By Georgia Gargett, Scottish Lowlands Placement Student
With the colourful days of autumn behind us, we wrapped up our annual partridge surveys, worm counts and VESS assessments, and set our sights northward.
November brought us to the Scottish Demonstration Farm at Auchnerran, where we helped to tackle a long-term challenge on the farm: rabbits. While these bunnies may seem harmless, their ferocious appetites for grass mean that large volumes of food are taken away from the farm and their high, fast-growing populations could potentially impact important species in the area.
Managing their impact has been something that the farm has focused on for many years, and monitoring their annual population assists with this task.
Monitoring the population is done through two methods: lamping and thermals. Lamping involves sweeping a powerful spotlight across dark fields, scanning the glow of a rabbits eyeshine or their movements as they run away.
In theory, the process should be done consistently with the whole field watched while on the move. In practice, however, trudging through uneven terrain in the pitch black while focusing on the spotlight can be a bit treacherous—and let’s just say, a few tumbles are inevitable!
Each rabbit sighted is carefully logged alongside data like habitat types, the presence of livestock and any other species observed. The process of thermals is similar but rather than the spotlight, they rely on heat detecting binoculars to spot rabbit’s heat signatures against the landscape. Both methods have their pros and cons.
Lamping is limited by the large fields and the difficulty to spot rabbits without eyeshine, and while thermals are great for picking up heat signatures they can struggle in areas with dense vegetation. The methods are still being tested as to which provides the most accurate and efficient results.
The surveys ran from 7 to 11pm, stretching over four nights with five of us split into two teams. While the rabbits kept us mostly focused, the nocturnal wildlife provided some memorable moments.
Among our unexpected companions were woodcocks, screeching barn owls, and even some inquisitive otters, a rare sight at Auchnerran.
After the surveys, we had a unique and thoroughly entertaining assignment: dog-sitting some of the Trust’s working dogs in the Cairngorms. This mostly entailed feeding, watering and of course cuddles, alongside some expected smelly work when cleaning the kennels...
The dogs kept us company as we braved temperatures plummeting to -7°C throughout the snowy weather of Storm Bert. On our days off in good weather we even got to explore the surrounding area, visiting nearby lochs, reserves and seeing the sights of the West Scottish Highlands.
When stuck inside, we dove into the data from our previous month’s invertebrate sampling. This is part of a long-term monitoring project that tracks insect abundances, which are vital for biodiversity, pest management and providing food for game bird chicks such as the beloved grey partridge.
This year, Coleoptera (beetles) and Diptera (flies) dominated the mix, with a few more exciting predatory species like arachnids and of course, key pollinators.
Now, were back at the office, catching up with the lowlands team and reflecting on our exciting month up North. Here’s hoping that the coming winter months are just as memorable!