I’ve never been much of a bird watcher. I can just about name the birds that turn up at my feeders, which occasionally include some eye-catching specimens. Greater spotted woodpeckers come from the woods nearby for peanuts and there’s also delicately coloured nuthatches, and even, once, a green parakeet, blown north by a storm, no doubt. They are a commonplace now in London, I believe. Occasionally there is a great scattering of birds at our feeders and that’s generally all that I see of the sparrowhawk when it calls. But my attention has also been drawn to less showy visitors; for example, a little drab bird, distinguished mostly by a rich brown cap. I’m told that’s a tree sparrow, the population of which has been in a severe decline since 1970, a fall estimated at 93% in 2008. Real birdwatchers notice and thrill at such modesties, while I must have their significance pointed out to me.
Apart from an inexplicable fondness for those untidy black marauders, corvids, my real thrill as a dilettante birdwatcher would be to see a golden eagle. I have never managed a confirmed sighting. I look out for them in the Galloway and the Moffat hills, occasionally have seen something flying high above and have squinted hopefully but have been forced to conclude it is probably a buzzard, a fine bird in its own right but not at the apex: perhaps it was an eagle, but I remain uncertain.
I could not resist the lure of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society talk given by Philip Munro on The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project. Eagles in South West Scotland have, for many years, been a population just limping along, no match for the iconic golden eagle presence in the highlands. The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project has been doing something to correct this imbalance.
The talk was illustrated with beautiful video clips showing how, in the Highlands, single chicks are carefully removed from nests containing two or more hatchlings. Where there are twin birds, or triplets, generally only one would be likely to survive to maturity. The strongest chick may even kill its sibling. The captive birds are removed to pens in the south of Scotland and nurtured until their release into the southern hills.
Phil Munro presented a slide which summarised the great variety of species on which golden eagles feed: badgers, hare, rabbits, red squirrels, grey squirrels, grouse. Although concerns exist about predation on lambs, no evidence has been observed during the project’s time-frame. Indeed the impact on other species of the approximately fifty birds now present in the South of Scotland was, he suggested, hardly discernible. Much of the food is taken as carrion so, already deceased, just tidying up really. But those red and grey squirrels inevitably raise a question of balance in such matters. If they are just taking greys, well fine, but what about the threatened reds?
Patrick Laurie writes eloquently in his blog, Bog Myrtle & Peat, about the decline of ground nesting birds in South West Scotland, in particular of curlews. In a previous era these birds were plentiful and could coexist with farming practices, but there has been a long slow decline disguised by the longevity of the curlew which returns each year to try again to raise a couple of chicks, only, once again, to fail.
The precise reasons for this remain mysterious though there are many suspects; foxes, badgers, crows, red kites – another recent reintroduction to the area, now thriving spectacularly. In the circumstances Patrick Laurie’s defence of moorland managed for grouse shooting, in which context a range of other species, including ground nesting birds can thrive, is easy to understand. Achieving a balance of habitats in which the widest range of species can coexist is not an easy matter. We can be clear, however, that certain types of economic forestry and industrial farming practices are, plain and simple, habitat destroyers.
Part of the problem, in terms of public understanding of the issues, is the appeal of apex predators and other iconic species at the expense of a diversity of life of which a public, with a short attention span, is simply unaware.
Merlin Sheldrake’s programme Fungi: Web of Life – currently available to stream from BBC iPlayer – is a reminder of exactly this problem of invisibility. It is beautifully made with wonderful time lapse photography revealing the multicoloured and endless variety of fungal fruit bodies; but more striking still, is the revelation that the most significant part of this little understood part of the plant world is the vast network of mycelium which lie beneath the surface and which draw nutrients in whilst at the same time supporting the plethora of other plant species on which they depend. Nearly 90% of the iceberg which sank the Titanic lay invisible beneath the surface and, so it is also, with fungi.
Merlin Sheldrake is a low key presence in the programme, a tall slim figure with a flop of hair, prowling about in the background of a Tasmanian forest, as if he himself were an endangered species. Much of the voice over comes from Bjork, her Icelandic intonation adding to the transcendent appeal of the production.
So, thank you Philip Munro for your work on the South of Scotland Golden Eagle project but thank you also Merlin Sheldrake for reminding us that what at first may seem insignificant, on closer inspection, can prove to be beyond anything we might have imagined.
