David Brown
Well-Known Member
For you lads who have not been here or read my article on my first season here i will give a quick resume.Several years ago I bought a poor quality woodland in Invernessshire. It had however a good population of Sika Red and Roe. The best were the Sika with the Roe just building up after some re-structuring of the forest and the Red a bit nomadic. Then a bombshell. The giant pylon line from Beauly to Denny was rerouted to go through the forest with a three year comstruction window. This was to involve felling a 70m corridor. Creating several miles of new roads and opening a quarry with weekly stone blasting. They have felled a lot of trees,the roads are well on the way and so far in four months of work they are now blasting weekly. Seven huge 35t diggers work 7am to 7pm with two 27t dumpers. Self propelled rollers work alongside them so you can imagine the noise. what about the deer. Very surprisingly the hefted Roe did not stay long and in the first few weeks were all gone. My pride and joy the Sika were next. I had several groups of 8 to 12 hinds which could be seen every evening with a good population of mature and follow on Stags. It is now a month since I have seen even one animal. I thought the Reds would clear out the quickest as they do move about a lot but no. After only half an hour from the end of the days work the Reds can be seen grazing at the side of newly laid roads and they even feed on the banks of the quarry. This did amaze me . I did think it would be the other way round. Perhaps it is because Reds can move a large distance to feed in a short time that I see this. Well my stalking is prohibited for the duration of the construction but I can see I will have many new open areas and lawns afterwards. I hope my Sika return. Someone will get some good trophies this season. What can you do?
David
David