Wednesday 6 March 2019

Mountain Hare Campaign and SnareWatch

Indulge me, I'm posting the link below to a OneKind petition which it's hoped will bring an end to what appears to be the wholesale slaughter of Mountain Hares. I used to see these gentle, charismatic animals often in the hills when I was young and still mountain biking, now they've become a rarity in some of our eastern glens.

The SnareWatch site is new to me so I've added both their Facebook and web site where you can report seeing a snare. Over the years I've seen many animals from rabbits to roe deer dead in unattended snares and its not a pretty sight. My local MSP Graeme Dey, the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans, thinks snares are a necessary tool in land management, his answer when I wrote him. Note, properly set and supervised snares are legal at this time, just a bit barbaric!


Mountain Hare Petition to Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform

SnareWatch Facebook Site

SnareWatch - report a snare


The previously seen and reported Iceland Gull couldn't be found today and during my wait as the tide receded I noticed the sign below at Victoria Park and thought we need another at Inchcape Park where some camper vans are encamped every night for most of the summer. The gull may just have been close by and I'll keep looking.


I hope this refers to a single rule to follow, and not that the management are in some way omnipotent, all knowing and who must be obeyed



No Iceland Gull so here's a Great Black-backed (the beast)


Iceland Gull (adult) Arbroath

At last, and Iceland Gull at Victoria Park, and even better an adult for a change. I'd went for a look in late afternoon and almost as soon as I arrived one flew directly over my head. You may have guessed, I didn't have a camera with me at that point, only my scope, so I didn't get a classic flight photo. To make it worse, it disappeared and it took another 15 minutes to re-locate it nearer the Steeple Rock at Whiting Ness. Next it flew out to sea and out of sight but I found it again later by the old sewage pipe with the gull flock. The gulls bathe there in the fresh water of the small burn. How long will this one stay around?


Iceland Gull adult, Victoria Park, Arbroath, click here for 32 second video

Iceland Gull adult, more zoom, 115 seconds, click here

Lesser Redpoll, Montreathmont Forest, click here for video  edited from UHD version


Iceland Gull (adult), easy to find and pick out when I knew it was around somewhere, and conveniently sitting on its own. Look up the ID tips on this species, I use the books often and it's very useful when I come across something unusual. In this case, I've been looking for an Iceland or Glaucous Gull at Victoria Park all year!


With the longer optical zoom on the Canon SX60, and the camera resting on the concrete sea wall. Not often I post a shot from the SX60


Same pose as the Herring Gull makes for a good comparison


Note the more rounded head, smaller less colourful beak and no black wing tips. Other photos show a deeper red in the legs than this one. Even Olive (marginally) thinks it's better looking than a Herring Gull and she doesn't like gulls. More Gull love I say!

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