Europe – Birds, Short Stories

Photographs and words Nick Sidle

Photograph – Dunlin, Calidris alpina, Chanonry Point, Black Isle, Ross and Cromarty, Highland Scotland

Capercaillie, Western

Photograph – Western Capercaillie, Tetrao urogalluys, Cairngorms National Park, Highland Scotland

2023 – first rise in numbers in eight years. Still critically endangered in Scotland but 19 more males seen at lek displaying sites this year. https://cairngormscapercaillie.scot/capercaillie-lek-count-report-2023/

Capercaillie matter to Scotland and there are still only 542 estimated to be in the country. Good news is still not good enough.

Crossbill, Red

Photograph – Red Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra, Battan Forest, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland

Red Crossbill. Natural history records that their unique curved bill is to extract seeds from pine cones. Folklore says that Crossbills tried to remove the nails from the feet of Jesus at the crucifixion and that their beaks were distorted by the supreme effort earning them the alternative name of ‘Christbird’. Added to this is the belief that the red plumage of the males stems from Christ’s blood. They have also been believed to cure medical conditions including gout, infections and rheumatism and any ill health, underpin financial strength for an entire family and get in the way of lightning. After that, they can ward off fire, alert a household to smoke, and care for a mother during childbirth. Water from a dish they have drunk from was thought to cure epilepsy and some believed that after death, the body of a Crossbill will not decay. Crossbills were seen as so useful that they were kept, taken from the wild in numbers that threatened their population. In the UK, they were the subject of an early conservation law passed in 1926 which imposed a fine for taking their eggs. As medical helpers though they are gender specific. If the upper bill curves to the right they are healers of men, if it curves to the left they are healers of women. So, spare a thought for any newly hatched Crossbill chicks in the spring. There they are thinking that using that beak to get at pine seeds is going to be difficult enough. How do you think they feel when they find out all the other things they have to do?

Curlew, Eurasian

Photograph – Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, Merkinch, Inverness, Highland Scotland

Celebrated in poetry going back well over 1000 years, ‘I take my gladness in the sound of the curlew instead of the laughter of men’, the Curlew has almost been defined and named by its call. Curlew as a name from the song dates back to 1340 CE and is one of the more recent. The call can be eerie and is often associated with the supernatural and the song of the Curlew has been described as being from something half spirit and half bird. Curlews are thought to be the origin of ‘The Seven Whistlers’, mysterious birds flying at night whose calls from another world predict disaster. It is the Curlew itself however which is under threat, numbers have declined in Scotland more than 60% in just over 20 years.

Eagle, White-tailed

Photograph – White-tailed Eagle, Haliaeetus albicilla, Skye, Highland Scotland

Persecuted and gone from Scotland over 100 years ago, brought back from 1975 and now here to stay. People did both, sometimes they get it right.

Godwit, Bar-tailed

Photograph – Bar-tailed Godwit, Limosa lapponica, Dale Bay, Black Isle, Highland Scotland

In 2022 one of these birds was tracked by satellite flying 8426 miles nonstop from Alaska to Australia in 11 days 1 hour, a world record. So, if you see one don’t disturb them, they might need a rest!

Hawfinch

Photograph – Hawfinch, Coccothraustes coccothraustes, Glen Convinth, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland

The Hawfinch is the largest of the finches found in Scotland and the rest of Britain. Size though does not mean that it is seen very often, a combination of being rare, unfortunately in significant decline and having a rather shy temperament which has even been described as ‘self-effacing’, all mean that glimpses of them are few and far between and I was very lucky to see this one in an area of Highland Scotland where they are almost never recorded, the last sighting was in 2010 and that was tens of miles South on the other side of Loch Ness. There are local small breeding populations known much further South in Scotland at Scone Palace near Perth.

This individual was almost certainly a migrant on the move. The Gaelic name for the Hawfinch is the Gobach which translates as ‘Beaky’ which, although not exactly romantic or poetic, is highly appropriate not just because the Hawfinch beak is as large as it is but also because studies have shown it can exert huge pressures in excess of 95 lbs (48 kg) in order to crack things like cherry stones which it feeds on. In Yorkshire, the bird is actually known as the Cherry Finch because of its fondness for the fruit but further South in Europe it is also known for its selection of Olives, the stones of which require over 160 lbs pressure to break them as fast as the Hawfinch is on record as doing with apparent ease. Yes, the muscles for the beak are very well developed. Put simply, the Hawfinch can deliver a crushing pressure with its beak well over 1000 times its own weight. If human beings could do that, we would be looking at forces measured in tens of tons. The noise of the stones breaking can sometimes be the way of finding Hawfinches when they are feeding but it was not the case for my encounter. Cherries are a bit thin on the ground here and olives – don’t even ask. I was just lucky enough to see a bird that was not one of the usual I see and then, after a moment’s doubt, realise what I had found.

Thanks to Susan Haysom at Scottish Natural Heritage and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) for their information on the status of the Hawfinch and recorded sightings.

If anyone else is fortunate enough to spot a Hawfinch in North Scotland the BTO would be very interested to have the records and these can be reported through their website.

Jackdaw, Eurasian

Photograph – Eurasian Jackdaw, Corvus monedula, Glen Convinth, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland

Very clever birds and very sociable. A study has shown that if food availability varies with who you show up with, Jackdaws will very quickly ditch even established friends if it is to their advantage. Even if it costs though they will stay with family; offspring, siblings and their partners, they mate for life and mean it. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40808-7) In folklore. a Jackdaw on the roof can mean a birth or a death is imminent so even in prediction which side they are on cannot always be relied on. One collective term for Jackdaws is ‘a train’. Possibly the real question is who is getting on and who is getting off at any one time. At least when they do, you will know about it from all the noise, the other collective name is ‘a clattering’.

Osprey

Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, Cairngorms National Park, Highland Scotland

Breeding pairs in Britain 1916 to 1953: 0, 1954: 1, 2023: 250-300, mostly in Scotland. Persecuted for taking fish and by egg collectors and hit by habitat loss and pollution, the Osprey was nearly lost to Scotland and the UK. Brought back in 1954 to Loch Garten and becoming more established every year. Still don’t like Scottish winters though, they head South to Africa till it warms up again.

Peregrine

Photograph, Peregrine, Falco peregrinus, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Peregrine chicks, Lanarkshire. When they grow up they are going to be the fastest animals on the planet. The Peregrine hunts by taking other birds in flight in a steep dive with a typical speed of around 150 miles per hour. Some estimates put the maximum speed as up to 200 mph.

Pheasant, Ring-necked

Photograph – Ring-necked Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus, Glen Convinth, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland

Meet the Ring-necked Pheasant, a male displaying to take a territory and try to impress the females. An old name for the Pheasant in Scotland is the Comet, take a look at the tail to know why but there is a difference. We see comets at night and they are silent. He is making quite a lot of noise, it’s part of the show, which is fine unless having been out all night you are trying to get some sleep….. Nocturnal animals may have reservations.