Happy New Year

Mon 4th January
After relaxing for the weekend it was back to work today.   I spent most of the day working on staff matters for SWT but managed to get over to the badger hide in the afternoon.   There is still a large amount of deep snow here so the drive and the walk in were quite difficult.    The snow was too deep for my wellies and my socks ended up quite wet.   Anyhow, the badgers and other animals had been out and about and I followed a furrow all the way to the hide - yes, the badgers had been exploring.   This is the most severe and longest spell of snow for many years so these badgers are not used to it.  They might have been better to stay underground.   I took pity on them and poured some peanuts down two of the tunnels right in front of the hide to give them a bit of protein to be going on with.   I then noticed otter footprints in the snow near the hide, but did not have the sense to investigate if the otter had been using one of the badger setts.  Too late now - there has been more snow since which will have covered the evidence.  I'll go again later in the week and see if the otter is still about.

The hide, the sett and the otter prints

Weds 6th Jan
Got the train down to Edinburgh yesterday and stayed overnight at Dalkeith.  There is some snow down there but not much compared with up at home.   Spent today on SWT business at Cramond

Thurs 7th Jan
Train home.  Bea had shovelled tons of snow to get the car out to collect me from the station.

Fri 8th Jan
Bea and I trudged up the road carrying rucksacks full of food for the birds at the grebe car park. We had to step into thigh-high drifts each time a car came along - snow was much to deep to use the path or go directly through the woods. Later we did the same behind the village hall where the weight of the snow was slowly removing the guttering all along the end of the building. There'll be a big bill to pay when the snow has shifted. Thankfully our house is holding up apart from some water leaking down inside the wall from melting snow on the roof - the gutters are choked with ice and the water has to go somewhere. It'll all dry out soon enouh hin the spring.

Sun 10th Jan
Train to Edinburgh again. Five days of meetings including a trip to London

Mon 11h Jan
Re-interviewed one of the candidates for the SWT Marketing job.

Tues 12th Jan
Train to London and overnight at the Twickenham Premier Inn.

Weds 13th Jan
RSWT Countries Committee in the shot tower at Crane Park beside the River Crane. There was only one Welsh delegate and the Irish didn't make it at all due to the snow but we had them on speaker phone on a mobile. In the afternoon Alex, local ranger, took SM and me on a short guided walk on Crane Island, which is a London Wildlife Trust reserve, while the others went on their way.

Thurs 14th Jan
Train home. Bea had to shift a lot of snow to get the car out to collect me from the station.   We were rather late getting in due to a broken rail near Grantham.

Fri 15th Jan
Last night there was a beaver drop-in session at Knapdale followed by a Stakeholders Forum this morning. I simply couldn't get there and felt rather guilty having to leave it all to Simon Jones and Simon Milne. Bea and I fed all the local birds - the Council had cleared the path to Deshar School so it was a lot easier than last week.
1700 I went to the badger hide. The muddy footprints in the snow bore witness to badger movement so I put peanuts down two of the tunnels and stayed to watch for a while but no badgers were seen. A thaw had set in but it was still hard work getting to the hide through wellie-deep heavy snow.

Tues 19th Jan
Spent the day at a Wildlife Crime event at the Highland Wildlife Park organised by the police and RZSS.  More than 40 people attended; mostly police from different parts of the UK plus representatives from SWT (me plus Laura from Spey Bay), SSPCA, SNH, RSPB and Cairngorms National Park.  Topics covered included the scale of wildlife crime both nationally and internationally, CITES, use of forensics in wildlife crime detection, Scottish wildlife under threat from crime and the role of the Police Wildlife Crime Officers.   There was a two-hour lunch break which was brilliant because that gave us time to wander round the park to visit the animals (the tigers and Mercedes the polar bear were everyone's favourites) as well as do some valuable networking.

Weds 20th Jan
Spent the whole day writing reports

Thurs 21st Jan
More reports then in the evening gave a beaver talk to the SWT Inner Moray Firth Members Centre.   Nice friendly evening with a decent turn out considering the poor weather.

