: Inner Moray Firth. [email protected] Future attractions promised for the Group in the first Kirsty Knight (University of the Highlands and Newsletter included its first AGM, to be followed by Islands) the RSPB film “Birds of Badenoch and Strathspey”; and “the date you have been waiting for – the annual 100 Editions of the Newsletter… RSPB Film Show at Eden Court Theatre”. On the Film Show programme were “A Little Owl’s Story” …and 33 years of the RSPB Highland Local Group! and “Mud Matters” - a film “in support of the It’s a “century” of newsletters, and a third of a Society’s estuaries campaign”. century for the Group itself. The very first Newsletter (then called “RSPB Members’ Group News”), from Getting established Spring 1988, recounts the formation of the group at Over the first couple of years, the name of the publication varied quite a bit… from “RSPB

A title finally decided upon!

First page of the first issue of the Newsletter Members’ Group News”, through “RSPB News: an inaugural meeting on September 27, which “was Highland RSPB Members’ Group”, “RSPB Highland a huge success with 256 members joining that Members’ Group Newsletter” until Issue no.9, when evening”. By the time of the newsletter, it finally became “Highland Birds: The Newsletter of membership had “climbed to 370, indicative of the the RSPB Highland Members’ Group”. (The subtitle tremendous potential of the group”. was shortened to “the newsletter of the RSPB Highland Group” in 2003, and then re-expanded to “…the Newsletter of the RSPB Highland Local Group Leader, and ran, with only one break (due to Group” in 2009). illness) until Issue No. 75 (March 2011). The late Richard Prentice’s “Greetings from the Glen” The staple of the Newsletter contents, then as now, pieces, as Group Leader, ran from Issue No. 41 consisted of reports of the Group’s meetings and (September 1999) and continued until Issue No. 66 field trips, and a piece from the Group Leader of the (March 2008) when he retired from the role. time. Each year, there would be a brief article However, his column returned, as “Down in the describing the Annual General Meeting, covering Glen”, in Issue No. 68 (January 2009) and continued the reports from the Group Leader, the Treasurer, until Issue No. 85 (September 2014). These articles and the Secretary. This continued until the current might consist simply of accounts of the birds - usual practice, which began in 2010, of publishing formal or unusual - seen by the writer over a few weeks on minutes of the previous year’s AGM to be distributed their “patch” or on a special trip, further afield in the with the Spring newsletter just before each year’s UK or overseas; they might use these observations AGM. as a starting point for an examination of wider issues The early newsletters included news from local concerning the conservation of birds, and of the RSPB reserves, news of local RSPB staff natural world more generally. Sometimes they appointments, and updates from the YOC, some described the writer’s participation in formal bird written by its young members rather than the group surveys, organised by the RSPB or the BTO, such leader. Occasionally, poems appeared (serious or as WeBS counts or the 2007-2011 Bird Atlas. not so serious) and there was even a limerick After he became Newsletter Editor, Steve Austin competition! There were also reports of fund-raising continued this theme with his “Stevie’s Snippets”, activities (coffee mornings, car boot sales, stalls at notes from his birdwatching between editions of the the Black Isle Show, and suchlike) and from Newsletter, usually accompanied by photographs. volunteer work parties at local reserves. Then, as Another member who wrote a regular “column” for now, there was the occasional report on the the Newsletters was the late Mike Strickland. His activities of LIPU, or a reprint of an article from one articles began in Issue No. 12 (Winter 1990) with a of its publications. Book reviews appeared every so piece on the birdlife of Inverness Airport, and often throughout the years. There were puzzles, too: continued until Issue No.85 (September 2014). Over crosswords, wordsearches, and “Bird-o-coo”, the twenty-five years during which he wrote for where, rather than the numbers 1-9, all the letters of “Highland Birds”, Mike contributed pieces on such a nine-letter bird’s name (goldcrest, for example) diverse topics as “Twitchers” and “World Listers”; had to be fitted into each of nine three-by-three challenges to birdlife from the 12th century to the squares! 21st; the balance between the “scientific” and Sometimes there would be a series of articles which “aesthetic” approaches to birdwatching; and (of spread over several issues – ID guides on telling course) global warming. apart easily confused species (such as curlew and What We Did on Our Holidays whimbrel, bar-tailed and black-tailed godwits, or the four species of skua); “Clean Living”, a series on As I mentioned in the “Editorial” section of this issue, “ways in which individuals can organise their lives in reports from members’ holidays, both in the UK and order to minimise damage to the environment”; and further afield, have also been a regular feature of guides to local birdwatching sites, such as “Highland Birds”. This started early, in Issue no. 8 Chanonry Ness, Fairy Glen, Nigg Bay and the (Winter 1989) with a piece by Mary Galloway (or Portmahomack peninsula, or Strathconon. In more Fennell, as she then was) on a trip to “The Land of recent years there have been brief series on “My the Midnight Sun” (Shetland!) This was followed, in Favourite Place” (and the birds to be seen there) the Spring 1990 issue (no. 9), with a report on and on “My Favourite Bird”. “Cyprus in Winter”. These holiday reports from individual members continued with accounts of trips Regular “columnists” to Lanzarote, Romania, Bulgaria, Lesvos, Israel and Several members - group leaders and others - Spitzbergen… There was also a trip to Russia a long contributed regular “columns” to the Newsletter. time earlier than the one which Laurence Reeve Some of these continued for many years. writes about elsewhere in this issue: a journey by “Ramblings”, by David Galloway, began in Issue no. two members of the Highland YOC, who spent a 25 (Autumn 1994), after he had stepped down as week in the summer of 1993, at the International Ornithological Youth Camp, on the River Sherba, Garten and Abernethy, and “in and around about 30 miles east of Moscow. The Highland Inverness”. The “tradition” of a longer trip as the final Members’ Group had made a contribution towards outing of the year was set early on: Issue no. 4 the cost of their trip. (August 1988) carried a report on the group’s trip to Handa Island in June of that year; a piece describing As time went on, holiday destinations became more a return visit three years later appeared in the and more exotic, with our members travelling Autumn 1991 newsletter, while Issue no.22 (Autumn transcontinentally! Although members still wrote 1992) had a write-up of the May coach trip to articles on more local birding holidays, such as on Duncansby Head, where “the fine views across the Barra or Rum, “Highland Birds” featured articles on Pentland Firth to Orkney were enlivened by the travels to (and the birds seen in) such places as aerobatics of Fulmars, Kittiwake and, nearer sea Hungary, Egypt, the Gambia, Zimbabwe, the USA, level, by thousands of auks”. Chile, Cuba, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia! From 2004 onwards, such “Travellers’ Tales” from During the early years of the group, there were members began to feature more as presentations at several longer birding trips, further afield. The Indoor Meetings, rather than as articles in the Autumn 1994 Newsletter included an account of a Newsletter. holiday in North Norfolk made by eight members that year, entitled “How do you cook an avocet?” – Field Trip Reports apparently a comment made by one of them during Looking back over the 100 issues, it seems that our a pre-trip planning meeting when the catering current pattern of outdoor visits - to a core set of arrangements were under discussion! In the next favourite birdwatching sites, with the choice of newsletter, there was a report of the group’s destination determined by factors such as the tide, weekend trip to Caerlaverock and the Solway Firth, the seasons and the birds likely to be seen there, and in the next (no. 27, June 1995), another long given those conditions – was established early on. weekend away, this time to north-west Sutherland, The first year of the Newsletter included reports of was written up. October of that year saw a group birdwatching trips to Tarbat Ness, Glen Affric, Loch weekend away in Caithness, and Issue no. 31 (September 1996) reported on a three-day group trip to the Western Isles.

