Eminent Macclesfield-born bird artist Charles Tunnicliffe could also turn his brush to cricket and football

 

In the ornithological world, artist Charles Tunnicliffe is best known for his exquisite bird studies, many of which have featured on  the covers of RSPB publications. But he could also turn his brush to almost any subject including sport as with this work which is due to go under the hammer at a Bonham's auction tomorrow Wednesday December 13. The guide price is  £800 - £1200. Was Macclesfield-born Tunnicliffe (1901-79) a sports enthusiast? Possibly not judging by his caption to the painting: "Flannelled Fools and Muddied Oafs".

                               

Farewell to The Highlands! Singer-poet Bob Dylan will surely miss the ospreys and eagles of the Cairngorms

Eagle's eye view of Aultmore House and estate. 

AMERICAN singer-poet Bob Dylan has sold the property in the Cairngorms National Park where he used to admire ospreys, eagles (and possibly crossbills) as they flew overhead.

The 25-acre Aultmore House estate is located on the outskirts of Nethy Bridge near where RSPB has its famous Loch Garten reserve.

Built between 1911 and 1914, the main property consists of 16 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and four reception rooms.

It was commissioned by an Aberdeen-based tycoon who had made his fortune by launching an import-export company that traded with Russia.

Outside there are extensive landscaped gardens, plus a very large greenhouse and outbuildings, some of them converted to holiday lets.

Dylan (some of whose songs have lyrics inspired by Scottish poet Robbie Burns) has always loved Scotland, and the 11th and final  track of his album,  Time out of Mind,  is called Highlands.

It contains the Burns-inspired lines:

Well, my heart's in the Highlands' gentle and fair

Honeysuckle bloomin' in the Wildwood air
Bluebells blazin' where the Aberdeen waters flow
Well my heart's in the Highlands
I'm gonna go there when I feel good enough to go.

He was co-owner with his brother, David Zimmerman, of Aultmore which they bought for £2.2-million in 2006.

However, the singer is not thought to have stayed there since the pandemic and, now aged 82, travels less than when he was younger.

The property was put on the  on the books of estate agent Knight Frank in July this year with offers sought in excess of £3-million.

It is understood to have been bought by the whisky producer Angus Dundee Distillery for £4.2-million, representing a £2-million profit for Dylan & Bro.

In previous times, the estate was used to host shooting parties where capercaillie and black grouse  may have been among the target species. 

For those guests who preferred salmon and trout fishing, the River Spey is nearby.

For a while  in the Seventies, the mansion operated as a  finishing school for teenage girls from overseas, then as a conference centre.

Although he will have appreciated the birdlife of Scotland, individual species seldom, if ever, feature in Dylan's songs.

He once came up with the gloomy prognostication: "No one is free - even birds are chained to the sky."

Come this way to the back garden

   

Songbird-rich? The private drive leading to the house

                                                         

Eradicating Orkney's 'invasive' stoat population essential to safeguarding short-eared owls says RSPB

                                                             

The 'killing fields' of Orkney? They certainly are for stoats

THE RSPB now has no fewer than 7,000 stoat traps located across mainland Orkney.

The figure is revealed in a recruitment advertisement for a fieldworker to help bait and empty the lethal traps.

Isn't it somewhat cruel - especially from an organisation which prides itself on nature conservation and whose motto used to be "giving Nature a home"?

Says the charity: "Stoats were first reported in Orkney in 2010. 

"They pose a serious threat to the Orkney vole, a species found nowhere else in the world, and many birds including hen harriers, short-eared owls, red-throated divers, waders and seabirds. 

Short-eared owl

"This wildlife supports Orkney’s thriving tourism industry and represents a crucial haven for species which are threatened elsewhere in the UK. 

"It is therefore essential that stoats are removed from Orkney before they do major damage to this unique wildlife."

It continues: "The project works with hundreds of landowners in the community to undertake the largest stoat eradication of an inhabited area anywhere in the world. 

"We are implementing comprehensive biosecurity measures alongside the eradication, to reduce the risk of reinvasion and secure a long-term and sustainable legacy for the project. We also conduct wildlife monitoring throughout Orkney to understand the impact that stoats are having.

"We work with schools and the local community to enable and encourage wildlife conservation."

However, not all farmers are supportive of the stoat-purge. They believe the stoats might help control the expanding  population of grey lag geese which they blame for nibbling their crops. 

The vacant  post carries a salary of  £28,331 - £30,415 per annum.