Fri 22nd Jan
Telephone conference with senior managers and vice chairmen of SWT.  I stayed at home on speaker-phone while the others were in the office at Cramond. 

Sat 23rd Jan
Fed all the village birds.  It is still not easy walking around with frozen snow everywhere and everything takes longer than normal.   Saw a red squirrel feeding behind the village hall but there are not many birds around and the feeders were far from empty when I got there.

Sun 24th Jan  Set off for Borneo.  Click here for the full story

Sun 14th Feb
Bea and I filled the feeders at the grebe car park and village hall. We brought home one of the squirrel feeders for repair.

Mon 15th Feb
I repaired the squirrel feeder, reinstalled it and brought the other one home, fixed that too and took it back. Hopefully the new set-up, replacing the hinges with a pivot system, will stand up to the winter weather better.

Tues 16th Feb
Attended the Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels project conference at Battleby. A very useful day.

Weds 17th Feb
Prepared for next week's beaver meeting.  Built a new Squirrel Feeder.

Thurs 18th Feb
Minus 11C today. Brrr. Checked the village hall feeders - one had a big hole (squirrels have sharp teeth) so took it home and repaired it and returned it to the hall.  Still lots of snow everywhere and quite icy here and there.

Fri 19th Feb
Visited the SSPCA rescue centre in Inverness and chose a dog.

Sun 21st Feb
Filled the village bird and squirrel feeders again.  Prepared for next week's SWT Council meeting and other events.

Mon 22nd Feb
Travelled to Edinburgh to chair the Beaver Trial Steering Group meeting.  Useful day.   The trial is going well.  We also agreed to form a new group to look at wider strategic issues beyond the current trial.  With the advent of the trial those of us who have lobbied for beavers for many years have somehow lost our focus on our main aim: the widespread restoration of beavers into the Scottish Landscape.
While I was in Edinburgh Bea collected our new dog from the SSPCA.

Bea with Bobby - our 5 month old collie cross rescued dog

Tues 23rd Feb
I took Bobby for his first long walk in the frozen landscape.

Weds 24th Feb
SWT meetings at Cramond, then a LINK reception at the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. Exceedingly enjoyable evening with lots of helpful conversations with counterparts in other NGOs and Scottish Government.

Thurs 25th Feb
0900 Private meeting near The Meadows then a meeting of the Council of SWT. All but one of the trustees were present - they really are a dedicated lot.

Fri 26th Feb
Formal Induction for our three newest trustees.

Sat 27th Feb
Spent the morning at a Planning Workshop for our Members Centre volunteers. Had to leave at lunchtime to try to get home through the snow. Made it eventually. The railway line north of Perth was blocked by snow and a derailment so they laid on a coach. Fortunately the A9 had been reopened earlier.

Sun 28th Feb
0730 Bobby and I fed the birds at the grebe car park and then walked the snowy paths in the woods. We saw 2 red squirrels and a buzzard.

Tues 2nd March
Up at 0500. Drove to Edinburgh for a Conservation Committee meeting at Cramond. Stayed at Dalkeith overnight.

Weds 3rd March
Drove to Castle Douglas to give a talk to the Galloway SWT Members Centre on the Wildlife of the Cairngorms National Park. Great audience of 53 enthusiasts.

Thurs 4th March
Drove home (6 hours) in time for a proposed Goldeneye Study Group meeting in Aviemore only to find it had been postponed till next week.  I drove nearly 500 miles in the past two days.

Fri 5th March
Long long walk in the snow with Bobby. He found some pine marten dung halfway between the end of Kinchurdy Rd tarmac section and The Yard.

