Angus Glens – they should have gone to Specsavers

Mark 11 Comments

The Angus Glens Moorland Group provide this useful checklist for visitors – there won’t be too many genuine ticks on the left hand side of the page and anyone ticking Redshank here ought to provide a photo of the bird to their local county bird recorder for verification.

103 bird species were not just recorded but were allegedly thriving on Glenogil estate in May this year.  Really?  I’ve asked to see the list, and evidence of thriving, as it must be quite something.

And there are more Golden Plover at Glenogil than in the whole of Germany – maybe. There aren’t very many GP in Germany – c22 pairs according to a BirdLife source near at hand to me (and I do wonder whether they are still there).  By the way, as I look out of the window, my garden has more Goldfinches Carduelis carduelis than North America, South America and Antarctica combined.

But maybe the explanation for that long species list is that 86 species of raptor have been seen in the Angus Glens – of raptor? Wow! That’s very roughly every species of raptor that occurs in Europe and then double that number!

Here’s a rather different view from the RSPB’s Ian Thomson, and some witty comment by Raptor Persecution UK.

Angus Glens Moorland Group – your nearest Specsaver is in Forfar – please leave your guns at the door and form an orderly queue.

 

 

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11 Replies to “Angus Glens – they should have gone to Specsavers”

  1. Mark you are a star, first you give me reason to raise a couple of glasses last Saturday with the good news on Hen Harrier’s day in court, now you caused belly laughs on a rather serious day for me. 86 species of raptor recorded on estates in the Angus Glens was just hilarious. Thank you.

  2. I think that figure of 86 is clearly a typo. The hyphen must have gotten lost during editing. It should read 8 – 6 – there used to be 8 species but now there are 6.

  3. Apart from the ones you highlight, that’s a funny-looking Meadow Pipit but it’s just a Victorian print, I suppose. I see that the 86 raptor species has “Taylor Wildlife” as its source. I Googled them and was happily surprised to see that there is also a “Taylor Wildlife Removal” company, although they are in Ohio and unconnected, I’m sure. It might worth asking them about their numbers, though?

  4. I think you need to get that garden scheduled Mark!
    I must say the Gift of Grouse is definitely the gift that keeps on giving – at least in terms of comedy. I think they may even have outdone Beefy Botham’s YFTB as far as fanciful factoids are concerned.
    Anyway, its good to see that ‘real countrymen’ have such a firm grasp on the basic ecology of the land they manage.

  5. The 86 species were from an earlier count and included birds flying over the estate . The latest one will be available to the public next year. Nothing more than the usual propaganda crap from AGMG.

  6. I see Taylor Wildlife are an ecological consultancy and provided some upland survey training to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust another organisation of which I have a very low opinion and its not just about Spurn. Perhaps where they get their training from might help to explain that low opinion. Certainly the beginner would be hard pressed to get correct IDs using the supplied chart, I particularly enjoyed the “Redshank” I must have been seeing something else for over 55 years, the Buzzard is little better. There ought to be a nice acronym for bullshit from grouse botherers, BFGB isn’t quite snappy enough, perhaps we should stick to the usual,– delusional lies.
    I was once told by the leader of a walk on a grouse moor in Nidderdale ( a head keepers wife and agricultural advisor) That I “needed to get out more” when I challenged her assertion that there are plenty of Harriers and Peregrines on grouse moors.
    God I must be a birding failure I’ve watched on grouse moors regularly most of my 67 years and have only managed 18 species of raptor and 5 owls and I thought I was doing pretty well all things considered.

  7. Have they perchance attended the same raptor ID course as Tim Bonner?
    “Linnet”,
    “…84”.
    “Wood pigeon”,
    “…85”,
    “Little Auk”,
    “…86”

  8. Has Amanda Anderson decided to let the hen harrier in, then? How nice of her!

  9. On a more serious note, I would love to know to whom this leaflet, checklist, is aimed at and where it will be distributed.
    If it’s from a local tourist office say, then wouldn’t it have to be factual?

  10. I wouldn’t be so sure about the Goldfinch, Mark. It seems to have established itself strongly in Uruguay, largely in suburban sites along the coast, particularly where introduced pines are found.

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