Endnotes
About Stephen Shellard
I am a retired College lecturer, having worked originally in supported programmes but latterly having taught social science subjects, Psychology and Politics, though my degree was in Sociology. I am from Newry in Northern Ireland, but now live in Dumfries in South West Scotland. https://carruchan.wordpress.com/about/
Carruchan
From Apex Predators to the hidden World of Mycorrhiza
I’ve never been much of a bird watcher. I can just about name the birds that turn up at my feeders, which occasionally include some eye-catching specimens. Greater spotted woodpeckers come from the woods nearby for peanuts and there’s also delicately coloured nuthatches, and even, once, a green parakeet, blown north by a storm, no doubt. They are a commonplace now in London, I believe. Occasionally there is a great scattering of birds at our feeders and that’s generally all that I see of the sparrowhawk when it calls. But my attention has also been drawn to less showy visitors; for example, a little drab bird, distinguished mostly by a rich brown cap. I’m told that’s a tree sparrow, the population of which has been in a severe decline since 1970, a fall estimated at 93% in 2008. Real birdwatchers notice and thrill at such modesties, while I must have their significance pointed out to me.
Apart from an inexplicable fondness for those untidy black marauders, corvids, my real thrill as a dilettante birdwatcher would be to see a golden eagle. I have never managed a confirmed sighting. I look out for them in the Galloway and the Moffat hills, occasionally have seen something flying high above and have squinted hopefully but have been forced to conclude it is probably a buzzard, a fine bird in its own right but not at the apex: perhaps it was an eagle, but I remain uncertain.
I could not resist the lure of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society talk given by Philip Munro on The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project. Eagles in South West Scotland have, for many years, been a population just limping along, no match for the iconic golden eagle presence in the highlands. The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project has been doing something to correct this imbalance.
The talk was illustrated with beautiful video clips showing how, in the Highlands, single chicks are carefully removed from nests containing two or more hatchlings. Where there are twin birds, or triplets, generally only one would be likely to survive to maturity. The strongest chick may even kill its sibling. The captive birds are removed to pens in the south of Scotland and nurtured until their release into the southern hills.
Phil Munro presented a slide which summarised the great variety of species on which golden eagles feed: badgers, hare, rabbits, red squirrels, grey squirrels, grouse. Although concerns exist about predation on lambs, no evidence has been observed during the project’s time-frame. Indeed the impact on other species of the approximately fifty birds now present in the South of Scotland was, he suggested, hardly discernible. Much of the food is taken as carrion so, already deceased, just tidying up really. But those red and grey squirrels inevitably raise a question of balance in such matters. If they are just taking greys, well fine, but what about the threatened reds?
Patrick Laurie writes eloquently in his blog, Bog Myrtle & Peat, about the decline of ground nesting birds in South West Scotland, in particular of curlews. In a previous era these birds were plentiful and could coexist with farming practices, but there has been a long slow decline disguised by the longevity of the curlew which returns each year to try again to raise a couple of chicks, only, once again, to fail.
The precise reasons for this remain mysterious though there are many suspects; foxes, badgers, crows, red kites – another recent reintroduction to the area, now thriving spectacularly. In the circumstances Patrick Laurie’s defence of moorland managed for grouse shooting, in which context a range of other species, including ground nesting birds can thrive, is easy to understand. Achieving a balance of habitats in which the widest range of species can coexist is not an easy matter. We can be clear, however, that certain types of economic forestry and industrial farming practices are, plain and simple, habitat destroyers.
Part of the problem, in terms of public understanding of the issues, is the appeal of apex predators and other iconic species at the expense of a diversity of life of which a public, with a short attention span, is simply unaware.
Merlin Sheldrake’s programme Fungi: Web of Life – currently available to stream from BBC iPlayer – is a reminder of exactly this problem of invisibility. It is beautifully made with wonderful time lapse photography revealing the multicoloured and endless variety of fungal fruit bodies; but more striking still, is the revelation that the most significant part of this little understood part of the plant world is the vast network of mycelium which lie beneath the surface and which draw nutrients in whilst at the same time supporting the plethora of other plant species on which they depend. Nearly 90% of the iceberg which sank the Titanic lay invisible beneath the surface and, so it is also, with fungi.
Merlin Sheldrake is a low key presence in the programme, a tall slim figure with a flop of hair, prowling about in the background of a Tasmanian forest, as if he himself were an endangered species. Much of the voice over comes from Bjork, her Icelandic intonation adding to the transcendent appeal of the production.
So, thank you Philip Munro for your work on the South of Scotland Golden Eagle project but thank you also Merlin Sheldrake for reminding us that what at first may seem insignificant, on closer inspection, can prove to be beyond anything we might have imagined.
Endnotes
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About Stephen Shellard
I am a retired College lecturer, having worked originally in supported programmes but latterly having taught social science subjects, Psychology and Politics, though my degree was in Sociology. I am from Newry in Northern Ireland, but now live in Dumfries in South West Scotland. https://carruchan.wordpress.com/about/