Badger culling and bovine TB

I, like many others, am disappointed to hear that thousands of badgers are going to be culled in ongoing efforts to combat the increase in bovine TB. I do however recognise that bTB is an extremely serious problem and having spent some time reading available literature on the subject, I can go some way to understanding why it is felt that badger culling is necessary in some areas.

I am curious to know if there is an explanation for the higher bTB incidence in the Midlands, south west and Wales. The figures suggest that there are environmental factors involved for which I have not seen data. If so, badgers would seem to be only a part of the issue and as much a victim as cattle. To my mind this would make badger culls only a stop gap solution and not the final answer to the problem.

Data suggests that the south west and Wales are acting as a disease reservoir for the rest of the country.

If anyone can add anything to this question I would be interested to hear.

I've just asked the NFU about the geographical distribution of the disease and it will be interesting to see what they have to say.

Juvenile Pine marten

I think this young Pine marten had lost its mother. I managed to eventually get it off the road and onto a forest track but not very hopeful for its survival.

Roe Deer

Roe buck and doe near the old Guisachan House ruin

Squirrel survey pages update

I've just completed the updating of the squirrel information and survey maps pages. Now I'll be able to get back to surveying and keeping the blog updated.

I still have more writing to do and images to include on the squirrel info' page; and will try and get it done over the next week.

Page changes

The weather forecast got it right and today is very wet so I'm using the time to update the pages and the way I'm presenting survey information.

The survey pages may be a bit scrambled until tomorrow by when I should have my ducks lined up again.

I've started feeling a bit resentful of the amount of time I've recently had to spend in front of a computer and as a result I've decided to put framed prints on hold. I may even decide not to produce them at all, because the amount of effort versus return is disproportionate and I really do need to maximise my time doing survey work.

New Red Squirrel survey area west of Tomich

I'm playing catchup after the laptop problems and if the weather forecast for this weekend is accurate, it will be a good time to bring the blog up to date.

Three weeks ago I started to look at the forest to the west between Tomich and Glen Affric. Squirrel signs look promising after the first few short excursions and without going into detail, here are some shots of what the area looks like.

'Tick mops' hailed as good news for landowners and ramblers | Dundee and Tayside | STV News

It wouldn't surprise me if it transpires that Ticks are responsible (at least in part) for population decline in species other than just Red Grouse.

This could turn out to be really good news.

'Tick mops' hailed as good news for landowners and ramblers | Dundee and Tayside | STV News

Diversions and "About page" update

I'm sorry for the brief halt in activities but I've just had a major issue with my computer; which resulted in a complete OS re-installation and because of its age I had to hunt for drivers et.c to get the system all working again.

No prizes for guessing who the idiot was that accidentally deleted the recovery partition.

Although I'm perfectly capable of backing up every thing in a situation like this, I also managed to lose all my emails and address book. My dear old Dad had an expression for this type of situation which was "More haste and less speed". It took me years to understand what he meant and I still don't always seem to be able to put it into practice.

Happy to say that all is again working with the advantage of a completely clean slate so no clutter to distract.

I've just done some tidying up of the web site which includes an about page update to make it more relevant and combination with the contact details to allow space for other pages. Please note the new email address and apologies to those of you who used to have an email update from me; because Google managed to clear all the settings with their ongoing updates.

I've now added a follow by email app' in the right hand column so please use this if you prefer to be notified of new entries by email.

I still have some updating and improvements to undertake with the fixed pages which I hope will be completed this next week. I can't believe it's Friday already!

Guisachan south

View from just below the forest on the other side of the river from the old Guisachan House ruin.
This is looking SSW across the Plodda Lodge and Plodda Falls area towards Garve bridge.

Most of the forest you can see has a good population of Red Squirrels wherever there is food available.