The Madness of Calving Season

 Hello again!
I would have updated sooner however calving season hasn't left much time for any other activities apart from spotting deer, eating, and sleeping (which there has been few hours of!).
As of today (08/06/13) we have caught 66 calves, most of which were within a 15 day period in late May, which included 4, 5, 9 and 6 calves in 4 days back to back. As usual there have been a few monsters that have escaped our efforts, which are calves that have eluded our spotters or have been born in the periphery of the study area. Once they reach 5 or more days of age they become much more confident and larger so run instead of trying to hide from the catchers, which makes them a huge cost in terms of time and attention. The peak of calving has passed and now the challenge becomes finding the few hinds still pregnant amongst the population of hinds with marked calves.

Sunset over the outer Hebrides.

 The day lengths are stretching longer, with there being plenty of light long into the late evening and night. Thanks to some very pleasant weather it never gets fully dark with light silhouetting  the Cuillins of Skye.
After what seemed like a long reprieve, the midges have finally returned with a vengeance making the evenings beautiful in sunset as long as you have a bugjacket and gloves to be able to enjoy the scene without being eaten alive. I had been keeping a running total of the number of ticks I have found feeding on me but it has passed into triple figures so I don't think it's really relevant any more!

The long sunset moving behind Skye

 Calving data changes every year and it is very interesting to see how things have changed, no doubt the cold spring must have had some impact, possibly lowering the birth weights on average. However the most striking things to emerge is the 1st recorded pregnancy of a 2 year old hind on Rum! In farmed deer this is common because of much better conditions and supported feeding but such a thing has never been observed in the history of the project on Rum. Normally very good condition 3 year old hinds might have a calf, but this is most unusual and we'll have to see how the hind progresses.

Zephyr13 meeting the ponies

Golden Eagle

The wildlife has really returned to Rum with multitudes of ducks, waders and little songbirds singing all day. The eagles have been really hunting hard, being an almost common sight in the glen. The 1st sighting of a minke whale off Kilmory was also recorded recently, we can only hope that the warmer weather will bring in a basking shark to the bay!The deer are beginning to change into summer coat, where they get their name of "Red Deer". The coat change has been very late this year, possibly down to the very cold but dry spring weather.

Hopefully we will break more records this year, possibly threatening the 83% capture rate record!