Urras Nàdair na h-Alba

North Newsletter Issue No. 32. March 2012

Welcome to this North Newsletter - the first edition since the formation of North of Scotland Members’ Centre (a merger of the North Forum and the Inner Moray Firth Centres), the largest MC area-wise. Initial meetings were a great success. Now we all need to think of is what we should be doing in the Spring and Summer.

Mark Foxwell has put together a programme for volunteering on reserves. Not only will this help SWT conservation work but it will be an ideal way to get to know each other in our wonderful Scottish landscape.

May I draw your attention to SWT’s Dr Maggie Keegan’s Spring workshop in Inverness designed to assist Members with scrutinizing proposed wind farms and other potential habitat damaging developments – details to follow.

In writing this introduction I am mindful of the debt of gratitude we owe David Ashford for his editorial work. Please assist him by submitting articles and photos for future editions to ashford3@btinternet,com.

Patric Baird – Tel: 01349 830 737 or patricdnbaird@hotmail.co.uk

Conservation of the Narrow-headed ant (Formica exsecta) in Scotland

The narrow-headed ant (Formica exsecta) is a rare wood ant almost entirely restricted to the Scottish Highland. Being associated with natural and man made open glades and edges, it is an important indicator of a healthy woodland ecosystem. It is also an important ‘functional species’ in that it distributes seeds of many plants and preys on a range of invertebrates which feed on plants - such as aphids and caterpillars.

This ant has always had a highly disjunctive distribution but used to be more widespread in southern counties of England. The core population is now found in the ancient Caledonian Pine Forests of Speyside with small outlying colonies in Deeside and Perthshire. It continues to hang on - just about - at its one remaining English site, a heathland SSSI in Devon, but it is feared this wonderful animal may soon become extinct in England. The decline is thought to be the result of a combination of factors, including the dramatic loss of lowland heathland in England, disturbance through human activities (such as dirt-biking and pony grazing) and commercial forestry which destroys the natural habitat structure and is far too dense (and therefore dark). The ants depend on warm sunshine to raise their brood.

Fragmentation of woodland habitats in Scotland is also a serious concern. Narrow-headed ants are unable to cross areas of unsuitable habitat and so can rarely colonise new habitat. This may result in inbreeding because all of the colonies in one area are closely related and no queens are arriving from more distantly related populations. It also means that there are areas of suitable habitat that are unoccupied by the ants simply because they cannot cross hostile habitat to get there. The Narrow-headed ant is listed as endangered in the UK Red Data Book. It is both a UK

Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) Priority Species and listed on the Scottish Biodiversity List. Two important areas are receiving protection and conservation management. One is the RSPB reserve at Abernethy forest and the other is the Forestry Commission Scotland managed forest at Glenmore on Speyside where foresters are proactively helping to protect and enhance populations. As the lead UK BAP partner for the species, Scottish Wildlife Trust has also campaigned successfully for the better protection of this ant over the last decade and continues to provide management advice to those owners lucky enough to have the ants present on their land. More information on the ecology of the species is available in an SNH commissioned report. With research into the ecology of Narrow-headed ants ongoing, it is hoped that conservation action, directed by improved understanding, will help ensure the Narrow-headed ant’s survival.

Did you know that on the new SWT website you can find:

◊ Wildlife news and events, SWT Reserves and conservation.

◊ Facts and Figures – annual report on SWT Reserves.

◊ Natural Connections – SWT’s vision for the future.

◊ Fun things for kids

◊ Order SWT publications.

All this and lots more at:

www.swt.org.uk

Wood ant mound below a granny Caledonian pine in the Black Wood of Rannoch which contains the two true wood ant species - Scottish and Northern - as well as a few nests of the rare Narrow-Headed wood ant.

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For further information on the narrow headed ant and other wood ant species in Scotland, see the Forestry Commission’s Information Note on Forests and Wood Ants in Scotland at http://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/pdf/fcin090.pdf/$FILE/fcin090.pdf.

Jonathan Hughes SWT - Director of Conservation

prawn pot 90 feet underwater … in the Fal Estuary … in Cornwall by Tim Bailey, a fisherman.”

