STRATHSPEY BADGER HIDE

ANNUAL REPORT 2007

Introduction
As promised in last years report we carried out an email and poster campaign to try and lift the visitor numbers just a little. It seems to have worked and numbers were well up on 2006.

Television
A TV crew from the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol came to the hide in January to film part of a programme about nest boxes for birds. Our goldeneye boxes at the hide featured in the resulting Natures Calendar Nest-box Special when it was screened in March on BBC 2.

The Hide
The hide received its periodic coat of wood preserver in the spring, the door was re-hung and part of the lighting system was rewired. Other than that and the occasional sweep out the hide needed very little attention this year.

The Badgers
The badgers bred successfully again this year, but there have been losses too. For the second year running at least one member of our family died on the B970.

Goldeneye Ducks
Our ducks laid eggs in two of the three goldeneye boxes this year. One of the boxes was just used as a dump by the ducks for surplus eggs but the other one raised nine chicks.

Tawny Owls
The third goldeneye nest box was taken over by a pair of tawny owls before the ducks could claim it. The owls raised three lovely chicks which were ringed when they were old enough by SNH. Throughout that period visitors to the hide were treated to many sightings of the owls hunting for food for the chicks

Pine Martens
We saw very little of the pine martens this year. Reports suggest they are not doing quite as well in the district as was thought a few years ago.

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 2008. The general public responded quite well to our increased publicity and to the TV coverage so numbers were up on last year.

The Statistics

As usual the most telling figure is the average number of badgers seen per night. Happily this is up on recent years due entirely to the successful breeding of the past two years. In the second half of the season we were seeing three or four badger on most evenings.

In addition to badgers at least 44 other species were seen from the hide. They were chaffinch, barn owl, bat, black headed gull, blue tit, brown hare, buzzard, common gull, common sandpiper, cuckoo, curlew, dipper, earwig, field vole, fox, goldeneye duck, goosander, great spotted woodpecker, greylag goose,
heron, herring gull, long eared owl, magpie, mallard, midge, osprey, otter, oystercatcher, pheasant, pine marten, rabbit, red breasted merganser, red kite, roe deer, siskin, snipe, spider, stoat, swift, tawny owl, tree creeper, widgeon, wood mouse and yellowhammer.

Money
With increased visitor numbers we are able to make another decent contribution to Scottish Badgers and to the Boat of Garten Wildlife Group under whose umbrella the hide functions. However we have now taken on extra bird feeding responsibilities at the community garden and at the new community hall so we cannot afford to be reckless with our cash.

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 2007