Also in 1996, the group followed the trend set by individual members, and took its first birding trip abroad. The September 1996 issue (no. 31) included a report on a 14-day trip to Mallorca, made in May by 14 group members.

The caption reads: “Plenty of gulls – where’s the b…… vulture?” (OUR LEADER)!

By and large, however, most of the outings reported in “Highland Birds” were not quite so adventurous, as a not-particularly-random sample of some of the back numbers shows. And indeed, with such a wealth of good birdwatching sites in and around the Illustration from Duncansby Head article, Autumn 1993 Highlands, there was plenty to keep members busy locally. Also apparent, in these reports, is how much Pigeons. A lone Lapwing was not far from a covey a good or poor day’s birding is a matter of luck! of Partridge.” Issue 70 (September 2009) carried a report of an April trip to Applecross, Shieldaig and Issue 5 (Spring 1989) reported on trips to Loch Fleet Torridon which seems to have been a great day out and to Spey Bay. Issue 9 (Spring 1990) covered for all concerned. Having reached Applecross, trips to Munlochy Bay and Culbin Bar and Nairn; “several stops were made along the coastal route Issue 10 (Summer 1990) saw members travelling to until a white-tail was observed against the brilliant Loch Fleet and Embo, and also, by coach, to the blue sea, and then a second one wheeling and Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve. Issue 11 diving. What a magical moment this was, as we (Autumn 1990) had an account of another trip to watched spellbound at this unexpected display of Abernethy and Loch Garten. sea eagles. It was one of those fabulous sightings The two trips reported on in newsletter 20 (1992) which remain with you forever… Further along, were not among the Group’s most successful. The through a mountainous area, cars came to a slithering halt, as two birds were seen high in the “headline” of one report read “Speyside Birds Elude Avid Members”! According to its writer, “Birds were sky. Golden eagles this time? No – another pair of few but the scenery and company was good. We did sea eagles! Our timing this day had been perfect!” consider making up a list of sightings to impress Issue no. 80 (January 2003) included a report on a those left behind, but our conscience would not let “West Coast Circular” trip the previous September us. On the September field trip to Embo and Loch which included sightings of “three early returning Fleet, “the tide was high and identifiable birds were whooper swans” at Loch Achanalt, and “a group of few. Most of the Loch’s birds were at their high tide 30+ black-throated divers on a choppy sea near roost on the North side and tantalisingly Strath Bay”. A birding trip around the Inverness unidentifiable, even through telescopes…The group area, in November, found red-breasted mergansers, moved on to the Mound. The lagoon was empty of pintails, bar-tailed godwits and waxwings at Milton birds. Although bird numbers fluctuate wildly here, of Culloden, eider, long-tailed duck and a young this was the worst anyone could recall.” gannet at Alturlie, and a pochard at Loch Issue 40 (September 1999) described a trip to Loch Flemington. But “not a goose nor a whooper swan Ruthven, where “the Slavonian Grebes in their was seen during the entire day – that is not something that happens often at these locations”, splendid summer plumage were too busy courting to worry about us”, and on to Loch Knockie, where the trip leader, Richard Prentice, wrote. And in picnicking members were entertained by the pair of newsletter 90, (March 2016), it was a case of “the good news and the bad news” about field trips The Black-throated divers promised by their trip leader. In June 2000, there was a report of a trip to the Isle New Year Bird Count went well, with the highest of May – a joint venture with the newly -formed Glen number of species (99) recorded for seven years, Affric Y.O.C. group. Issue 50 (January 2003) told of and two new species (white-fronted goose and little auk) added to the list. By contrast, the trip planned another trip to Loch Fleet in September 2002 (more successful than the one ten years earlier!) on which for the end of January, from Inverness to Nairn, was members were treated to a demonstration of mist- cancelled because very strong winds were forecast. netting and ringing on the north shore of Loch Fleet. However, Hilary Rolton, who was to have led the trip, wrote an article based on what she had seen on It also included a report of an Open Day at Udale Hide in October, where a flock of 3,500 wigeon was her preliminary reconnaissance visits – just as, in just offshore; and a trip eastwards, to Nairn, Culbin this issue, Maureen MacDonald has constructed an article on a field trip which should have taken place Sands and Roseisle, where a flock of over 100 scoters was seen – “about two-thirds of them the but didn’t, from her memories of earlier visits! rarer Velvets.” Another week-long trip to Norfolk Indoor meetings took place in May 2004, and was reported on that September, in Issue no. 55. Indoor meetings covered in the first year’s Newsletters included a report from the warden of Newsletter no. 60 (March 2006) gave an account of RSPB Loch Garten; the first of the annual talks from the December 2005 field trip around Chanonry and the staff of the RSPB’s Highland office (then based the Black Isle: “At Eathie Mains Farm we were in Munlochy) on their work; and one on “Rabbie greeted by a huge mixed flock of Fieldfares, Burns’ Birds”! However, reports on Indoor Meetings Redwing, Chaffinch, Linnets, Goldfinch and did not become a regular part of the “Highland Birds” content until April 2000 (issue no. 42), when a single “Highland Moths”, “The Bottlenose Dolphins of the article covered presentations on the Highland Moray Firth”, and “Bats in New Zealand”! Wildlife Park, “Flowers and Insect Life of Glen Campaigns and Concerns Urquhart and Glen Affric”, the annual North Scotland Regional Office update (and an address Even before it became a conservation organisation, from the then Director of RSPB Scotland), and on the RSPB was a campaigning one. And “Highland Brunnich’s guillemot in Newfoundland. Birds” has been a medium by which members have been updated on the progress of existing Another not-particularly-random sample of some of campaigns and the launching of new ones – locally, our back numbers shows the wide range of topics nationally, and internationally. While much of this covered over the years in Indoor Meetings, in has been done via the “Annual Update” presentation addition to the regular, and always-popular, RSPB from the North Scotland RSPB office staff, other North Scotland Regional Office “Annual Updates”. campaigns have been covered in individual articles Issue 51, for example (April 2003) reported a talk in the Newsletter. on “Western China: Its Birds, People and Landscape”, and also a photographic presentation As early as Issue no. 5 (Spring 1989), the Group by Steve Austin, with the title “Greenland, Iceland Leader asked members to express their opposition Landscapes and Home”. In Issue 61 (September to the proposed westward expansion of skiing 2006) there was report on a presentation made by development into the Northern Corries of the two of our members, Ian and Gillian Wylie, about a Cairngorms “by writing letters of objection to the trip they had made to Kazakhstan some years Secretary of State for Scotland and the Highland earlier; the next Indoor meeting was a talk on “The Regional Council”. He continued: “it is very easy for Northern Reserves of the Scottish Wildlife Trust”. us to become concerned about such issues as the destruction of the Amazon rain forests yet

completely overlook local issues which take place in our own ‘back yard’.” Again, early on in the Group’s existence (in Newsletter no. 7, Autumn 1989) members were asked to write to their MPs and urge them to support an Early Day Motion on the illegal poisoning of wild birds (sadly, just as much an issue today, more than thirty years later).