Sun 7th March
0800 to 0900 Bobby and I filled the bird feeders at the village hall and the grebe car park.
1030 I managed to get to the badger hide at last. Everything seems OK - no obvious leaks, the mice have failed to get into the peanut bin and the lights still work. There were plenty of fresh footprints between the tunnel entrances so the badgers seem to have survived despite weeks of being under snow. I dropped some peanuts down some of the holes.
I cleaned out the three goldeneye nest boxes and relined them with a layer of wood shavings so we're all set for the spring. A woodpecker was drilling away nearby so maybe spring is not too far distant.
When I got home I gave the bird feeders a spring clean and refilled them. Feeling rather virtuous I took the rest of the day off.

Mon 8th Mar
Drove to Stirling and gave the Wildlife of the Cairngorms talk to the SWT Members Centre. Overnight in Edinburgh.

Tues 9th Mar
Attended the meeting of the Scottish Biodiversity Committee chaired by the Environment Minister, then caught the train to Newark.

Weds 10th Mar
Attended a meeting of the Council of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, then caught the train home

Fri 12th Mar
Brought my wildlife databases up to date. A starling investigated one of the nest boxes.

Sat 13th Mar
0730 a woodpecker was drumming near the grebe car park.
1000 I attended the Highland Biodiversity Forum meeting in Inverness

Sun 14th Mar
Bobby (the new dog) and I filled up the local bird feeders.

Mon 15th Mar
0700 - 2 red squirrels on the feeders at the village hall.
1430 - was taken for a walk on the SWT shingle island reserve at Pitlochry by the local chairman. It is now covered in grass and small trees but the soil is very shallow so the local moles have built huge castles all over the meadows. Presumably if you can't go down you go up. We discussed the local wildlife issues and then bumped into the chairman of the local shooting fraternity - he has an interesting, if somewhat distorted, angle on things. Anyhow, when SWT acquires a reserve it tends to phase out any shooting that was going on and that is the case at Pitlochry. In the evening Russell Coupe gave a fascinating talk about polecats to the members of the SWT Members Centre.

Tues 16th Mar
Starlings at the nest box again, then Bobby and I walked to Loch Nan Carraigean and saw crested tits at NH 9167 1642 and fox dung at NH 9119 1589.

Weds 17th Mar
0730 starling still at the box. Bobby and I then went to the BBB badger sett; he was not in the slightest bit interested and was more concerned with going home. There were no convincing signs of badgers at the setts but we found fox dung and a badger latrine on the way home. Bobby showed no interest in either.

Thurs 18th Mar
Red squirrel behind village hall. Travelled to Edinburgh for a reception and talk by Ranulph Fienes at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBGE). Brilliant evening.

Fri 19th Mar
Train to Perth for a Scottish Badgers meeting at the Link offices.

Sat 20th Mar
Co-chaired with Jean Barr SWT's annual Members Centres day at Cramond - a most useful day.

Sun 21st Mar
Fist sighting of the year of a black headed gull in the village.

Mon 22nd Mar
Pine marten dung on a stone on the Mercedes track at NH9217 1283. We then found bedding and a latrine at the single-tunnel badger sett beside the Springwatch crested tit nest site.

Tues 23rd Mar
Train to Edinburgh for a meeting with an SWT trustee and to attend a John Muir Trust Award event at the RBGE. The report and DVD that Bea and I made for our award was on display.

Weds 24th Mar
Drove to Oban, met with Jean and Bob Barr and were then taken to the SWT Seil Island Reserve by the convenor David Croucher. Very interesting walk in the Atlantic Hazel Wood. Several tunnels at the supposed deserted badger sett were now being used by something - possibly even badgers because David heard quite recently that a badger had been seen on the island. We saw lots of otter and fox droppings and one pile of pine marten dung so mammals are clearly very active here. We visited the local heronry before heading back to our lodgings to change for the evening event which was to attend the local SWT Members Centre to meet the members and hear a talk about ferns.

Thurs 25th Mar
Drove home then took Booby for a walk during which we saw a crested tit behind the village hall. Sightings of cresties are sadly few and far between after the severe winter. In the evening I attended a meeting of CRAGG.

