Dundreggan News - May 2010

Winter wonderland at Dundreggan! Birch trees laden with snow at the peak of the winter’s cold weather, on New Year’s Eve.

This winter at Dundreggan has been long, cold and hard, there was a prolonged spell of extremely cold weather over Christmas and New Year, with night time temperatures regularly below – 15°C and not much warmer during the day. There have been significant falls of snow with drifts well over 2 m. deep still present on higher ground in early March. There are indications that spring is around the corner with longer days and warmer daytime temperatures but there is also a feeling that winter isn't over yet.

The weather has resulted in spectacular scenery with many days of clear blue sunny skies, snow clad trees and alpine views. Hoar frost on the riverside birch produced a ghost-like ethereal effect. While nice to look at the winter conditions have presented problems for us on the estate, including issues with starting vehicles in extreme cold, frozen pipes, and just getting around on icy roads and deep snow. The problems we have faced have been insignificant compared to wildlife which is out in the elements 24 hours a day – many local people have spent considerable sums feeding birds and have been rewarded with spectacular aerial displays.

Wild boar

Unfortunately we lost two of our wild boar during the very cold weather, although boar are well adapted to cold conditions having thick warm coats. Post mortem results revealed they were suffering from a pre-existing condition, porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS) and the extreme temperatures probably reduced the animals ability to fight the infection. The remaining four animals are all doing well and are a major attraction for visiting groups and locals. We recently had a surprise when an adult female boar with 6 young were sighted on neighbouring Forestry Commission land, they have since been seen on the south side of the River Moriston and are likely to have a range of 25 square miles. As they are generally very secretive it may be a while until they are seen in these parts again.

Deer management

Deer have also been suffering hardship over the winter, they do not carry large fat reserves and there is often natural mortality towards the end of winter prior to new growth appearing in the spring. This year the heavy snowfall has restricted access to vegetation, resulting in animals dying much earlier in the winter. Here at Dundreggan the animals have been forced off the hill into the woodland and the lower ground. In response to welfare concerns and increased damage to juniper and birch regeneration we have responded by providing silage near the woodland margins.

Deer management issues such as culling, feeding, fencing etc are very sensitive matters and I am still very much finding my feet. The absence of large predators in the Highlands means that population control is determined by landowners, often with very different objectives and cultural values, which can lead to emotive debate. With regard to natural regeneration of woodland, figures of 4 – 7 deer per 100 hectares are often quoted as the level at which successful natural regeneration will become established. However experience from sites like Creag Meagaidh (see ‘Deer and Trees: To Fence or Not’, in the summer 2009 edition of Caledonia Wild!) demonstrates that even at these relatively low population levels more palatable tree species such as rowan and aspen are preferentially browsed.

Black grouse

TFL are working in partnership with the RSPB as part of the Glen Moriston Black Grouse group. Black grouse numbers are very healthy in the glen and are doing particularly well on Dundreggan. The diverse mosaic of land use and habitat types throughout the glen is thought to contribute to this positive picture and studies are being carried out to monitor the populations in relation to habitat. Areas surveyed last year looked at the relationship between grouse numbers and areas where deer have been excluded for native woodland planting schemes. There is a known correlation between these areas where vegetation responds to removal of grazing and increased numbers of black grouse. Initially the birds find the conditions ideal but after a period of between 7 and 12 years the vegetation becomes too tall and dominated by coarse grasses and they move on. The key would seem to lie in finding a suitable balance. Excluding deer in new planting schemes is essential in the first instance to ensure successful establishment, but consideration needs to be given to the point at which grazing can be re-introduced.

Managing existing woodland to encourage natural regeneration is a more complex issue, as even small numbers of deer will result in significant damage in hard winters. The use of individual tree protection and/or small scale exclosures is likely to be required to establish a wide variety of tree species. We are planning some monitoring of the birch regeneration at Dundreggan this spring, along with protection of tree seedlings in a wide variety of locations and I am looking forward to reporting back as the woodland develops over the next few years.