Alarmed by the alleged rarity of something I have seen, I turned to the National Biodiversity Network’s Gateway distribution map for more information: 47 records in Britain and Ireland. It’s not possible to tell whether or not 44 of them are over a hundred years old and confirm L. corrugatus has been seen only three times in living memory. It would be exciting if true. However, I have plenty of experience of rarity records turning out to be less marvellous than they seemed on first encounter, so I will refrain from ecstatic jumping up and down until I’m sure of this crab’s true status (assuming anybody really knows).

I am applying even more caution to the discovery among my photographs of a pair of crabs that don’t seem to be in any of the guide books. Caution #1 is that crabs can be disarmingly polymorphic in colour and patterning, morphology and even behaviour. When they are tiny, shore crabs exhibit a perplexing range in their appearance until the more effective camouflages sort out those most likely to grow to maturity. Caution #2 is not to be too hasty in declaring them to belong to a taxon never before found in Europe. Over enthusiasm goeth before a fall!

I am about to send data and pictures to the appropriate specialist at the Natural History Museum, hoping to get some guidance, and in March, when the low tides go down really low, a party of crab hunters will return to the site. If we find the unknown again, we can get a set of photographs that actually show diagnostic features. Since I forgot my responsibilities as a biological recorder when we found unknown in 2007, my pictures are not helpfully analytical. We need to know more about carapace features plus the degree of hairiness of walking legs and the presence/absence and arrangement of teeth on the chelipeds (pincer legs) … I think.

Dr James Merryweather Lochalsh

UP FOR CRABS!

The Council’s Highland Seashore Biodiversity Project begins this year, a major component of which will be the raising of public awareness. This first week in January 2012 I have become aware, with a jolt, that before that starts, I need to do something about my own awareness of local crab biodiversity.

Going through my photographs taken during numerous visits to Skye & Lochalsh (S&L) shores since 2004, I have discovered pictures of many crabs I never bothered to identify other than cursorily, including one which is reported to be devastatingly rare and another which seems not to

feature in guides at all, that so far nobody round here has been able to identify.

Shore and Edible crabs (Carcinus maenas and Cancer pagurus) turn up on just about any shore, but there are lots of other species that require noticing and – a responsibility I acknowledge, but tend to shirk – recording. You might infer from the NBN Gateway maps that a lot of crabs are rare, which around S&L might not necessarily the case.

We have several swimming crabs. If you’ve ever tried to handle the Velvet Swimming Crab (Necora puber), you’ll know why it’s sometimes known as the Devil Crab - vicious brute that it is! That and the smaller Harbour Crab (Liocarcinus depurator) are common enough not to raise any particular commotion, though people usually find them entertaining. Relatives of the latter probably require more considered attention.

My photos suggest that we’ve found the Marbled Swimming Crab (L. marmoreus) four times, at two unconnected sites: one on Skye and the other near Plockton. We need to look out for that when we visit other places with a similar habitat and then record its whereabouts with more care and precision than I have done. Each site is characterised by the presence of so-called ‘coral sand’, a coarse calcareous medium consisting of fragmented and bleached maerl (a red alga, Lithothamnium sp.).

The star crab might turn out to be the Wrinkled Swimming Crab (L. corrugatus) of which I found a live specimen at one site and empty carapaces of three at another. Again the habitat was founded on maerl. When I idly Googled this crab, the top hit was a report in the Telegraph: “Rare crab spotted in British waters for just third time in century. A rarely seen species of crab has been discovered in British waters for only the third time in a century… found in a

Handa Island Ranger’s Nature Diary - Instalment 1 – Spring (April and May)

Handa Island in Northwest Sutherland seemed like another world when I was a child. The mountains, colours and remoteness of the west caught my imagination then and held on to it tightly. Handa itself was the jewel in the crown. Its sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs and noisy seabird residents cast a spell on me. So, when the opportunity arose to work and live there as a Ranger for SWT, I just had to take it.

At the beginning of April there is still snow on the Sutherland hills: Ben Stack, Foinaven, and Arkle and the interior of the island remains largely brown and barren of life. Some of the winter visitors are still hanging around. Buzzards and a small flock of lapwing seem shocked to see humans again. We have been beaten on arrival by some wheatears that are already seeking out holes in the ground for their nests.

Eider ducks gather in the sandy bays - the black and white males ‘wooing’ the brown females. Despite this there’s still a general quietness to the island. Most days the wind blows around the bothy and the ruined black houses that were left behind in 1847. I think about the residents of these houses

Two specimens of a so far unidentified crab found on Skye.

