Notes from the North

It is May. The blossom is showering down in drifts along the pavements and the air is thick with the twitter of busy birds finding mates and building nests, so Birds their beauty and their wellbeing - our wellbeing too - are the subject of this post.  Scotland apparently has 535 different kinds of bird. If we set aside the views of the owners of grouse moors who often don’t live in Scotland anyway, most of us probably agree that having laws to protect and increase our bird populations is a good thing. And fortunately, notwithstanding the murderous efforts of that gun-wielding minority, Scotland still has more species of large raptors than anywhere else in the UK – 18 in all.  Happily there are also dozens of voluntary organisations up and down the country dedicated to monitoring and protecting the country’s birds and their nesting sites.  Of all the raptors the golden eagle ( aquila chrysaetos ) is probably Scotland’s best known. Another less often seen but widely distri...