Winter can be a quiet time for our Evening Wildlife Watching Hide, as the cold in the Cairngorms often forces the Badgers to stay in their setts and sleep in. This month however, that has been changing with more Badgers coming in as the weather warms and the days get longer. The Pine Martens have still been coming in for food, including the young male and a new female. The Scottish Wildcat is still present and has sometimes been seen at the hide. Wood Mice are still being seen and they now feel comfortable enough to leave their hiding places and forage.
Badgers
The Badgers are still being affected by the cold, though they have begun to come more regularly as the weather warms and the daylight increases. One night three came in. The first one was a female and she left after she had had her fill. A while later a second one came in - a male. He looked like the alpha male judging from the size of his body and the dome-shape of its head. Shortly afterwards a slimmer faced female came in from the left and provided a good opportunity to compare the two. After finishing eating they both went into the tangle of branches on the left and disappeared. There are now seven Badgers in the family, which is a slight reduction to before but hopefully this year they will have more cubs.
Pine Martens
We have had exciting news with the Pine Martens. We’re still getting visited by the young male Pine Marten born last year and the resident male, but a new individual has arrived. A few months ago, our resident female died, but we now have a new one. The first night she came, I was expecting it to be one of our usual two. However, when I looked at her, she didn’t have any of the spot markings of the two males but instead had a slight collar at the bottom. I was uncertain at first whether this was a female. I wanted to think so, as it would replace the previous female. It was only on another night a week later that it was proven to be a female. That was because when it came in that second time, it came in from the treetops. The larger male kit had been in earlier for a size comparison, so when the new one came in, it was immediately apparent to me that it was a female because it was smaller.
I was delighted with this because it meant we had a new female, that must have realised that the territory was now vacant. It will be interesting to see how it gets on with the other two.
Scottish Wildcat
The Scottish Wildcat is still appearing and recently was seen entering the viewing area and before disappearing into the garden, he took a moment and stared intently towards the hide – all of our guests that night managed to catch a glimpse.
On the night we were watching the new Pine Marten female, she was looking wary. She was wagging her tail and eventually leapt up into the canopy looking down at something. Then one of the guests said “There’s a domestic cat here”. I had a look down and saw there was indeed a cat looking up at it and I told them “It’s the Wildcat,” he didn’t stay long however, he then dashed round the corner and down some steps and wasn’t seen again that night.
The guest and I reflected on what we’d seen. It looked like it had a collar, because we both saw a patch of yellow on the neck. Our usual Wildcat had his collar removed a year ago, so unless it was a trick of the light it suggested we were seeing a second Wildcat. There is another that is supposed to live in a neighbouring territory to our usual one and is said to be its brother, though I have never knowingly seen that one. It will be interesting to see if we can see it again and that might answer more questions.
Other Wildlife
There are still Woodmice to be seen and with the weather warming they’ve felt bold enough to come out fully to forage, though they quickly dash back inside. We haven’t seen any Bank Voles yet, they tend to be more active later in the year.
The stargazing is excellent just now and Venus, Mars and Jupiter are currently visible. The Milky Way can be seen clearly overhead as a thin, hazy stripe across the night sky.
If you would like a chance to see our nocturnal visitors, go to: http://bit.ly/sw_EWW to book your place.
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