Europe – Land Mammals, Short Stories
Photographs, words and illustrations – Nick Sidle
Photograph – Red Deer, Cervus elaphus Glen Convinth, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland
Badger, Eurasian
Photograph – Setting Moon, Boblainy Forest, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland
Badger confidential. The moon affects animals in many ways. Some navigate by it, many hunt by the moon which also means others are hunted and become more wary. Badgers mark their territories by urinating on marker points. Research has noted that badgers raise their leg more and do this more prominently at a new moon compared to the full.
Territory marking precedes mating and mating too is associated with a new moon. When you are being amorous, you do not want to be disturbed at all let alone hunted, so a new moon is a better time. A full moon in October is associated with badgers gathering and drying bedding material, long grass and other vegetation, to make their sett ready for winter and in Gaelic is known as ‘Gealach Bhuidhe nam Broc’, ‘the yellow moon of the badgers.’
Beaver, Eurasian
Photograph – Eurasian Beaver, Castor finer being prepared for release into the wild as part of a species reintroduction programme
1500’s to 2009, the years without beavers in the wild in Scotland. A native species that was hunted to extinction and natural engineers whose work affects wetlands and woodlands and benefits other species notably fish, birds, otters, dragonflies and other invertebrates, frogs, newts and toads and encourages tree growth overall even though they do fell trees and can be a local threat to some species such as Aspen. Some argue that things have changed greatly in the 500 years plus the beavers have been away with different approaches to agriculture, man-made flood defences, roads and railways all of which could be adversely affected. The work to reintroduce beavers has continued since 2009 and the idea has large scale public support but it has to be remembered that an adult beaver can fell a tree with a 25cm wide trunk in under an hour. Not everything beavers can do has been welcomed and although beavers are mostly nocturnal, if they are active in your area you will know about it, especially if they build a large dam. Completely vegetarian in diet the net effect of the returning beavers has been to improve habitats and raise populations and biodiversity of other species. Questions are still being asked but the public’s view was on the side of the beavers from the beginning and it really does look like, after a very long time, they are not just back but are here to stay.
Illustration – Eurasian Beavers, Castor fiber
Deer, Red
Photograph – Red Deer, Cervus elaphus, Gleann Mèinich, Stratrhconon, Ross and Cromarty, Highland Scotland
In Celtic lore personifies the power of the realms of the gods and the dead and of the forest. In modern Scotland can be a problem for the forest, their population has doubled in 50 years. So now they are a point of collision between the past and today.
Fox, Red
Photograph – Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, Glan Convinth, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland
First ancestors 55 million BC. 1.25 million BC. Close relatives of the modern Red Fox all leave North America and set up in Europe. 300,000 BC present day Red Fox has emerged in Europe and spreads back to North America giving a whole new meaning to migrants and migration.
Significant companion. The remains of a fox at a human burial site in Argentina suggest it was a friend 700 years before domestic dogs arrived. Dusicyon avus, now extinct, was larger than modern foxes but a very close relative.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.231835
Hare, Mountain
Photograph – Mountain Hare, Lepus timidus, Doire Leatrhan, Perthshire, Scotland
Native in Scotland since the ice age there have been times when mountain hares were thought of as dangerous shape shifting spirits and signs of ill omen or as a symbol of good fortune and prosperity. Partly displaced by the introduced Brown Hare, their refuge is now in the hills. Since people never decided how to see the hare, they have never decided quite how to see people and tend to stay low and still. If you are in a place where they rest in the day it is more than probable you won’t see them, but there will be several mountain hares watching you.
Illustration – Mountain Hare, Lepus timidus, winter
In winter the Mountain Hare’s fur turns almost white to act as camouflage. If snow is delayed or the season is short then the colour change can turn against them making them much easier too see. Lower periods of snow in recent years due to climate change have put this added pressure on the Mountain Hare.
Marten, Pine
Photograph – Pine Marten, Martes martes, Glen Convinth, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland
Almost driven to extinction in Scotland, the Pine Marten is making a comeback but slowly. Hunted for their fur or because they were thought of as a pest taking game birds, their heyday was 4000 BCE when incidentally almost all Scotland was covered in forest, which would have suited them, and was a time when there were no people established enough to begin clearing trees or really persecuting the Pine Martens. In North America there is a Marten Clan of the Ojibwe People, who see Martens as having spiritual strength linked to their hunting skills which is a bit more constructive. The Anishinaabe to which the Ojibwe belong respect them for their determination and in Native American California they are seen as lucky.
Moose/European Elk
Illustration – Moose (European Elk), Alces alces
If you were in Sweden and found a Moose (European Elk) with its head stuck in a tree being ‘under the influence’ would probably not be the first reason for its predicament you would think of but you could be wrong. This was one of the reports confirming alcohol use and abuse is not just for people in a new review of evidence by a team cantered on The University of Exeter that has shown that many animals ranging from insects to elephants and primates consume alcohol from natural sources and sometimes really suffer the effects.
Trends in Ecology and Evolution – The evolutionary ecology of ethanol
The review notes that the natural alcohol sources of sugar rich fruits and fermenting yeasts have been around since the Cretaceous period which even throws up a vision of a drunk dinosaur and although there is absolutely no evidence to support this even the slightest possibility is terrifying. It’s also possible that evidence could be available. Dinosaur footprints are still being discovered, what if there were a set where it looked like walking in a straight line was too much of a challenge?
Otter, European
Photograph – European Otter, Lutra lutra, North shore of The Beauly Firth, Highland Scotland
Early morning, elusive friend and in folklore often seen as a bridge from land to the world in water able to cross the divide and even assume different forms. In science too a very evocative animal.
Wildcat, Scottish
Photograph – Scottish Wildcat, Felis silvestris grampia
Scottish Wildcat. Numbers have been declining for hundreds of years, persecution and loss of habitat began the trend. Today the greatest threat is interbreeding with domestic cats but for 2000 years, despite opportunities, it looks like this did not happen. New research has shown that mixing of wild and domestic cats only really started in the 1960’s. Possibly more encounters, possibly fewer wildcats to choose from, probably not just what was known as the swinging sixties, that was just people.
https://ox.ac.uk/news/2023-11-06-international-research-transforms-understanding-history-cats-europe
Listed as critically endangered the Scottish Wildcat is being reintroduced from a captive breeding programme at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland Highland Wildlife Park
Not photographed in the wild
Photographs, text and illustrations ©Nick Sidle, all rights reserved