Shooting Times & Country – 17 July 2019

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 61

tothesunandair,peatbeginstodry
outanderode,leading to a loss of any
capturedcarbon.
Eachestateinthedeer
managementgroupis requested
tomonitor 60 plotsaspartofthe
commitmenttotheirplan,with
30 blanket-bogplotsand 30 dwarf-
shrubheaths.Thesecanbesurveyed
howeverbestsuitsthelandmanager
— eitherall 60 inonehitanda two-
yearbreak,or 10 ofeachspeciestype
eachyearforthreeyears,then back
tothefirstsetinyearfour.
Onceat eachpointwe’ll
photographthesite,recordthe
vegetationdepthinfiveofthe 16
quadratsquares,recordgrazing
pressure,dungofdeerand
hares,burning,anybareearthor
hoofprints,if thereareanylivestock,
andrecordanythingelse of note.

In-depthrecord
It soundsmorecomplicatedthan
it is andI’llbehonest,it reallyisn’t
themostexcitingpartofthejob.But
overtime,thisbeginstogivedeer
managersanin-depthrecordofwhat
is happeningontheground.Besides
theestategamebook,datacollection
hasbeensomethingthoseinland
managementhaven’tbeenthebest
at— wehaven’tneededtobe.
However,withthechanging
politicalscene,if youtakeonething
awayfromthisarticle,letit bethat
dataisn’ta dirtywordandthat
evidenceis worthlookingafter.
We’llalsobecarryingoutrough
countsofreddeercalvesoverthe
nextfewmonths.Alongsidewatching
herdsfromafarwithbinoculars,
thermaltechnologyis playingan
increasingroleinsurveyingthis
secretive species. Given that calves

hideawaywhileveryyoung,lying
stillandunmovingforhoursonend,
gettinganaccuratenumberearlyon
tocalculaterecruitment will always
bechallenging.
Night-timewalkaboutcounts
witha thermal-imagingscopesare
increasinglyuseful,withcalves
showingaslittleglowingballsof
lighttuckedintotheheatheracross
the hillsides. It’s still not going to

givea totallyaccuratenumber,but

technologyis constantlyimproving

andwe’llbeusingthermalimaging kit

increasinglyastimegoeson.

Perhapsunusuallyformostestates,

we’rebecomingincreasinglyinvolved

witheducation,collaborationand

outreach.Lastmonth,theHerdwick

shepherdJamesRebanksstartedthe

“make friends with a farmer” hashtag

onTwitter.Hisaimwastoconnect

farmerswith“naturenerds”whomay

bekeenfornewgroundtosurvey.

Beinga self-confessednaturenerd

myselfI’mnotsurewhereI stand!

Followinga meetingwiththe

BritishEcologicalSocietylastyear,

wearrangeda visitfromtheHighland

BiologicalRecordingGroupand

hosteda fieldtripforthema few

weeks ago. It was a thoroughly

Highland stalker

enjoyabledayandthegroupendedup

findinga coupleofnationallyscarce

species.I’dencourageanyoneand

everyonetoseewhois around.A lot

ofbiologicalrecordinggroupshave

someincredibleamateurnaturalists

andmaybeabletohelpyouwithyour

conservationmanagementdecisions.

Atthetimeofwriting,I’djust

returnedfroma daytriptotheestate

bypupilsfroma localprimaryschool,

whowerekeentolearnwhatdeer

management and gamekeeping were

allabout.

Theenthusiasmofthechildren

waswonderfultosee— findingotter

pawprints,lookingfordeerbones

andantlers,spottingeaglesand

buzzards,learning how to age deer

fromthejaws.

Whetheryou’repro-hunting,

shootingandfishing— andI’m

guessingyouareif youreadShooting

Times— ornot,theonethingwecan

allagreeonis thatgettingchildren

outinnatureandlearningaboutthe

worldaroundthemcanonlybea good

thing. We all have a role to play.

Thequadratsquaresare

usedtocomparesamples,

and the results logged

“CaithnessandSutherlandpeatlandshold

morecarbonthanalltheabove-ground

vegetation in the UK and Ireland”