Sat 27th Mar
We filled the feeders around the village - some vandal damage to the feeders at the grebe car park. I took the worst squirrel feeder home for repair.

Sun 28th Mar
Starlings at the box again. Repaired the broken squirrel feeder.

Mon 29th Mar
1400 Swept out the badger hide and checked the goldeneye boxes - a tawny owl was on eggs in one of them. The badger setts are quite active with bedding, footprints and a latrine in evidence. I went back to the hide in the evening and spent more than an hour watching.

Tues 30th Mar
Woke to find the snow had returned with a vengeance. Phoned RSPB to discuss their use of the hide and their policy re dogs-on-leads in their reserves. It's all a bit odd and most organisations do not agree with SNH's interpretation of the law as expressed in the Access Code. It would be helpful if someone made a legal challenge.

Weds 31st Mar
It snowed all day. Lots of roads blocked.

Thurs 1st April
Three robins in the garden today - a fairly rare event. Sadly one of them got into the house and crashed into a window trying to get out. Then there were two.

Fri 2nd April
Crested tit box check cancelled due to the deep snow but we did managed to refill the bird feeders around the village.

Sat 3rd April
Snow now melting in the drizzle. Went to the badger hide to assess the feasibility of tonight's badger watch - decided to go ahead. It was a good evening with 2 pairs of goldeneye on the river, at least 2 badgers and a mouse at the sett and a male tawny owl bringing food to its mate in the nestbox.

Sun 4th April
No point in doing a full nest check yet but I looked at box 22 and the level of filling was 3cm down compared with the last check last year. Hmmm.  We walked to Loch Vaa and on the way home found two piles of pine marten dung in the middle of the main Craigie Wood track at NH 9268 1775 and NH 9288 1796

Weds 7th April
0700 Woodpeckers drumming in at least three places in Craigie Wood.
1900 Badger watch with 2 guests - we saw 2 badgers.

Thurs 8th April
1000 meeting at Ballintean with Pete Cairns to discuss his project "2020 Vision".
1145 I called in at Loch of the Lowes where our old female has found herself a toy boy because her usual mate has not returned from Africa - yet. The feathers will fly if he turns up and catches them.
1930 Visited the Central Borders SWT Members Centre at their meeting in Galashiels.

Sat 10th April
1000 Filled the village bird feeders.
1400 Bea, the dog and I visited a local osprey nest. The nest has survived the winter but looks shallower than usual. No ospreys seen. I emailed Roy Dennis and his reply said the male did not turn up last year and the female abandoned the nest. No ospreys took it over this year so far.

Weds 14th April
1100 Bea, Bobby and I checked the crested tit nests. At the end it can be said that all boxes were filled to the bottom of the hole with dead wood except box 04 which had a blue tit nest in it, boxes 16 and 18 both had a stick poking out of the hole (there are some weird people about), box 22 was down 3.5cm below the hole, box 24 was 2 cm down, box 25 was 1cm down and box 27 4.5cm down. This is the base line so the next check will reveal if there is any action. On the way round we found fresh dung in the secret path badger latrine and a male caper flew off near box 11.

Fri 16th April
Live interview on the Fred Macauley show on Radio Scotland about a report that birds are being killed by diseases caused by people not cleaning their bird feeders. I urged people not to let this report stop them feeding birds but to clean their feeders periodically. Good PR opportunity for SWT. I took a group to the badger hide in the evening. As well as 2 badgers on view one of the group spotted a tree creeper going into the split in the hollow birch right in front of the hide and not coming out. Could be a nest in there. Later I filled the village hall feeders while taking Bobby for his last walk.

Sat 17th April
Filled the grebe car park and our garden bird feeders.

Mon 19th April
13 km walk with Bobby at Brig of Brown. Found fox dung at NJ125184, 2 dead hinds at NJ120179 and pine marten dung at NJ110175. Also found a new fence right across the line of the path causing us to make a 2km detour. Grrrr.

Tues 20th April
Visited Ayr SWT Members Centre.

