So what of 2011 in terms of wildlife and what have been the highs and, for that matter, the lows?
As usual, there have been plenty of both and it started with the very cold weather of the early part of the year with temperatures down to minus 15 Centigrade in our garden and plenty of snow for weeks on end.
We made our annual winter trip to Burghead along the east coast from Inverness to sit on the peninsular near the harbour and watch the seaducks. The scoters have always appealed to me since I first saw a pair of common scoters breeding up in the flow country of Sutherland some years ago. However, the object of our trip was the king eider that had been reported there, so does that make me a bird twitcher?
It was fortunately close to the shore and we had superb views through the telescope at the young male that was just moulting into its full breeding plumage.
There was one other surprise on the duck front for the year and that was one of the very few new birds for our garden. One morning I had idly glanced down at the few mandarin ducks on the pond on a number of occasions. Then for some reason I looked closer and suddenly realised that one of the birds was a wood duck, often called a Carolina duck.
It was a splendid male and eventually it walked up with the mandarins to where I had been putting out mixed grain for them. It stayed a short while and we have not seen it again. It was presumably from a local collection but there have been known records of what could have been migrants.
The biggest disappointment of the year was undoubtedly the lack of butterflies in most areas, with very few species up to their normal numbers. In the extensive dunes just east of Nairn, for example, where we could previously see 10 species in a day, we only found three and those only in ones or twos.
In our acre paddock we could expect species in double figures for the year whereas we only recorded three, possibly four. Only the Scotch argus seemed anywhere near their normal numbers, but even they were down. One can only wonder how this will affect this coming season.
The only boost was the number of red admirals at the back end, suggesting they might now be successfully hibernating as adults and surviving.
On the mammals front there was a great triumph as the Atlas of Highland Land Mammals, edited by Ro Scott, was published by the Highland Biological Recording Group.
If you have not obtained a copy I can now give details of how to purchase them. They are £8.50, including the p&p, so just send a cheque payable to HRGB to Ro Scott, Peddieston Cottage, Cromarty, IV11 8XX. I can assure you that it will more than please you.
On a personal note, the mammal of the year has to be one in the paddock close to the house. We had been putting out mixed grain overnight for the wild ducks to come up at first light and feed undisturbed. Looking down from the bedroom window at dusk one evening, there was a badger feeding on the grain only about few yards from the house. Not only that but it was joined a few minutes later by another and they stood gobbling up the food as fast as they could.
Interestingly, a brown hare did the same thing for over a week but that appeared at any time of the day and probably at night but unseen.
Considering the winter, some birds seem to have had a good season, with the numbers of blue, great and coal tits fledging being very high. The count of 15 pairs of house martins nesting under the eaves of our house was the highest for a number of years.
In contrast, the series of large nestboxes we erected in the strath were almost a total failure. None was used by mandarins, one by a goosander, none by tawny owls and only two pairs of jackdaws. Very disappointing, but there seems to be no explanation.
On a broader front, the attitude of a few estates near Inverness leave a great deal to be desired. The numbers of mountain hares, goats and deer that have been shot has been of great concern and is a worrying trend. One estate actually called mountain hares "vermin" which is a phrase that we thought had long gone from the Highlands. All because of the supposed threat of ticks to red grouse.
Another mammal was just as worrying, as one day in late summer the mallard and mandarins on the pond below my study went berserk with splashing and diving around the island. I thought stoat as it was in the middle of the day but then a black mink swam from the island to the shore. We have put out mink rafts to detect any tracks since then but no sign, so hopefully it was just moving through.
Perhaps to put this time of the year in 2012 into perspective, records for 2011 indicated there was frog's spawn near Lochinver and on the Black Isle in the third week in February, so not long now...