There were other articles on local environmental issues, such as the possibility of setting up a Local Nature Reserve somewhere in the Beauly Firth; a diesel spill in the Cromarty Firth threatening local wildlife; the 1994 “seabird wreck” in the Moray Firth; and the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak of 2001. Red Kite, Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com) The wider campaigns of our parent organisation Issue 71 (January 2010) reported on “Tail of The were also reported. Issue no. 25 (Autumn 1994 – Kite”, by the RSPB’s Red Kite Community Officer; coincidentally, the one which reported on the Moray and an account of a birding trip to New Zealand “In Firth “seabird wreck) had an article on the RSPB’s Search of the Whio” – the New Zealand blue, or Marine Life Campaign – “for better protection and mountain, duck. Issue 81 (March 2013) covered two management of our seas”. Issue no. 26 carried a presentations: “Sea to Summit” (“a photographic piece urging members to avoid using peat-based wildlife tour of the Highlands and Islands from its compost, because of the environmental damage shore to the summit of its highest plateau”) and caused by commercial peat extraction. “Birds and Wildlife of the Indian Ocean: Madagascar and the Seychelles”. Issue no. 90 (March 2016), In Issue no. 34, as part of the RSPB’s nationwide described presentations on “The Applecross “Million Members” campaign, we were all asked to Peninsula” and “The Wildlife of Loch Ness”. But as do our best to recruit a new member each! I don’t well as presentations on birdlife, local and further know how successful the Highland Group’s afield, “Highland Birds” also summarised talks given members were in this task, but the charity’s slogan to the group on such varied topics as “Animal later became “a million voices for nature”, so the Welfare” (with a speaker from the SSPCA), strategy must have paid off nationally! In his “Ramblings” column of Issue 39 (April 1999), speak up and tell politicians that nature and David Galloway reflected on the ease with which environmental issues are important to them.” birdwatchers can travel long distance by plane, and compared this with the difficulties facing migrating Issue no. 87 (March 2015) included an update on birds who travel similar distances. He then pointed the issue of raptor persecution, timely in the wake of out that “France is attempting to extend the legal the recent mass poisoning on the Black Isle. bird hunting season into the period of northerly However, two recent successful prosecutions of migration. Please do include your name in a petition gamekeepers in the south of Scotland for wildlife to be sent by the Society to the E.U. in Brussels.” crime was seen as an encouraging sign.

Later issues had pieces on the development of wind Finally, Issue 95 (January 2018) alerted us to the farms in the area; Issue no. 59 (January 2006) proposal to build a golf course on Coul Links, near included a piece on the Highland Council’s Brora -part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Renewable Energy Strategy, urging members to and an international Special Protection Area and take part in the Council’s consultation exercise. Ramsar Site, and suggested members could support the RSPB’s campaign against this. How In Issue no. 75 (March 2011) it was reported that gratifying it is to close this section with a note on a “over 340,000 people have now signed the RSPB campaign which only took a relatively short time to “Letter To The Future’. Preparations are being made be successful! to hand in the signatures to Westminster on 9th March2011. The same evening will see a launch Celebrations event for the RSPB’s new campaign – ‘Stepping Up Just as I have tried to do in this article, the Members’ For Nature’.” Issue no. 77 (January 2012) Group. and “Highland Birds” itself, have tried to summarized the aims of this new campaign: mark and celebrate landmarks in the development “Launched in March, this nine-year campaign hopes of the RSPB, nationally and locally, and of the group to end the continuing threat to wildlife in the UK and itself. The first example of this came in the across the world, and to get the UK Governments to newsletter’s first year, with the approach of the meet their 2020 target of halting biodiversity loss RSPB’s centenary. In Issue no.4 (Winter 1988), the and begin to restore it. The idea is for everyone to Editor introduced the new RSPB slogan beneath the take small steps for nature and make a big avocet logo – “Action For Birds”. difference. Volunteering, building a home for wildlife, or participating in a garden wildlife survey counts as a step up for nature.” September 2012 (Issue no. 79) introduced “Together For Trees”, a partnership between Tesco and the RSPB “to help save rainforests all over the world”.

By September 2013 (Issue no. 82) there was discussion of the latest RSPB rebranding, with its change of slogan to “Giving Nature A Home”; and in the next issue (January 2014) there was a brief restatement of the reasoning behind this – the need not necessarily for more members, but for wider support for the RSPB’s aims. “We also need to make sure the public understand that, although “You can expect to see it used extensively”, he birds are at the centre of what we do, we are here wrote, “throughout the next twelve months and to benefit all nature and there are actions they can beyond. Short, uncomplicated and meaningful, it take to support us”. embodies the Society’s image today and will help to transform it from what might once have been And in January 2015, with a General Election perceived to be a ‘cosy and exclusive birdwatchers’ pending, there was a piece about the RSPB’s “Vote club’ to an effective conservation organisation For Bob” campaign. Bob was a red squirrel – “A relevant to everyone.” charismatic and appealing figurehead to lead the campaign. We want Bob to help us engage with One of the activities which took place during the large numbers of people and encourage them to 1989 Centenary Year was a joint exhibition with the Forestry Commission at Inverness Museum, which was a different matter! For its first 20 years, the “attracted in excess of 24,000 visitors during which illustrations had all been black and white pen-and- it occupied the gallery…the amount of publicity ink drawings, taken from the RSPB’s image which the Group has received as a result has been collection – but in January 2003, colour photographs tremendous.” Volunteers from the Group also took arrived! However, as the Editor acknowledged in the part in Roadshows, which were also “very next issue, although he had received “quite a successful, with up to 100 people in some of the number of appreciative comments” on the format of more remote areas of the Highlands.” the special edition, unfortunately it could not “become the norm, as the costs would be Issue no. 32 (January 1997) reported that in prohibitive… but I would hope, in the future, to be October the previous year, one of our members had able to be a little more ambitious, depending on my received the RSPB President’s Award – “given to ability to master a new computer programme.” people who have given exceptional service to the Society”.

Issue no. 42 (April 2000) reported that the committee had been approached by a resident of Cannich about “her intention to start up in close a YOC in that area which, of course, is in close proximity to Glen Affric and the RSPB Corrimony reserve. A suitable start-up grant of £100 has been made to encourage this promising venture.” The group also began to part-fund a Field Teacher’s post for work with schoolchildren in the Strathspey area. This involved staff from the Abernethy and Insh Marshes reserves working with local schools to develop environmental projects. “It will involve field The centre spread of Issue no. 50 was a visits to the reserves as well as some classroom retrospective piece looking back over the history of the Newsletter, and the Group, up to that point. work. The emphasis will be on fun and appreciating their wildlife!”