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SWT Members - Open volunteer program 2012 The North region is welcoming any Trust Members to get involved in some practical projects on Highland reserves. We are operating an open doors policy, in which Members can join staff on the ground and contribute to the task in hand.

Any interested Members would meet at the reserve at say 9.00 am on the day or days they would like to volunteer and bring a packed lunch with suitable outdoor clothing. No need to commit to the whole week - only days which are suitable for yourself.

There is also an opportunity to join small residential work parties throughout the year, living and working on the reserve from Monday to Friday. Spaces are very limited.

In addition to the list below, there are small work parties planned for Handa Island.

Spring / Summer 2012

Location: Talich Wildlife Reserve. Open week dates: 2nd – 6th April. Meeting Point: Talich car park. Projects: Annual Meadow management. Grass cutting and Gorse control. Use of Power scythe, Brush cutters and mowers. Raking and removing all cuttings. Stock fence improvements (internal target grazing area). Location: Ben Mor Coigach Open week dates: 28th May – 1st June Meeting Point: To be confirmed Projects: Deer counting - Core density areas. Mapping sightings. Upland Bird recordings. Walking enclosure fence lines. Maps provided. Vegetation transects. Residential opportunity during this week.

Location: Talich Wildlife Reserve Open week dates: 9th - 13th July Meeting Point: Talich car park Projects: Summer surveys. Bird survey. Moth trapping. Butterfly transects. Wildflower presence. Bats and Badgers. Autumn 2012

Location: Talich Wildlife Reserve Open week dates: 17th – 21st September. Meeting Point: Talich car park. Projects Annual Meadow management. Grass cutting and Gorse control. Use of Power scythe, Brush cutters and mowers. Raking and removing all cuttings. Stock fence improvements. (internal target grazing area).

Location: Loch Fleet NNR Open week dates: 1st – 5th October. Meeting Point: Golspie Kart track entrance. Project: Clearing regeneration from sensitive sand dunes. Felling Scots Pine trees by hand and chainsaw. Pulling young saplings. Use of wood chipper and shredder. Manual handling cut timber. ATV and Trailer handling. Gloves provided. Residential opportunity during this week.

For more details, contact Glen Campbell : gcampbell@swt.org.uk

often. How did they feel about the island and what were their winters like?

In the North of the island, the Torridonian sandstone cliff ledges are waiting. They are still stained from the previous season but ready for this year’s masses of common guillemots and razorbills still coming and going - unsettled. Many fulmars are already in place, scattered about on the grassy ledges at the top of the cliffs. Occasionally one lifts off to ride the wind and I am given a fantastic eye level view of a graceful, often overlooked, seabird. I am sure there is some ‘reason’ for them doing this but I can’t help thinking they just enjoy it!

The most popular breeding seabird for the thousands of people who visit Handa is the Atlantic puffin. They are

counted on an April evening as it begins to get dark. Their tiny wings ‘whirr’ as they take off and land at their chosen spots. Keeping track of them in this low light is fairly easy given their orange feet! There are about 400 puffins

on Handa but numbers are likely to be growing due to the eradication of rats from the island in 1997.

Soon the last buzzards are shooed away by some of Handa’s most boisterous summer residents. Around 240 pairs of

great skuas (bonxies) will fill up the middle of the island with their territories. They mark their area; wings up and back showing bright white flashes on the underside, their necks are extended and a nasal ‘knaw knaw’

call is made. A volunteer will arrive soon to continue the long-term research carried out by the Handa Skua Project.

There’s a change in the air in May. He comes, right on cue at the beginning of the month: a cuckoo is back and he’ll remind us that he is up at 5am most mornings! Willow warblers sing in almost every patch of willow and at night, I am lulled to sleep by snipe drumming. Up at the cliffs, things are also getting going and kittiwakes are frantically collecting nesting material.

Then I hear it for the first time - a meowing overhead. One of my favourites and one of the last to arrive. Arctic skuas are making their presence known. They are the most acrobatic of Handa’s breeders and simply stunning to watch. Their arrival is in time with the Arctic terns. Finally the stage is set with all the characters and drama is about to unfurl as summer comes to Handa.

