Despite several visits, on days out sometimes to Borgie Forest,
I myself have never had the good fortune to see or even catch a glimpse of the Scottish Red Squirrel.
Despite where we live,
I have only ever seen two wild deer on Brawl, this was at the end of summer, last year.
I have seen many west of the split stane, but not as far west as Brawl.
Otters on Brawl
Some short while ago, one of my news articles was to do with otters,
It concerned the fact that I nearly fell over one as I walked on Brawl with my dogs,
the otter in question,
I suspect had it's territory from the sea,
right up and along the Brawl burn, which of course runs right through our croft.
The experience, set me thinking about the wildlife on Brawl and surrounding area,
I thought, there is definately more to wildlife than the birds, that I regularly observe and the bees and therefore,
I now actively look for wildlife all around me and given that I often refer to whatever I have seen on Brawl and beyond,
I thought a page on the wild fauna of Brawl, appropriate and a fun thing to do.
Many years ago,
I lived in a small town on the South side of Glasgow,
and regardless of town area,
we had our fair share of "urban foxes", and despite being advised against the practice of feeding these wild animals, a great many of my neighbours did,
they would leave out plates of tinned dog food and would take huge delight at the sight of the empty plate each morning.
Later, after a few years of "island living", where, there were no predators to speak of,
I simply forgot about them,
predators in general were the furthest thing from my mind.
Now,
having moved again to mainland Scotland
and after eighteen months of living along the North Coast,
predators are again brought to mind, although,
I myself have seen only one fox, at Melvich,
although there are reportedly a few more than is liked.
The fox I saw was a big dog fox,
it was crossing the road and as we approached it,
it suddenly turned,
looked straight at us and snarled and I thought, same to you.
Had we, unwittingly drove along the road which was the fox's territory?
we shall never know.
It did however, strike me as strange,
as I had always thought of foxes as shy nocturnal creatures.
Quote
"In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics (and, occasionally, animals of other species). Animals that defend territories in this way are referred to as territorial".
Link below.
Every animal (or human) will fight to the death to defend it's territory,
whether they be domesticated or not.
We have often said, "a fox will not enter onto Brawl" and thus far at least, we have never seen one on Brawl, not even near Brawl.
We believe this is because we have a healthy herd of pigs,
on which Brawl has become their territory.
In any contest between a pig and a fox,
the pig wins decisively.
Pigs are without any doubt, smarter, bigger faster, have brains.
Pigs, are stronger, more willing to fight,
and pigs are quite able to defend their territory.
We have free range (proper free range) chickens on Brawl,
we don't shut them up at night, nor at any other time, yet we have never lost one yet, why? because we have pigs, well again, we shall never know for sure, but the mere fact we've never seen a fox on Brawl, kind of speaks for itself.
Some time ago,
on the "caithness.org" website, there was a comment / posting from a lady who had asked why so many farmers hung fox carcasses on their gates and the replies of which there were a few were on the whole,
nondescript,
no one could give a true answer,
not sure I can either, unless perhap's as a deterrent to any other passing fox.
The fox, throughout the annals of history is surrounded by intrigue,
mystery and at times havoc,
there are numerous tales, folklore, songs and odes to the fox,
Reynard for instance,
Reynard the Fox was medieval Europe's trickster figure,
a nasty but charistmatic character who was always in trouble
but always able to talk his way out of any retribution, is just one of them.
Everyone has an opinion on the "fox",
they may very well be cute / cuddly / beautiful creatures/
but the plain fact is that they are a wild animal, and wild animals do not make good pets.
They should not be encouraged to stay within an area, urban or otherwise, by leaving out food for them.
Left to their own devices, they will find there own food and if you are a farmer, you just need to hope that it's not your chickens on the menu of the fox!
Or mine.
Ah! Moles!
On Brawl,
there were many until fairly recently,
and
all along the North coast and on farm land in particular there are to be seen a great many tell tale mounds of earth and evidence of the MOLE.
The mole, does little actual damage to the crops on farmland but it can dislodge or uproot them in it's burrowings and people go to great lengths to ensure their land is mole free,
the mole also eats the earth worms which are the farmer's friend.
On Brawl, there are still moles but they are few and far between, perhaps because the croft is now inhabited.
The ferret is dreaded,
they are fast, vicious and usually breed prolifically,
they can and do often reside in the old buildings or farmyard outbuildings.
If you keep poultry or domestic fowl and you have ferrets,
you are in trouble.
Last year, we found we had at least two living near the burn on Brawl, one was much larger than the other which led us to believe they were a pair.
They were yellow in colour,
had elongated bodies and a tiny head,
as to whether they were an "escaped pet" or not, I cannot say, but we were concerned of the damage they could do to our hens and geese, if they stayed.
Luckily,
we saw them only a few times before they vanished almost as quickly as they arrived.