The Newsletter did not report any special celebrations to commemorate the group’s tenth birthday – but the 50th edition of “Highland Birds” Issue no. 52 celebrated the “Official Launch of Insh in Scotland can be proud of and we can but hope it Marshes National Nature Reserve. As well as is set to continue. Since its inception the Group has describing the opening ceremony, it included poems been supportive of many of these efforts, at one - in English and in Gaelic – about Insh Marshes and stage helping to construct rafts for Black-Throated its wildlife, which had been written by children from Divers – another successful initiative – to the current local primary schools and read by them at the sterling work as volunteer wardens at Loch ceremony. Issue no 54 (April 2004) marked the Ruthven, thus helping to ensure a good measure of 100th anniversary of the RSPB in Scotland. protection at this significant breeding ground for the Slavonian Grebe.” The Office Update of December Issue 54 (April 1994) reported that the group had 2004 (reported in Issue no. 57, April 2005) allowed applied for lottery funding for a project involving George Campbell to summarise the Society’s local schoolchildren – and been successful! “We Scottish achievements over the century, and to have just been awarded a grant of nearly £4,700 thank the group for its members’ contribution to from the Heritage Lottery Fund! The money is to be marking the anniversary throughout the year. used to provide transport, equipment, and a set of activity packs for 12-14 year olds, to allow them to Issue no. 55 (September 2004) reported on the examine and appreciate the special habitat and the launch of the Skye and Lochalsh Wildlife Explorers wildlife of the Abernethy Caledonian Pine Forest. In Group, at the Aros Centre in Portree that June. The all there will be three visits to the reserve in October new group was given a cheque for £150 from our 2004, each taking up to 30 children. In the first group, some of which was to help take the children instance the programme is being offered to schools on an outing to Abernethy to see the ospreys. in the Badenoch and Strathspey area, but Issue no. 58 (September 2005) included a report eventually it will be widened to include schools in from Richard Prentice on linking up with two of the Inverness and the whole Highland Region. local Wildlife Explorers groups, one from Cannich This was followed up in “Highland Birds” no. 56 and one from Skye (visiting the mainland to see (January 2005). “After nearly two years’ preparation, some different wildlife!). It concluded “it was a the visits have finally happened! They took place in privilege and pleasure to spend time with two very September and early October. It was a big happy groups led by very capable people with operation, involving eight schools and nearly 130 parents in support. They are deserving our children.” Four visits were made, each involving continued support and I hope this brief account children from two schools and lasting four hours. helps to affirm your attitude to this worthwhile side Forest Lodge was used as a base from which of the RSPB’s work”. Issue no. 62 (January 2007) children took part in four hours of very varied activity reported that a Wildlife Explorers Group was being – all linked to the 5-14 national guidelines on set up in Dingwall. Environmental Studies. The article concluded “the Issue 64, in September 2007, marked the group’s visits are over, but the project continues. The RSPB 20th anniversary. It included pieces by two of the Highland Group is giving a prize of £100 to the people who had been in charge of the RSPB school which presents the best project based on the Highland regional office during the group’s work done during its visit.” Issue no. 57 reported that existence, looking back over their times in the the winner was Ardersier Primary School. Their Highlands. The next edition reported back on the Primary 7 pupils “wrote and illustrated a series of special evening meeting held at Culloden Academy letters describing the area from 1705 until the to celebrate the anniversary. It also included a piece present date… We were able to put on show their from Doreen Manson, recalling her first field trip with work at our February meeting and I know you were the group. impressed.” Issue no. 78, in March 2012, returned to the topic of Issue no. 54 also celebrated the 100th anniversary younger wildlife enthusiasts. It announced the of the RSPB in Scotland. “The activities of the RSPB formation of the “Highland Phoenix Group” – for “all in our area epitomises all that ti stands for – from the children of High School age (11 – 18) who have an protection of the Osprey…through to the re- interest in conservation and the natural world, who introduction of Sea Eagles and Red Kites and on to fancy learning new skills, making friends and above the protection of the wider environment in work all having fun!” It listed a fascinating programme of under way at Forsinard, Abernethy and Nigg Bay events, from March on through to the end of the with its splendid new hide. It is a record the RSPB year. Also in that newsletter there was advance notice of the 25th anniversary meeting, to be held, guide for people living in, or visiting, the area. Any again, at Culloden Academy. inputs, with a simple sketch map and the best times to visit (e.g. season or tide state) would be greatly It’s worth noting that the image of the black-throated appreciated.” The next issue reported that “the diver, which replaced that of the RSPB avocet from Highland Members’ booklet on ‘where to birdwatch Issue 43 (September 2000) onwards, in the Highlands’ is in progress, with various commemorated the group’s earlier success in members writing up favourite sites.” After that, creating “artificial islands” on which these divers things went quiet for a couple of years… could nest. This image stayed on the cover of “Highland Birds” for another 14 years (rejoined by Then, in Issue no. 42 (April 2000) it was announced the avocet in January 2009). that, despite “its time in production outdoing the gestation period for a baby elephant…we hope to Although the diver image only lasted for another have the booklet ready for sale and circulation year (until September 2014), Issue no 86, in between April and June”. It was to be called “Bird January 2015, had something else to celebrate – Watching Sites in the Highlands (selected by RSPB the return of colour! There were half-page colour Highland Members’ Group)”. It was to contain four photographs on the front and back pages, and location maps “with the sites numbered thereon. smaller colour images illustrating some of the The site description will include details of how to get articles. The Editor at that time, Steve Austin, wrote there as well as giving an indication of the species that may be seen.”

The advert above appeared for in Issue 43; and in issue 44, Maureen Ringrose, the group’s “Head Stamp Licker” reported that “the booklet is selling well from Caithness to Cornwall, from Cape Wrath to Kent… and all points in between… It really is a great success and since a write-up appeared in the RSPB “Birds” magazine, our postie thinks I have started a small business as the mail has increased so much.” In the same issue, an article on the group’s funding of local projects noted that £500 The first of the regular issues incorporating colour from the sale of the booklet had been allocated to the Insh Marshes teaching project. In September of his cover photo: “the front cover picture was 2001, it was noted that booklet sales had also taken from my back garden in June and shows funded a £100 donation to Badenoch Wildlife some amazing lenticular clouds that were forming Explorers, £1500 to the RSPB Sea Eagle project, across the sky that morning.” The new format for the and £50 to LIPU. newsletter which was established then has continued, through the Editorships of Liz Shannon In January 2002 (Issue no. 47) we were told that “the and Hilary Rolton, to the present day. ‘overhaul’ of our booklet is well underway with all the original sites being visited and checked for changes. “The Booklet” Some…additional sites…were suggested to us and In Issue no. 34 (September 1997), the Group these…include Assynt, Skye and Roseisle Forest leader’s report mentioned that “one proposal at the for example. Shifting habits of some of our birds AGM was … that the group produce a bird watching have also been taken into account… We hope to have the booklet ready by late April.” Money raised [the new editor] PLEASE come forward. If we don’t from the sales of the booklet funded £150 worth of find anyone able to help, then it may mean paying book tokens as prizes for a schools art competition to have it professionally done…” Fortunately, on the theme “Love of Lapwings”, and £100 to Glen someone did come forward, which meant more of Affric Wildlife Explorers group. the Group’s funds could be used for conservation.

Issue no. 56 (January 2005) announced the third In Issue no. 42 (April 2000), the Group Leader edition. This had two further sites added; and three announced that the committee had accepted an further locations on the North Coast, although not offer from the son of two of the group’s members surveyed, were mentioned as places it might be “to create our own website on the Internet. Our web worth visiting. “The birdwatcher with our booklet can address is www.rspb-highland.co.uk. The start at Insh and travel right round the north of the information available includes the indoor and country, returning via the west coast and Skye to outdoor programmes as well as the current edition Inverness, and never be far from one of our sites.” of the newsletter. Once we have bedded down we will consider additional information… We have already had contact from Canada and Italy, so happy surfing to you all.” Unfortunately, it was announced in the September 2001 issue that the young man concerned had had to “relinquish the web-site for personal reasons”.

