STRATHSPEY BADGER HIDE

ANNUAL REPORT 2006

Introduction
This has been a quieter than usual year at the hide with less visitors and less badgers on show than in any year since we began keeping detailed records seven years ago. In the past we have deliberately limited our advertising for the hide so as not to create too large a demand, however next spring we shall do a modest amount of advertising to try to lift visitor numbers a little.

The Hide
There have been no major changes to the hide this season and none are proposed for next year but the building will receive a new coat of wood preserver and its annual spring clean in due course. The refurbished lighting system continues to function well and will certainly serve us through next season and probably beyond. The next development will be to replace the present lighting units when they eventually fail with LED lamps which, given their low power consumption, will provide us with all-night lighting capacity, should we require it.

The Badgers
The badgers bred successfully again this year, but there have been losses too. At least two members of the family died on the B970 - killed by cars at night. The section of road that passes through our badgers' territory is quite winding so badgers and cars have little prospect of avoiding each other when their paths cross.

Goldeneye Ducks
Our ducks laid eggs in both goldeneye boxes this year but sadly the pine marten stole them all. We like to see the pine marten around and we intend to try to devise pine-marten proof goldeneye boxes next year to a design that is acceptable to the estate.

Pine Martens
Our pine marten nest box, the latest version of which we installed three years ago, was used this spring for the first time. No doubt its occupant was responsible for the loss of our goldeneye duck eggs. The Vincent Wildlife Trust, who designed our new pine marten box, paid us a visit in late summer to inspect our work and have promised us a mention in their article in the BBC Wildlife Magazine early in 2007.

Users
As in previous years the Heatherlea Birdwatching Centre and the RSPB used the hide on a regular basis and we are grateful for their support. The Aviemore Walking Festival also included us once again in their activities and such was the hide's popularity that they plan to do so again in 2007. The general public however did not come along in their usual numbers and it is this downturn that we will address in our advertising next spring.

The Statistics

The most significant of these figures is the very low number of badgers seen on average per night. We can only hope this is all part of the cycle of ups and downs that wildlife communities go through and not some greater malaise in badger affairs in the district.

In addition to badgers at least 56 other species were seen from the hide - the most in any year so far. They included barn owl, bat, black headed gull, blue tit, brown hare, buzzard, carrion crow, chaffinch, coal tit, common gull, cuckoo, curlew, dipper, dragonfly, fox, goldeneye, great spotted woodpecker, great tit, greylag geese, goosander, heron, herring gull, kingfisher, magpie, mallard, midge, moth, osprey, otter, oystercatcher, pheasant, pine marten, rabbit, red breasted merganser, red deer, redshank, redstart, robin, roe deer, salmon, sand piper, siskin, snipe, spider, song thrush, swallow, swift, tawny owl, teal, tufted duck, widgeon, willow warbler, wood mouse, wood pigeon, woodcock and vole.

Money
Despite visitor numbers being down we shall still be able to make a decent contribution to Scottish Badgers and to the Boat of Garten Wildlife Group under whose umbrella the hide functions.

Thanks
Finally my thanks go to all those who have contributed to the continued success of the hide. I am especially grateful to the Birkbeck family who own the land and the Cruickshank family who farm the fields, without whose indulgence we would not be able to offer such a wonderful wildlife experience to members of the public.

Allan Bantick
Honorary Manager, Strathspey Badger Hide, November 2006