Callander SWT Members Centrenewsletter No 4 January 2014

Callander SWT Members’ CentreNewsletter No 4 January 2014

The long, cold spring of 2013 made a difficult start to the year but summer did seem to give the wildlife a chance to catch up. See later reports on individual species.

2014 is the 50th Anniversary of the foundation of the Scottish Wildlife Trust and small amounts of funding are available to organise special events – any suggestions? Of course, there is an ongoing invitation/plea for anyone who would like to get more involved in our MC; offer a talk, lead a walk, help at fund-raising events, check local planning applications for environmental impact or just come along to our talks and events.

Over the last 12 months invited speakers have covered Basking Sharks, Kestrels, Bats, Badgers, Bumblebees and Raptors, focussing on Scottish wildlife, most locally that around Port of Menteith, but also venturing as far as Conservation in Madagascar.Attendance has remained at mid to high 20’s with lively question sessions. Planning of talks from September 2014 will begin soon – what would entice you along on a winter evening?

Over summer more practical events included a June walk in Glen Ogle. While it was too damp for butterflies there was an excellent display of spotted marsh and greater butterfly orchids along the shoulders of the cycle tracks. In July and August we had several very successful (and therapeutic) sessions of ‘Balsam Bashing’ by the river Teith in Callander. This will continue in 2014, to halt its spread downstream – come along for some free, safe stress-reduction! A bat ‘listening’ walk followed the talk in September, picking up Daubentons and Common and Soprano Pipistrelles along the river within 100m of Callander town centre.

In 2013 donations were made to Argaty Red Kites for planting of Scots Pines and to SWT’s Handa Island reserve footpath appeal. Unfortunately, the day of this year’s fund-raising bottle stall, quizzes & plant sale in Ancaster Square was very wet and windy so raised less than in previous years. However, we will still look to make donations to conservation projects - who do you think should benefit?

Membership is hovering around 73 households. Not everyone chooses to share e-mail addresses but this is the most efficient way to keep in touch so if you don’t currently receive information via e-mail, please contact Lesley on . It will not be divulged to anyone else and will be deleted on request.

Local Sightings

Sea eagles continued to be seen in our area: one seen flying towards Argaty in January was being mobbed by 50 rooks. Red kites managed to maintain their numbers throughout their Stirlingshire/Perthshire range at 74 pairs, raising at least 96 young, despite two pairs near Callander having disappeared at the same time as two pairs of buzzards.

Ospreys are regular summer migrants to the Trossachs. In 2013 central Scotland recorded 26 nesting pairs, up to 22 of which laid eggs. Unfortunately, 2 nests failed but 30 young were reared successfully.

Regular surveys on the Braes of Doune provide interesting trends. Kestrels, once common but now rare, appeared to have an upsurge of numbers in autumn. Hen harriers were seen in winter but merlins appeared scarcer than in previous years. Stonechats have become rarer due to recent hard winters but three birds were seen in November. Wheatears were present from mid-April to October and several pairs of curlews were again present, which is encouraging due to widespread declines elsewhere. A pair of beautiful long-eared owls also bred near Loch Mahaick.

Mountain hares, the native Scottish sub-species,remain common around the wind farm although two seen there on 4 November had not yet started turning white – maybe they had a premonition!

More generally in our area winter visitors such as snow buntings and waxwings appeared in only small numbers, although redwings and fieldfares were as common as ever, quickly stripping the rowan berries.

Barn owls are making a slow recovery from a massive decline following two severe winters. 2013 saw 33 breeding pairs in Central Scotland, an increase of 9 compared with 2012. Two successful pairs returned to Callander, the first since 2010. Collectively they fledged 75+ chicks. Productivity varied across the area, highest in Clackmannan, NP areas south of Loch Lomond and the west shores of Loch Lomond (55% of previously known breeding sites of the last 8 years were occupied). In contrast, FCS sites, Falkirk and Stirling areas which are vastly bigger had roughly half of the number of breeding pairs, lower fledging rate and only 14% of the previous known breeding sites of the last 23 years were occupied.

Field voles, the barn owl’s main prey item, will be approaching the most productive stage of their life cycle in 2014, so the owls’ productivity should increase. A mild winter and this increase in food should mean that most of the adults and last year's young owls should survive the winter to breed, making 2014 a very good year for barn owls in this part of Scotland - weather permitting. Let's hope they can recover to somewhere near the 74 breeding pairs recorded in 2010.

Orchids, like many wild and garden flowers, were generally slow to get going after the cold spring but numbers of spotted, purple and butterfly orchids were generally the same as 2012. A target for anyone with space to create their own wildflower meadow is a count of 375 greater butterfly orchids in a private garden in Brig O’Turk!

Local Conservation Projects

Virtually all conservation projects rely on help from volunteers and everyone can contribute vital information with minimal effort by reporting sightings. Several contacts are included below or just let one of us know.

Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels: surveys in Spring 2013 saw a significant decrease in grey squirrel occurrence and a small increase in red squirrels but with sightings in areas of the Trossachs for the first time in many years. This correlates well with greater presence of pine martens, often seen on camera traps. Callander Crags is currently the northernmost range of grey squirrels and maintenance of the increase in red squirrels needs strong community support to prevent the re-establishment of greys. If you see greys in your garden, and are willing to help, please contact Megan Webster about the trap loan programme - . Everyone can help by reporting sightings of reds and greys to

Water voles: Despite the cold spring and late start to the breeding season, water voles are doing well. Some existing colonies have expanded, a number of empty sites have been re-colonised and two new sites discovered in Loch Ard Forest. The dry summer, undisturbed by flooding, should have given high numbers of young although heavy rain will have made it a tough winter - lets hope many voles have found a dry refuge!

N American mink females are the only predators that can get into underwater vole burrows. Unfortunately, they appear to be on the increase with 8 caught this year, 6 in the Callander area! FCS will continue to increase mink control efforts in the area and would welcome volunteers who would be interested in monitoring a raft for footprints.To volunteer or to report mink sightings contact Katy Anderson on .

Little Leny Meadows: plans to retain the plant diversity in this important wet meadow habitat, and to plant trees for protection of the riverbank, were delayed due to change of ownership but it has now been agreed to go ahead once funding for trees has been identified. We’ll be asking for help later in the year!

Invasive Non-Natives: many plants introduced in the late 19th century have become invasive garden escapees. Himalayan Balsam, Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed are spreading, displacing native species and destabilising riverbanks. If you see any in your area please report to the FINNS project for spraying/. For photos of these and more go to

Pirri-Pirri Bur sightings can also be reported to FINNS or e-mail to .

Details of many invasive plants can be found on

Kestrels: to help nest box siting, kestrel sightings should be reported .

Badgers sightings of live or dead badgers, along with suspicions of illegal activities should be reported to , tel 01356 624851 or

Otters: dead otter sightings should be reported to the International Otter Survival Fund on 01471 822 487 or on the otter watch page at

Hope to hear from you and to see lots of you at future meetings and events.

Kevin Duffy (Chairman)Lesley Hawkins (Secretary)

Tel: 0776 6725392Tel: 01877 339080

E: :