By April 2001, the Editor was pleased to announce that he had had two articles submitted to him “by e- mail”. “This makes life very easy for me, as I can simply copy this straight into the text, only having to alter the font to the one I always use,” he continued. “If anyone has e-mail facility and wishes to submit anything for the newsletter in that form…” he The third, and final, version of “the booklet” encouraged then to do so! In April 2002, David Galloway’s “Ramblings” arrived with the Editor via e-mail despite David being away in New Zealand at Changing Times the time; and by April 2003, even the Group Leader As well as giving an overview of the development of was reported to be submitting his articles this way. the RSPB Highland Local Group, “Highland Birds” also gives an interesting insight into the By September 2006 the new Editor, Doreen technological and social changes, and changes in Manson, was wondering “if any members would birdwatching, over the last 33 years. prefer to receive their newsletter through the E-mail system.” The next issue (No.62, January 2007) The first “tech” reference came in Issue No. 21 announced the re-establishment of a website for the (Spring 1993), with our first change of Editors. Our group, this time under the auspices of the RSPB. It first Editor wrote, back then: “Up until now I have “went live in mid-October. It carries information on been producing the final format of the newsletter on our indoor meetings and excursions as well as news my Amstrad PCW8512 with a Desk Top Publishing on recent sightings and on issues affecting birds in programme. This will probably mean little to most of our area. It’s intended to supplement this you but if you have access to ANY computer with a Newsletter, not replace it; so you’ll still get your DTP and would be able to produce the final copy for usual news on paper. However, it will be updated every month so, if you have a computer, you can keep up with the latest information.”

“Highland Birds” no. 15 (Autumn 1991) included an article on Birdline Scotland, a telephone information service “for all Scottish birdwatchers which has been running…since January 1990…providing up- to-the minute Scottish news” by means of “a recorded message updated at least three times daily”. As well as providing the phone number for the information service, the article gave the “hotline” number for reporting sightings. Issue no. 56 (January 2005), however, carried a piece on a “new on-line bird-recording scheme developed through an exciting partnership between BTO, RSPB and Bird Watch Ireland. It is a year-round recording scheme that will use data from bird watchers to support species and site conservation at local, The Next 50 Issues? The Next 100? national, and international scales.” BirdTrack had At the end of retrospective pieces like this, it seems arrived! to be customary to look forward an equivalent Further evidence of the development of on-line distance into the future. Over the years, however, birding came in Issue 82 (September 2013). although the amount of content in each issue has “Highland Birds” introduced a “Computer Corner” – gradually increased, the number of issues of the an occasional column which listed websites on newsletter each year has gone down from four which members could follow the fortunes of various originally, to three, and now to two. At this rate, our satellite-tracked birds. 150th edition is not due until Spring 2045, and our 200th will be in Spring 2070! Speculating at such a For the first 20 years of “Highland Birds”, the distance - especially in a time of double crises, with illustrations had all been black and white pen-and - the Covid pandemic and climate chaos changing ink drawings. Indeed, in Issue 49 (September 2002) our lives in unforeseen ways - seems just foolhardy. the Editor admitted “I have at my disposal some However, in the much shorter term, I sincerely hope British bird drawings from the Office…It gets that our local group will continue to enjoy the increasingly difficult to find drawings that have not wonderful natural world around us, and to do what been used before and you must be getting weary of we can to conserve it – and that our activities will the repetition!... The need is not only for birds. A continue to be recorded in some form of this sketch of a flower, a scene from an outing, or a Newsletter. And on behalf of myself and of the simple map… would add to our enjoyment. Cast previous seven Editors (some of whom I have modesty aside and volunteer please if you have any mentioned in this article, others of whom I have sort of drawing capability!” Looking back through been unable to acknowledge by name because of the issues which followed, I’m not clear whether this current Data Protection regulations) I would like to plea was ever responded to, but “Clip Art” did add extend huge thanks to everyone who has made a to the variety of the pages a couple of issues later, contribution great or small, regular, occasional or and in the issue after that, there was an endpiece one-off, to “Highland Birds” over the years. asking “Why No Pictures? Because you sent in so many articles!” A newsletter Editor’s dream, surely! Alan Jones When Steve Austin took over as “Highland Birds” A brief post-script to the article. At the time of writing, Editor in 2008, being an enthusiastic bird it looks quite unlikely that our normal programme of photographer, he managed to find a way of indoor and outdoor activities will resume this year. incorporating black-and-white photographs into the Therefore the next Newsletter may be short on Newsletter, and then in 2015 (as noted earlier) content. So, if any members feel the urge to write colour arrived - not only for the photographs, but text something for it - on favourite places, favourite birds, as well - giving the newsletter a much more striking favourite books, or anything to do with birds or the visual impact. wider natural world - please do, and send it to me! The Age of the Swallow of biology, the advanced technology of nature. I have been perfected, or nearly so. And I need you.” They voyage across 10,000 kilometres. They overcome obstacles, deserts, and seas. They are Poetry of the Half-Season symbols of joy, and biological treasures, but also The swallow’s is a poetry that endures, unfailingly indicators of the health of the Earth. Above all, they quoted and loved. The swallow is a world in blossom are a challenge in terms of coexistence in this time and a waxing moon. It is spring’s half-season made of the Anthropocene. LIPU is studying ways to help full. It is the inspiration for children’s songs from them more effectively. ancient Greece (The Swallow Song of Rhodes), and for the Legend of the Shells from dynastic China: If it could talk to us - in an impossible interview or with the arrival of winter, the swallows would sleep through the intervention of Solomon’s Seal - a in shells at the bottom of the sea, returning to the swallow could tell us great tales that inspire us both skies when the almonds were in bloom. Woe betide practically and in spirit. us, however, if a swallow was seen in winter: for the Romans it was a sign of ill omen and abnormal events.

Behind every legend, of course, there is an underlying truth, something always of observation or knowledge. To say therefore that the swallow means hope is the equivalent of thinking of everything that benefits the swallow: a healthy countryside, a varied landscape, rich in life and biologically diverse, culture and nature interacting for the good. But when things go badly for the swallows, cracks appear too in our hopes.

Swallow, Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com) On the Turning Away