Support

We are very fortunate to receive ongoing support for the project from the Audrey & JJ Martindale Foundation, and their latest grant has allowed us to replace the 18 year old Argocat with a brand new one. This 8 wheel drive all terrain vehicle allows us to gain access to remote parts of the estate and has already been used to transport trees out to the new planting site above the Dalchreichart Plantation. Allan Common, who has been nursing the old Argo for the last few years, will really appreciate the benefits of the new machine – as well as being more reliable, it has a number of new features, including a winch to help load deer carcasses. We have also bought 2 new chainsaws that have already seen action, felling some non-native trees to improve the entrance to the estate, and we will be buying a winch to extract timber from the plantation for firewood. This is part of a programme of non-native removal to naturalise the plantation, and we are fortunate that it includes quite a high proportion of planted Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), which we will be able to retain. Many thanks to everyone who responded to the Heart of the Plantation Appeal in our mailing in November. We’ve raised £11,098, and that will enable the project to go ahead this year.

I’m also delighted to report that we’ve had a £50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) approved for visitor access and interpretation work at Dundreggan, and that project will go ahead in the coming months.

Ongoing Work

We are making progress with various planting schemes, including an area of broadleaves dominated by aspen (Populus tremula) next to the River Moriston that was carried out in the autumn. This completes a joint project with Forestry Commission Scotland, where Work Week volunteers had planted an adjacent area last spring. Fencing of the new planting site in the NW was completed in January, despite the severe weather. However, subsequent snow has caused minor damage to the fence, with the weight of snow piled up against it having pulled out staples and broken the netting. This will need to be repaired when all of the snow has melted. The Work Week volunteer groups started here in the middle of March and the planting of trees in the NW area got underway then. However, it was delayed because of all the snow, so I'm hoping for lots of keen, fit volunteers over the next few weeks to complete the work!

Steve Morris
 

More on the boar

We’re very grateful to the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig in Strathspey for donating the wild boar to us, and their arrival at Dundreggan in late November attracted considerable media interest – there were news reports on both television channels in Scotland, two radio stations and substantial articles in a number of national newspapers. Within a day or two of the boar's arrival in the forest, a significant ecological relationship had already been re-established. As is known from elsewhere in Europe, where boar still thrive in the wild, robins (Erithacus rubecula) began following the boar around, looking for worms and insect larvae that were exposed by the mammals' disturbance of the soil. Initially there were just a couple of robins with the boar, but during the period of heavy snowfall and very cold temperatures in late December and the first half of January at least half a dozen robins were regularly accompanying the boar. On some days they were joined by dunnocks (Prunella modularis), but they were more cautious and waited for the boar to move on before going down on the ground to look for food.

Once the snow was gone, the boar were able to resume their role as agents of soil disturbance, rooting in the ground for food. It is this action which enables them to control bracken, as they feed on the rhizomes by which the plant spreads underground. As the photograph here shows, they are very effective at this, which has earned them the nickname of ‘Nature’s tractors’. Further information, and many more photographs, are available here.

Alan Watson Featherstone
 

Pages about Biodiversity on Dundreggan on this site

New discoveries in charity's 'Lost world' Highland Estate - 20th January 2012
Biodiversity News - April 2011
Rare and endangered species found in Highlands estate's "lost world" - 17th December 2010
Rare sawfly discovered for first time in UK - 5th November 2010
Biodiversity surveys and discoveries - October 2010
Biodiversity surveys at Dundreggan - May 2010
Alder tongue fungus found at Dundreggan (and near Plodda Lodge) - 15 April 2010
Biodiversity surveys identify over 50 key species on Highland Estate - 15th February 2010
Biodiversity discoveries - November 2009
Biodiversity surveys - August 2009
Surveys and biodiversity discoveries - November 2008
Reaping the results of our biodiversity surveys - May 2008
Dundreggan's diversity keeps growing! - November 2007
Biodiversity on Dundreggan - First impressions, August 2006
Biodiversity on Dundreggan

Pages about Dundreggan on this site

• Dundreggan home page
• Become a Friend of Dundreggan
• The Dundreggan Estate - the perfect site for forest restoration. Management plan in brief.
• £1.65 million Dundreggan deal a milestone for Scotland's Caledonian Forest
• Our purchase of Dundreggan is complete, at last - August 2008
• Dundreggan News: articles from 2006 to the present
• First impressions of Dundreggan's potential for forest restoration
• Biodiversity on Dundreggan - First impressions, August 2006
• Biodiversity on Dundreggan
• The History of the Dundreggan Estate