Read more about the summer on Handa in the next edition of the North Newsletter. Jenny Grant Isle of Skye

Handa Island, owned by Scourie Estate, is managed by Scottish Wildlife Trust. Jenny Grant and Phil Knott were the Rangers on Handa for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

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Please note the deadline for Newsletter 33 articles to be sent to David Ashford (ashford3@btinternet.com) is 5th June 2012.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust is a Scottish Guarantee Company (No. SC040247) registered as a Scottish Charity (No.SC005792). Registered office: Harbourside House, 110 Commercial Street, Edinburgh EH6 6NF .

RED SQUIRREL HOTSPOTS

Highland Red Squirrel Group have just printed a magnificent leaflet of some of the best places to observe red squirrels in the Highlands If you would like some, especially for distribution to the tourist sector, please email Juliet Robinson, Red Squirrel Conservation Officer at juliet.robinson@forestry.gsi.gov.uk or phone: 01349 862 144.

NORTH OF SCOTLAND MEMBERS’ CENTRE Since the last Newsletter we have enjoyed two first rate talks. The first by Dr David Hetherington, the Cairngorms Wildcat Project Manager, on The Highland Tiger and the second by Dr Marcus Walters, Project Officer of the Moray Firth Sea Trout Project on 'Sea Trout: Recognising Scotland's "Other" Fish'. These talks attracted near record attendances. We hope this sets the scene for the future. Our Website is now up and running. The latest information can be found at http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/local-member-group/north-of-scotland/. Thanks to all Members who have given us email addresses. Please consider this if you have not already done so since it does make it so much easier to communicate with you.

Events: March – July 2012

Indoor Meetings Wednesday, 21st March — at 7.30 pm: A talk by Jonathan Hughes, Director of Conservation, Scottish Wildlife Trust on the conservation work of SWT. Apart from all his other conservation work, Jonny is on the Scottish Government’s Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Project Board. This will be an evening not to miss. Location to be announced. Wednesday, 18th April — at 7.30 pm: AGM and Members’ Evening. Exchange of wildlife stories and short presentations by those who want to give them. There will also be a quiz and raffle. Location to be announced. Practical Conservancy February and March: Loch Fleet NNR . Possible tasks: Work on trees and saplings. Barbecue April - Open Week: Talich. Possible tasks: Cutting Meadows (reduce nutrients and competition), gorse control, fencing. April: Ben Mor Coigach. Planned census days: deer counting/mapping, Golden Eagle breeding monitoring. Planting Aspens and Birches. June: Ben Mor Coigach. Open census week. Possible tasks:- walk Enclosure fence line, vegetation transects on the open hill, hill path work, wildlife surveys. July: Talich. Surveying birds, badgers, bats moths, butterflies, wildflowers. Photography.

Full details from Mark Foxwell, SWT Reserves Manager - Highlands and Islands. Tel: 01463 811 497

Mobile: 07795 527 291 E-mail: mfoxwell@swt.org.uk.

EASY FUNDRAISING I have just raised £1.05 for the Scottish Wildlife Trust. I am sure you will not be impressed with that opening remark but you might be interested to know that I did it with no effort at all from me! Let me explain. I wanted to buy some clothes online from Cotton Traders. So - instead of going directly to Cotton Traders’ website, I went to easyfundraising.org.uk and linked from there to Cotton Traders. Simple! There are hundreds of retailers to choose from – including Amazon and e-Bay – and you can download an easyfundraising tool bar that alerts you if you are going to one of ‘their’ retailers and have forgotten to go through their website. SWT has about 36,000 Members. Imagine what a difference it would make if we all raised £1 every time we shopped online. Why not give it a go?

Heather Bantick Boat of Garten

Good evening Chairman Bantick!

New Mammal Atlas

A new ‘Atlas of Highland Land Mammals’ has recently been published by the Highland Biological Recording Group - www.hbrg.org.uk. The Atlas maps the

distribution of the 37 species of land mammals (i.e. including bats and seals, but not cetaceans) regularly found in the Highland administrative area. It also includes information on the identification and ecology of these species, plus short notes on less common species and those whose existence in H i g h l a n d r e q u i r e s confirmation. The distribution maps are based on over 25,000 records, submitted by more

than 1,200 people, during the past 12 years. The Atlas costs £7 plus £1.50 p&p and can be ordered online via the Otter Shop - www.ottershop.co.uk , or by sending a cheque payable to ‘HBRG’ to Ro Scott, Peddieston Cottage, Cromarty, IV11 8XX.