For decades now the swallow has had unfavourable “I leave my wintering grounds in Africa, ready to face conservation status in Italy and the rest of Europe. a labour without equal. I traverse the whole of the The Italian population is 500,000 to a million pairs, continent, the Congo, the Central African Republic, and has been declining for some time. BirdLife Nigeria, and Chad. I sleep in great gatherings, in International has estimated the decline at a reedbeds or fields of elephant grass. I skim over the European level as being about 40 per cent over 35 night-time forests of Dzanda-Ndoki, fly over the years, with a loss of about 6 million pairs. ‘The data River Congo’s blue curves and look down on the from the Farmland Bird Index, gathered over the green oases of Saint Floris. I see the wonders of this period 2000‒17 on a national scale, indicates a fall Earth and how much smaller it has become. I keep of 38 per cent, and it is likely to have continued in clear of the nets and the traps, set by those who subsequent years.’ The threat has two main would still try to capture me for food. I reach the first components: the destruction of wintering grounds of the two deserts, the Sahara, followed by the and of resting places along migration routes, and second that is the Mediterranean. For me, the sea the advent of agricultural methods at the breeding is a desert where I can find neither rest nor sites that have triggered a massive fall in the nourishment. To cross it is a dangerous task and number of insects on which the swallows feed, many of us fall. Then, on the horizon, the little along with the disappearance of many of the islands and salvation. I rest and I feed, then I set off features of the rural landscape that are vital to them: again for the final destination, for Italy, for Spain,for hedges, ponds, animals on rough pasture, barns the lands of northern and eastern Europe. At last, I and stables for places to nest. The link to human arrive home, for in short it is my home too, and this needs is clear, because traditional agriculture is true also for the swifts, the house and the sand evokes an aesthetically pleasing landscape, quality martins: this is our place as well as yours; these are produce and a healthy environment, and a localised our homes just as much as they are yours. Then, economy without ties to the mega-industrialisation having once arrived, it is time to prepare for another of global agriculture: this last element is an task, the reason for the journey: the nest, the little agriculture that has spun into a vortex, in which ones, the new lives. I am the swallow. I am a wonder intensification and the quest for sheer quantity are too in relation to the ability of swallows to migrate objectives that cannot be abandoned, and are even and the inevitable limits to their capacities. A placed at a premium, so as not to succumb to representative of the Bonn Commission and the economic competition. State Institute for Environmental Research and Protection (ISPRA), and one of the world’s foremost So it is that after a journey of five or ten thousand experts on trans-Saharan migration, explains it well. kilometres, a swallow returns, no longer to find its old window, its old ledge in the stables. Instead it The Road with No End and No Rest finds a vast industrial shed, a monotonous Years of study in Italy and Europe, possible above landscape, a turning away: this is no longer your all through the ringing of millions of swallows “have home. allowed us to understand better the migratory strategies of the swallow. Its characteristic of To Change Agriculture catching insects in flight, and only in flight, had “Yes, a different agriculture would truly be valuable”, always led to the belief that contrary to what occurs says the head of LIPU’s agricultural section, “for the with many species of trans-Saharan migrants, that swallows and for us. The new Common Agricultural have to build up huge reserves of fat before setting Policy must disincentivise intensive stock rearing out, swallows migrated without fattening up, hunting methods in favour of extensive – for example, the while on the move. organic grass-fed dairy industry, where the cows are fed on fresh grass or dried grass grown locally, We now know that it is not the case, and that according to the season. Also fundamental is swallows fatten up as do other passerines before increasing support for those who give up the use of departing for Africa. There is however a physical synthetic chemicals while reducing it for those who limit to the amount of fat that swallows can put on insist on pesticide use.” But to what extent can we before leaving. There is no doubt, then, that a hope that the new CAP, under discussion in further rapid increase in the size of ecological Brussels, will be sympathetic to these goals? “While barriers will leave them with insufficient time to containing positive elements, such as a minimum adapt their migratory strategies. At this rate, for the amount of space dedicated to nature, the text itself swallows and the other trans-Saharan migrants, the is weak and risks being weakened still further by deserts will become crossings too far to make. votes in Parliament and poor execution at the Insuperable obstacles.” This too, then, is the result national level. So LIPU is working towards this with of changes in the climate, with the migration many Italian and European partners. It is difficult but highways being made suddenly longer, and the we must try.” service areas simultaneously closed.

Global Change The desertification caused by climate change therefore adds to the aforementioned problems, and paints a potentially dramatic picture, of changes at the landscape level that are too rapid and cut too deep, because nature has to face it at the very limits of its capacity for resilience.

And yet, the signals of a different culture, or at least a rethinking, are not totally absent. The Green Deal Swallows: Mike Langman (rspb images.com) of the European Commission (the plan for the transformation of the economy and society in Climate against Migration relation to the environment, presented in Brussels As if that were not enough, another menace hangs by the President) despite all its limitations is a over the swallows and all the other migrants, great concrete prospectus of vast reach, unprecedented and small, bearing a name now of sinister note: both in our continent and the world as a whole. The climate change, along with the crisis in habitats that Plan contains references to a more ecological it causes, above all to wetlands, and the process of agriculture, such as that prefigured in the drafts of further desertification of wide areas of Africa, two key connected documents – Farm2fork and the spreading from the Sahara. It is a worrying situation Strategy for Biodiversity (in which the goal for 30 per cent of production on the European scale to be tells us to change the way we eat, to care for the organic is proposed) – and is based more generally beauty and the variety of the land, to look after the on the recognition that the current production model animals we rear, and informs how we think about is no longer adequate, and that a new vision for biodiversity and understand our economic goals. It global change must be set in train. For sure, it is asks us to be different. It is as if the V of its tail is a easier said than done. It is a course in need of vast sign that tells us we are at a fork in the road and now investment, with a difficult phase of transition, face a choice, between the road to destruction and needing a huge effort devoted to opinion forming the path of co-existence. and political management, but it is a course that is essential and cannot be delayed. Citizens with Rights Starting from 1999, when LIPU initiated the Swallow Anthropocene, or Co-existence Project, reactivated and relaunched in 2016, Italy The story of the swallow tells us of another theme, saw a growth in sensibility towards the swallow, the offspring of new times and environmental which acquired a civic dimension, in the sense of a scenarios, the theme of co-existence. The consciousness that swallows, along with their Anthropocene, so-called, our current epoch, in cousins the swifts, and the house and sand martins, which the whole planet has on it the mark of human are dwellers in our cities with their own rights. presence, is itself marked also by a much tighter Among the mechanisms for recognising this, the relationship between humans and nature. Bound Delibera Salvarondini (or Save the Swallows together and interwoven. If we seem more detached Resolution) is the most popular, and if well done the from nature, using technology to create an most effective. It involves an ad hoc community alternative reality in which we feel protected, such a action with rules for the protection of nests in the distancing now no longer applies. The walls are area of the town: via building regulations (for the breaking down. The planet is too small and complex timing and type of restoration work etcetera) and to imagine a separate existence, in which our provisions for monitoring up to and including police species lives on one side and the rest of nature on involvement. Up to now, 145 Italian communes have the other. Nature is all around us, asking for us to made provisions for swallows, thanks to a fervent return the space that has been taken away. It acts campaign by LIPU volunteers, all the way from Sicily in the way it has to. It is knocking at our doors. It and Calabria to the fierce activism of the Varese might ask gently or bring the storm. If we do not delegation, all of them working to ensure that our understand this demand, the relationship between cities become cities for swallows too. man and nature becomes difficult, conflicted, and to our detriment for this reason. Connections But there is another general theme of the migration of birds still to be addressed: the need to construct a politics of connectivity married to biological connectivity rather than impeding it. At present that is definitely not the case: the space between nature and politics is not filled with harmony. Here it is, then, that the swallows come again to our rescue. Let us say that they present us with a ‘registration video’ made on the long journey of migration, showing the reality they have witnessed from South Africa to the north of Europe. What we will see is: fragmentation of habitats, artificial barriers, crime, and the politics of conservation differing from one land to the next. The lack of communication Swallow, Robin Carter (rspb-images.com) between states. For sure, we will see a few forward

steps in land conservation, thanks to years of

cultural and scientific work, and thanks also, it has Why then, in this sense, is the swallow so to be said, to progress, even if only partial, in the important? Because, as we have said, it represents politics. If today we ask for things to change, it is in an emblem of the mutual gains that come from part because they have changed already. We have standing together. This little prodigy of nature is a widened the scope of the rights of nature. We have living manual of good practice and good ideas. It placed it among the issues considered important. The councils of the communes make deliberations on the subject of the swallows, children look up to the skies and recognise them, the corridors of Brussels resound with judgements that would previously have been seen as mad. We must do still better. To this end, LIPU is envisaging something more – a programme that involves science, the land, the people, the whole of Italy. A great project to benefit the birds as they migrate, that has connection at its very heart, and even, appropriately to the swallow, the tiny but magnificent swallow, as its symbol.