Weds 21st April
Visited Fife and Kinross SWT Members Centre. Was taken on a walk at their Killminning reserve.

Thurs 22nd April
Email from RSPB saying someone is putting out nest boxes to raise crested tit chicks for the cage-bird market and for those of us involved with cresties to be alert. Took 4 people to the badger hide. I took the endoscope along to check the hollow birch and we found a tree creeper nest with 6 eggs in it. Also found 9 eggs in the lower goldeneye box. We saw 2 badgers plus the usual roe deer, mallards, greylag geese and goldeneye ducks. One of the goldeneye males gave an impressive display for his female.

Fri 23rd April
Walked along the Kinchurdy river bank with Bea and Bobby. The otter holt near the cattle grid was occupied and there were a number of goldeneye eggs in a box near Kinchurdy Island.

Sat 24th April
Walked with Bobby in Rothiemurchus forest. Found an otter spraint by Loch Morlich NH 9707 0897 and pine marten droppings on a track at NH 9623 0813.

Sun 25th April
Checked two boxes at Kincardine. The high goldeneye box was empty but the green box had a tawny owl chick plus two eggs.

Mon 26th April
Did a recce of Milton Loch for Friday's work session. There is fallen wood, damaged bushes and litter to tidy up, old nest boxes to remove and new ones to install.

Tues 27th April
Day trip to Edinburgh for a meeting at Cramond SWT HQ.

Weds 28th April
Box 04 now has feathers, down and a cup.
1400 I swept out the badger hide and topped up the nuts. Later I took a couple to the hide and we saw one badger - sadly it was only a brief sighting. Pity, because lately the badgers had been showing quite well.

Fri 30th April
Walked in Monduie forest with Bobby. Pine marten dung at NH 9808 1999.
In the evening 11 of us gathered for the Milton Loch working evening. We put up new bat boxes and bird boxes, lopped trees, picked up litter, swept out the hide and generally tidied the area up. The weather was a bit damp but the session went very well and we finished with drinks and snacks.

Sat 1st May
Bobby and I climbed Meall a Bhuchaille in slightly dodgy weather. It was snowing when we got to the summit so we didn't stay long. There were piles of pine marten droppings on the track along a stretch straddling the 600m contour.

Mon 3rd May.
Bobby and I in the local woods found our feeder station at the grebe car park had been vandalised again. Nothing that couldn't be fixed quite easily but annoying just the same.
1045 we saw a male capercaillie.

Tues 4th May
At Knapdale we released another pair of beavers. I was not there but by all accounts it went well and the beavers seemed pleased to have natural food after many months of zoo rations.

Thurs 6th May
I found a single tunnel badger sett and latrine on a local golf course.
1330 Boby and I did a full nest check in Craigie Woods. We found nest in 5 boxes, numbers 20, 04, 16, 23 and 26. No 26 already had eggs in it. Species unknown at present but all will become clear once the birds start sitting.

Fri 7th May
Morning - SWT paperwork. Afternoon in the shed building a squirrel feeder to a slightly new design for a friend. Went to the badger hide with a couple in the evening. Great evening - 2 badgers, a tawny owl, 7 roe deer, brown hare, 2 tree creepers and a widgeon.

Sat 8th May
Fresh dung in the secret path badger latrine. The nest in box 02 belongs to blue tits.

Mon 10th May
1100 Bobby and I filled the feeders at the village hall and at the grebe car park. We then sat by box 04 for a while but saw no action.
1400 Bea and I finished off some of the jobs at Milton Loch. We fitted a new lid on a nest box, installed a new squirrel feeder and brought the surplus goldeneye pole home.
2000 I met Will Carey and Ruth Padel (great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin) for an evening in the badger hide. We started with a nest check using an endoscope as follows:
High goldeneye box: lots of down in the box and around the entrance but no eggs to be seen. They have either not been laid yet, or they've been stolen by pine martens or they are buried in the down.
Low goldeneye box: still just the 9 eggs as seen a week ago.
Camouflaged goldeneye box: the female tawny was watching my every move from inside the box so, not having any protective clothing, it was too risky to try to force her out so that I could check the chicks or eggs.
Tree creeper nest inside the split hollow birch: 6 gorgeous chicks.
We then saw 2 badgers; a muddy fat headed male and a sleek, immaculate female.