Blue, White and Red The swallows need us and we in turn have need of the swallows. Of their simplicity, though only apparent. Of their blue, white and red. Of their flight, the interweaving of a pure aesthetic with the lessons of life. Of their stories. We need the joy of their return, but also the sadness of their departure. The more so, for it is from this that we learn the grandeur of nature, beginning with the swallows getting ready to leave. We seem to see them, gathering and flexing their wings by the sea. Acrobatics before the voyage. They seem already smaller and more determined. They are agility and movement. They the inter-relationship between being out of doors have the certainty of their biology and the courage and mental well-being, he discovered the term of their uncertainty. They are the promise of better “ecotherapy” – “a range of regular and structured times. The blue. The red and the white. The time for activities that take place outdoors and are beneficial coexistence. The Age of the Swallow. to wellbeing”. He realised that birdwatching was a perfect example of this. Digging deeper into writing Danilo Selvaggi (LIPU) about mental health, he came across a list, published by Public Health England, of “Five Ways Book Reviews to Wellbeing”

Bird Therapy. Joe Harkness. Unbound Publishing, - to connect; London, 2020, 290 pages. £9.99, paperback. ISBN - to take notice; 978-1-78352-898-1 - to give; - to keep learning; and This is a curious hybrid of a book. It is an account of - to keep active. how its writer, Joe Harkness, rediscovered a love of nature – and of birds in particular – after a mental Through the rest of the book, he describes how health crisis (or “nervous breakdown”), and used birdwatching offers a way to achieve all of these. that reawakened love to regain his mental well- being, and to maintain it. From watching birds in the garden to taking local walks, while restarting birdwatching, he sees how This rediscovery began when, signed off sick by his this enables people to notice patterns, colours and GP, Joe went walking near his Norfolk home. He sounds – both of birds themselves and of the wider saw “a large bird, bulky and brown, with white environment in which we find them. Discussing the barring on its wings”, which made “a strange, slurred etiquette of interacting with other people in a hide, mewing sound”, and he recognised it as a buzzard. birding solo or with a group, and gaining familiarity Realising that he knew what it was reconnected him with a “patch”, he writes about connecting to other with his childhood enthusiasm. Exploring the idea of people and to a place. “Giving” can be as simple as feeding birds or sharing The Nature of Summer. Jim Crumley. Saraband one’s knowledge with others. Joe’s work is as a Publishing, Salford and Glasgow, 2020. 250 pages, teacher of “disturbed” or “disruptive” children who £12.99, hardback. ISBN 978-1-91223-572-8. have been excluded from other schools. When one boy was being particularly hard to deal with, Joe managed to arrange for some “individual tuition” – and took him birdwatching. The change in the lad – and his unexpected enthusiasm and engagement – was remarkable (and heartening). Moving on to a wider way of “giving back”, Joe discusses “citizen science” and participating in bird surveys.

Several chapters look at birdwatching through the different seasons. He writes about birding in winter as an antidote to “winter blues” or SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). He describes spring as a time to enjoy not just birdlife, but the whole “multisensory experience” of that season. He gets the most out of bad autumn weather by enjoying “falls” of migrants on the Norfolk coast, and, on his “patch”, seeing ghost-like mute swans emerge through the fog.

He points out what is obvious, but often overlooked – that birding involves a lot of walking, and walking is good exercise. And taking it up as a new hobby involves learning a lot of new skills – which can help protect against cognitive decline in later years. And people can develop interests in other aspects of the natural world too, such as insects or plants.

I approached this book from two angles – firstly, as someone who’s been a bird enthusiast for nearly 60 years, and secondly as someone who worked in mental health and disability services for 25 years.

It’s not a “self-help” book, and the “practical tips” he includes at the end of each chapter are much more about the practicalities of birding – when their Before I start, I should admit to my bias. Jim emphasis is more towards mental health, they feel Crumley is probably my favourite “nature writer” a little superficial. For experienced birdwatchers, working today, and I have been reading (and re- being an introductory book, it covers a lot of familiar reading) his books ever since I came across one in ground; but because he’s approaching the hobby Dornoch library over 20 years ago. He published a almost as a newcomer, after a long time away, he book called The Nature of Autumn back in 2016, has some interesting observations about things reflecting on the personal significance he found in which we maybe take for granted. And his accounts his favourite season, and its events in the natural of bird watching experiences, whether at home or world. It was so well received that his agent and trudging across the shingle at Blakeney Point, publisher suggested that he should continue, and produce a book on each of the seasons: this, whether in company or alone, are always covering what he admits is his least favourite interesting. But the book’s main purpose – which season, is the last of that quartet. defines its target readership, which in turn may be relatively small – is to introduce people with mental It starts with a “prologue” with a focus on the health problems to birdwatching as a way of smallest of things - mountain sorrel - on top of the restoring and strengthening mental wellbeing. And I biggest of things, the Cairngorm plateau. Crumley think it would succeed in doing that. discusses the Arctic landscape he finds there, as it relates to dotterel and their nests, invoking as he Alan Jones does so his own hero of a nature writer, Seton population had declined by 72%, shag by 47%, Gordon. herring gull and kittiwake both by 78%, and razorbill by 35%. “And there was the answer to my puffin The main part of the book, “Everything Else in the question, a nightmare in a statistic. ‘Puffin: 100% Universe”, begins with memories of a visit to St Kilda decline.’ Which is another way of saying that the in the summer of 1988, and of the kittiwakes and total number of puffins is none, nil, nothing, zero. auks he found there. In the second chapter, “Forty Gone.” Years at Eagle Crag”, the author is shaken by TV “wildlife” programmes which focus more on their The third section focusses on a trip Crumley made celebrity presenters than the wildlife itself, and by to what he calls “Norway’s Outer Hebrides” – reports of two young golden eagles “that had gone Lofoten, a string of islands off its northwest coast, missing in Perthshire…somewhere over a grouse “but with two distinct differences. One is that every moor estate which has something of a speciality of island looks like the Skye Cuillin, its airspace … making eagles disappear…” He attempts to crammed with mountains. The other is that they lie reconnect with nature by revisiting a site where, inside the Arctic Circle”. year after year, he has watched eagles. “I was back “I had already decided that the nature of summer in there now to seek the reassurance of eagles, the Lofoten would be different from all the summers I fellowship of eagle landscapes, and to lean on them had ever known,” he writes. “I would turn out to be that I might step closer towards them again, as I had right, but I was quite unprepared for the nature of done so often in the intervening years.” that difference.” Norway and Sweden, that summer, He describes other encounters with wild animals - turned out to be experiencing a heatwave so strong watching Atlantic salmon heading back upstream that the man at Narvik Airport was greeting and leaping the falls of a river in Argyll; a roe deer travellers with “Hi, welcome to Spain!” Two chapters and her fawn in a forest clearing on a summer describe Crumley’s explorations of the Arctic evening; and beavers in a Perthshire river. All the archipelago in its unprecedented heat - watching while, the creatures he observes are seen as part of sea eagles everywhere, reflecting on the changed the natural landscape which they inhabit, and he nesting habits of kittiwakes in response to climate endeavours to keep as still as possible so that he change, and - the highlight of his trip - seeing two becomes part of that landscape too. One of his adult whooper swans with a brood of six very young themes throughout the book is the disastrous result cygnets: “(it) was a thing I had never seen before, of humankind’s view of ourselves as something and my heart turned over”. separate from nature. We cannot separate Perhaps inevitably, the next chapter is a reflection ourselves from nature in this way, he argues – we on the climate crisis, framed by a comparison of have to accept that we are part of nature, because Crumley’s own experience of the Norwegian Arctic Nature is all there is. Repeatedly, he returns to the in June with that of Seton Gordon’s Amid Snowy words of John Muir: “When we try to pick anything Wastes, which described a similar journey made a out by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in century earlier. But after this scary stuff, the book the universe.” concludes with its author making the most of the last The second part of the book, “Song for an Unsung days of August back in his home territory, where the Shore”, develops from a week which he spent Southern Highlands meet the Central Lowlands, staying in a cottage beside the sea, in Burnmouth in and finding unexpected joys before summer turns to the Borders. Here he listens to grey seals singing on autumn. the rocks and watches, from his sofa, dolphins Wilfred Owen, the First World War poet, wrote back breaching the surface of the sea. He listens to then that “all a poet can do today is warn”. It seems skylarks and whitethroats as he walks the to me that today, anyone writing about the natural Berwickshire Coastal Path - but finds St Abb’s world has to warn. But though in this book there is Head, publicised as a “seabird city”, virtually empty warning - and a sense of mourning, for birds which of seabirds. “The evidence of absence was barely Jim Crumley had expected to see but can no longer believable, except that it was all too visible. And - that is not all there is. The book is full of celebration where were the puffins? In all the places I knew of what there is in “Nature” still to be enjoyed, and where to look for them, I could find none at all.” what there might yet be, if we can bring about He reflects on the dire findings of a 15-year survey change for the better. by Scottish Natural Heritage on seabird numbers on Alan Jones that stretch of the Scottish coastline. While cormorant numbers had increased, six other common species had declined. The fulmar

A Sparrow’s Life’s As Sweet As Ours: In Praise But the written pieces about each bird are of Birds and Seasons. Carry Akroyd and John fascinating, too. They are a wonderful mix of McEwen. Bloomsbury, London, 2019. 144 pages, ornithology, history, folklore, poetry, anecdote and £20, hardback. ISBN 978-1-4729-6714-5. obscure facts. Did you know, for example, that St Serf of Culross had a pet robin that perched on his shoulder as he prayed, and his favourite pupil St Mungo restored it to life after jealous classmates killed it and blamed him for its death? That a house with a rookery attached is considered blessed, and that the rookery at Braal Castle, north of Halkirk, dates from 1775? (Since the castle is a ruin, perhaps this piece of folklore is open to question!)

Did you know that racing pigeons owned by the Queen have won every major UK pigeon race? Or, still on the topic of royalty, that Henry Vlll, through the 1532 “Preservation of the Grain Act, put a bounty “on the head of anything, furred or feathered, that ate marketable food”, and that this “included the blameless goldfinch, which principally feeds on thistle seed”? Or that a similar bounty (of a halfpenny a head) was applied to the grain-eating house sparrow during the Second World War? There are so many such nuggets of odd information that the book bears many repeated readings.

It also draws on many “nature writers” of the past, and their insights, such as W.H. Hudson, Denys Watkins-Pitchford (“BB”) and J.A. Baker. I made a From one of my favourite wildlife writers, to one of “note to self” to explore their writing further. The my favourite wildlife artists. Carry Akroyd is an artist same goes for the poets who are frequently quoted. and illustrator living in Northamptonshire: I first Carry Akroyd is President of the John Clare Society came across her striking style on various greetings (and has illustrated many collections of his poems), cards I received, which prompted me to explore her so it is hardly surprising that many of his poems work further. John McEwen is a writer whose main appear in the book. Indeed, the title is taken from his topic is the visual arts. Together, they have poem “Summer Evening”. But John McEwen is from produced the “Bird of the Month” column in The Berwickshire, and many Scots poets are featured Oldie magazine for several years. This lovely book too: Kathleen Jamie, Norman MacCaig (probably as collects 66 pieces from those columns, representing much as John Clare), Hew Ainslie, Thomas A. the four seasons in sequence from winter through to Clark, and, (of course), rounding off the piece on the autumn. pink-footed goose, Violet Jacob’s “The Wild Geese”. The scan, above, of the book’s cover shows Carry’s I am very fond of books that take a path through the style – and if you like this, the book is worth its price seasons in the way that this one does. They seem for the richness of the illustrations alone. While her to invite the reader to share their observations of the medium, screen-printing, tends to produce images changing times as they progress. It also seems, to which are vibrantly colourful yet somewhat static, me, to make such books eminently re-readable. And Carry overcomes this remarkably with her images of – since this one begins in winter – it strikes me that rushing water in her dipper illustration, swifts and it could make an ideal Christmas present for a bird snipe producing vapour trails (!), and golden plover enthusiast, who could start it as soon as they’ve filling the sky like swirling autumn leaves. The opened it, spend the year reading through it, and stillness works equally well in images of a tawny owl then start the whole process again in a year’s time! on its branch and a heron frozen in scanning-for- prey mode. Alan Jones

Notes and Reminders

Please note that under the current national rules and guidelines aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, the RSPB has decided that no indoor face-to-face Local Group activities will take place before the end of the year. Similarly, the most recent guidance, which limits people meeting outside to members of two households, means that outdoor activities such as field trips are no longer possible at the moment. The RSPB review their own guidance in the light of national rules every month, and any changes to the advice given here will be published on the Local Group website.

• Indoor Meeting venue • Field Trip Notes Please note that the indoor meeting venue is: Please note the following for your safety and Greyfriars Free Church of Scotland, Balloan Road. guidance when on field trips:

Directions: From the Inshes roundabout, turn onto Our trips are usually low risk and take account of all the Southern Distributor road (B8082) (Tesco will be ages and abilities of the group but occasionally they on your left). At the second roundabout turn right, may involve uneven or wet terrain. You can help to sign posted Hilton, Drakies. At the traffic lights turn keep our trips enjoyable by observing the following left. The venue is on the left a short distance along advice please:

Balloan Road, almost opposite a play park. There o Comply with route and safety instructions at sites is plenty of parking available and the venue is fully and with the request of the trip leader. accessible and has a speaker system.

o Do not get separated from the group, especially Please also note that the front row of seats is in the hills or unfamiliar terrain. Please make available for those who have mobility, sight or sure that you know where the meeting place is hearing difficulties, please avail yourselves of this and at what time you should be there. facility. o If you have any health problems that could affect your ability to complete a walk, please speak to • Adverse weather contacts the group leader prior to the trip. If you are in any If you are in any doubt that a meeting will take place, doubt on the trip, stay with your vehicle or the please contact one of the organising team for up- bus. to-date information or in the case of field trips please contact the trip leader. o If you are giving other members of the group lifts in your own car, please ensure that your • Shared Transport insurance covers this, as most policies are If you do not have a car or would like a lift for a field invalidated if passengers are charged or trip please let us know at our first meeting, or contribute to the cost of petrol. alternatively phone the field trip leader who will be pleased to help you. o Check the weather forecast and be prepared by bringing:  appropriate sturdy footwear (boots),  waterproof and warm layers of clothes

 Long trousers and socks to protect against

insect bites.  Walking pole (optional)  Small first aid kit  Sun cream  Mobile phone in case of emergency  Whistle (optional) Don’t forget your binoculars and/or scope  Lunch if required

 Water

Acknowledgements The RSPB Scotland staff in the Inverness Office check the newsletter to ensure correct branding and data protection regulations are adhered to. We are grateful to them, especially to Laura Dutch for her help with accessing the RSPB images in the newsletter and with printing the paper copies.. Thank you also to all of our members who contributed to this newsletter.

For further information or to share your stories and photos please contact:

Maureen MacDonald Alan Jones [email protected] [email protected] 01463 220013 01463 223679

Or find us at https://www.rspb.org.uk/groups/highland

RSPB Scotland is part of the RSPB, the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home. Together with our partners, we protect threatened birds and wildlife so our towns, coast and countryside will teem with life once again. We play a leading role in BirdLife International, a worldwide partnership of nature conservation organisations.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales no. 207076, Scotland no. SC037654