Weds 12th May
Bea and I attended Ruth Padel's reception at the Highland Wildlife Park. Bit of a stooshie about badgers at one point but no bad thing because it gave the chance to reveal a few dodgy attitudes to wildlife among some of those present.

Thurs 13th May
Found 7 blue tit eggs in the west end of the porch sparrow gallery.

Fri 14th May
0700 I checked nest box 23 and found a nest with no proper cup or eggs yet. Drove to Knapdale and walked to the beaver site to re-familiarise myself with the layout by visiting the dam and lodge in readiness for the following evening.

Sat 15th May
Most of the Council of SWT assembled at Ardrishaig for our annual Away Day. We spent the afternoon in discussion of how SWT can get from Good to Great, had dinner with invited local guests who had been helpful to us with the beaver project and then spent the evening on a field trip to see the lodge and dam built by one of our beaver families. We even glimpsed one of the beavers.

Sun 16th May
Drove home and took Bobby out for a walk. Box 04 had 7 eggs in it. We also found fresh dung in the badger latrine beside the secret path.

Mon 17th May
1700 Keith Duncan and I checked the nests at the badger hide. Still 9 eggs in the low goldeneye box and just down and wood shavings in the high one. The tree creeper chicks were judged to be too large to ring but the tawny owl parents were not in the box so Keith took the chance to ring their two chicks.

Tues 18th May
Travelled to Edinburgh to attend a meeting of the SWT Conservation Committee.

Weds 19th May
Repaired the grebe car park feeder cage using stiff fencing wire in an attempt to foil the vandals. Time will tell............. Heard a cuckoo near the Spey at Kinchurdy farm.

Thurs 20th May
Took Jason Thorpe and two guests to the badger hide. We saw at least 3 badgers, probably 4. Cuckoo heard again.

Sat 22nd May
Bobby swam for the first time - it was in Loch Mallachie.

Sun 23rd May
1600 Full check of the 27 crested tit nest boxes with Colin, an ecologist who also lives in our road. Boxes 2, 4 and 23 had blue tits sitting on eggs or brooding young. A few yards from Box 2 I found a very old and disused but quite unmistakeable badger tunnel. How I've failed to see it in the past I cannot explain. At Box 6 something, probably a sparrow hawk, had been using the lid as a plucking post. Box 26 contained 5 eggs but no sign of the owners. 50 metres from box 23 Colin found a rotten stump with a nest inside it containing chicks. We had high hopes it was crested tits because it was unlikely for two pairs of blue tits to breed so close together. I would keep an eye on the stump over the next two days.

Mon 24th May
I took Jason to the badger hide for a photo session. I left him there and walked out the long way to avoid some very skittish cattle in the main field.

Tues 25th May
Jason phoned to say he had taken some nice badger shots the previous evening. At one point he could see 4 badgers.

Weds 26th May
Bobby and I set up a video camera at the stump found on Tuesday. Unfortunately the battery failed after just a few minutes so we did not get our footage. Back at home I experimented with a different camera in our garden and got film of a great tit bringing food to one of our garden nest boxes so, duly encouraged, I took the said camera into the woods, installed it by the stump and Bingo - a pair of cresties bringing food to the nest - all captured on video.

Click here for a video of the parent cresties at the nest

. I also got video of a blue tit bringing food to its mate who was on eggs in our shed sparrow gallery.

Fri 28th May
Meeting at Cramond SWT HQ with Simon Milne

Sat 29th May
Took Keith Duncan of SNH to see the crestie nest stump. I also showed him the old Springwatch stump from 2 years ago. Evidently there are very few crestie nests known about this season - mine and one at Abernethy are the only ones SNH knows about in this area.
2030 took two young people to the badger hide in heavy rain. 2 badgers seen. Used the endoscope on three boxes as follows:
Hi goldeneye box - still just downy feathers
Lo goldeneye box - 15 goldeneye eggs
Camouflaged box - the 2 tawny owl chicks have fledged.
Later I worked on couple of SWT reports.

Sun 30th May
Watched food being taken to both sparrow galleries; blue tits on the porch and great tits on the shed. Finished SWT reports.

Mon 31st May
1100 filled feeders at the village hall and grebe car park.
1150 checked the crestie nest - adult birds still bringing food.
1400 found a dead great tit in our lounge. Assume it's one of the pair with young in our sparrow gallery. Great shame but not much we can do except maybe provide mealworms to make the surviving bird's task less difficult.
1730 spoke with David the warden at the osprey centre. He told me some idiot has posted the map reference of the crested tit nest in the Abernethy Reserve on a birding blog site with the result that it is now mobbed with up to 30 bird watchers at a time, including clients from a local commercial wildlife tourism business. So much for codes of conduct.  If I ever find out which company it was I'll name and shame them on this site.
Packed for three days away in Orkney

Tues 1st June
0730 set off for Orkney, passing a dead badger on the A9 near Carrbridge at NH8658 2388. Got the 1330 ferry Gills Bay to St Margarets Hope, then the 1730 ferry Houghton to Lyness and arrived at the Stromabank Hotel on South Walls, Hoy at 1830.

Weds 2nd June
Day on the Hill of White Hamars Reserve. In the morning SWT staff Mark Foxwell and Alan Anderson took Heather, Bobby and me on a 3 hour tour of the west end of the reserve. We saw loads of fulmars, bonxies, guillemots and other sea birds along the cliffs plus a peregrine falcon. The staff explained the current grazing arrangements with the local farmers Ian and Liz Davidson and showed how it was benefiting the wild plants. Later we were lunch guests at Ian and Liz's farm at Snelsetter along with Andy (RSPB) Julian (Scapa Floe project manager), Richard (Viking Heaths project manager) and Christine (Local authority environment officer and steering group member for both Viking Heaths and Scapa Floe projects). After lunch we all walked the eastern half of the reserve, then back to Snelsetter for coffee before most of the guests had to catch their ferry.
Back at the hotel Bea, Bobby and I snatched some sleep before we and Mark and Alan greeted Liz and Ian Davidson, our dinner guests for the evening. The lord Lieutenant of the County was to have joined us but was unwell. Later Bea walked Bobby along the road before bed and the poor lad met his first electric fence.

Thurs 3rd June
Drove to Hoy and walked half way to Rackwick and back before it was time to start our journey home - 1230 Lyness to Houton, 1700 St Margarets Hope to Gills bay and then the 4 hour drive home.

Fri 4th June
Jason Thorpe phoned to say the Milton Loch bird hide had been vandalised again; two planks had been kicked out of the wall. Jason had kindly fixed it.  Jason also reported seeing a goldeneye duck go into the Lo Goldeneye box at the badger hide on Monday evening.

Goldeneye duck

Our single parent great tit was still bravely feeding its young in the sparrow gallery on our shed.
The cresties at the stump (nest 1023b) have fledged but the blue tit in the nearby box (1023a) is still sitting.

Sat 5th June
1400 Took Bobby for a swimming lesson at Loch Vaa. On the way we found a pine marten dropping at the Loch Vaa track junction NH 9224 1765.

Sun 6th June
2000 Checked four blue tit boxes 2, 4 and 6 - all had blue tit chicks

Mon 7th June
1830 Checked the badger hide boxes - no change since last time except that in the low box I could only count 11 eggs due to some being buried in the shavings and down. The badgers are active judging by the paths through the long grass and the serious excavation undertaken at two tunnels immediately above the hide at the upper sett.

Tues 8th June
Great tit chicks fledged from the shed sparrow gallery.

Weds 9th June
I visited a wildlife colleague and friend in the Royal Vic hospital in Edinburgh.

Thurs 10th June
SWT Council meeting at Jupiter.

1830 SCVO annual Charity Awards at Traquair. 21 charities short listed in 5 different categories. SWT was second in the main category.  Brilliant.

Sat 12th June
Join SWT/Woodland Trust field trip at Ledmore and Migdale forest. Bea had a meeting in Boat so Bobby came with me. There were only 9 of us including Bobby. Pleasant walk but chilly and damp so we all wore waterproofs.

Tues 15th June
Filled the village birds feeders. Cleaned some of them in bleach.

Weds 16th June
Train to York in time for RSWT Joint Forum at 1400.

Thurs 17th June
RSWT Council meeting, then the train home.

Fri 18th June
Box 2 - blue tit chicks have fledged. Box 8 still contains 8 large blue tit chicks.
Badger hide - checked the GE boxes again - no change. The tit box has some nest material in it but no nest.
Kevin Cuthbert phoned. At 0740 on 17th June he saw a badger stealing chicks from a pippet's nest. Nearby was a single tunnel badger sett with a large spoil heap, latrines and bedding in evidence.

Sat 19th June
1600 to 1830 I held a reception at the Surgeons Hall in Edinburgh for members of the SWT Foundation. It was a very positive event with 56 guests plus 6 SWT staff.

Sun 20th June
1720 The blue tit chicks in Box 26 have fledged but box 23 still has at least 5 large chicks.

Mon 21st June
Responding to a phone call the previous evening I went and dealt with a dead badger on the B970 at Pityoulish. NH 9310 1491 female 7.5kg.

Tues 22nd June
Train to Edinburgh, met SWT CEO and took the 1605 flight to Belfast City Airport. Overnight at Carnlough.

Weds 23rd June
Meeting of the RSWT Countries Committee in the hotel followed by a visit to the wildlife reserve at Glen Arm Estate before catching the 1725 flight back to Edinburgh and the last train home. Took Bobby for his last walk before collapsing into bed.

Fri 25th June
The remaining blue tits in boxes 8, 23 and the porch sparrow gallery have fledged.
1000 to 1600 Seminar in Aviemore about the regeneration at Glen Feshie Estate. All the great and the god were there. Impressive outcomes.

Thurs 1st July
Came across a roe deer with two babies near the village while walking the dog.
1650 I filled the public bird feeders around the village.

Fri 2nd July
2 tree creepers at the grebe car park

Tues 6th July
Pine marten dung on the secret path at NH 9260 1865

Weds 7th July
Cleaned our bird baths. Yuk!

Sun 11th July
Topped up the bird and squirrel feeders at the village hall and the grebe car park.

Mon 12th July
Lots of SWT admin.
1510 Walked Bobby into Coire an Lochain, Cairngorm; 1 hour 20 mins in and 1 hour out. Poor dog got a fright from the large, very lifelike silhouette of a dog on the "dogs on leads" sign. Lots of small birds everywhere and some red grouse in the Coire. We got drenched on the way out.

Tues 13th July
Large male capercaillie in a tree not far from Boat village at NH 9325 1841. Unusual to see one so close to the village.

Thurs 15th July
Crested tit on the nuts behind the village hall.

Fri 16th July
Buzzard over Craigie Wood. We have not seen much of them this summer so it is worth remarking on.

Sun 18th July
Fed the birds and squirrels at the Abernethy Golf Club, Boat village hall and the grebe car park.

Mon 19th July
Red squirrel near the far end of the Secret Path at NH 9255 1843.
2015 Took a family of 7 to the badger hide. Not a great night. No badgers for 2 hours then two came out of a tunnel high on the upper sett at 2240. It was getting gloomy by then and our lights were not powerful enough to reach that far away so it was difficult to see what was going on. Another badger came to the front of the hide very briefly and only two of us saw it.