Says the job description: "We are looking for an experienced mammal trapper with excellent organisation and communication skills to help deliver the stoat eradication operation.

"You will be joining an existing team of trappers and must be able to work with a professional attitude in a close-knit and diverse team. 

"As this is a field-based position you must be physically fit, able to walk considerable distances over challenging terrain in all weathers up to five days per week and potentially carry heavy loads."

It continues: "You will enjoy being outdoors and be able to perform a repetitive task to a consistently high standard. 

"You should be passionate about the natural world. 

"You will be a focused individual with attention to detail and the ability to maintain accurate records.

"You will be able to identify issues and risks as they emerge and communicate these effectively to your team. 

"You will have the confidence and ability to inspire trust and support for the project, and an ability to win over hearts and minds and motivate people. 

"You should also have experience of working with local communities in a collaborative and sensitive way because a key part of your role will be maintaining good relationships with landowners." 

Applicants have until midnight on Monday of next week (December 11) to apply for the stoat-trapper post through denis.stojanovic@rspb.org.uk

* It is not known how stoats came to be in Orkney but the prevailing theory is that they arrived among hay bales or farming equipment on board a ferry from mainland Scotland.  

                                               

The trap, which is said to be humane, was devised by the Department of Conservation in in New Zealand

The Wryneck says: It is hard not to feel uneasy about this initiative. A conservation organisation paying staff to slaughter stoats? The argument is that these predators threaten not just the unique rare Orkney vole but also birds such as short-eared owls. But wait a minute! Don't owls also eat voles? If the interests of the Orkney vole are paramount, why does the RSPB not also pursue its own logic by seeking to cull short-eared owls? 

Two volumes of Thomas Bewick's History of British Birds to go under hammer in Yorkshire saleroom

Bewick's History of British Birds was one of the first field guides

A PRE-SALE guide price of between £100 and £200 has been placed on four books that are due to go under the hammer as a single lot later this month. 

They comprise

* Two 1804 volumes of Thomas Bewick's History of British Birds

* A 1792 third edition of  A General History of Quadupeds by Bewick and other authors

* An 1806 tenth edition of The Looking Glass for The Mind by J. Harris and others 

The two-volume Bewick Birds is reckoned to be one of the first field guides for birders and is still greatly admired for its often amusing wood engravings.

There are several reference to it in Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre.

In one of his poems, The Two Thieves, William Wordsworth expressed appreciation for Northumberland-born Bewick's skill when he wrote: 

Oh now that the genius of Bewick were mine,

And the skill which he learned on the banks of the Tyne.

The sale is being conducted by Tennants of Leyburn in North Yorkshire at 10.30am on December 13.

                                

James Ramsay's portrait of Bewick (1753 - 1828)

Bewick's enchanting study of a snipe

                                        

Former Environment Secretary reveals stress of frontline political life made her hallucinate

Therese Coffey - blames stress for rare brain abscess 

FORMER Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey has described how the pressures of being in Government made her ill.

Ms Coffey who unexpectedly resigned from her frontbench duties in advance of last month's Cabinet reshuffle, was candid in an interview with the Sunday Times. 

She is reported to have told the newspaper she "came close to dying" after developing a rare brain abscess following a period of extreme stress while she was "burning the candle at both ends".

After she  began to hallucinate and slur her words in May 2018, when she was a junior Environment minister, she spent a month in hospital.

The  revelations of the Suffolk MP, who is the RSPB's parliamentary champion for the bittern,  will come as a surprise to many who thought her a model of self-possession and resilience.

Now returned to the Commons back benches, she is quoted as saying that she tries to "live in the moment".

RSPB determined to reduce dependence on pesticides at its showcase farm in Cambridgeshire

 

Georgie Bray - farming for wildlife as well as for food

THE RSPB says it is continuing to seek ways to minimise the chemicals it uses on its farm in Knapwell, Cambridgeshire.

The manager of 180-hectare Hope Farm is Georgie Bray who insists in her end-of-year review: "We are  looking for alternatives to pesticide use. 

"This is based around risk management for the business, minimising our negative environmental impact from pesticide use and reducing our climate impact."

Hope Farm was bought by the RSPB in 2000 for approximately £1.5-million.

The conservation charity no longer uses insect-killing treatment (except as 'a last resort'), but it has not yet dispensed with 'weed'-killing herbicides.

Continues Ms Bray: "To reduce our reliance on pesticides, we have looked at increasing habitat networks in the fields, continuing to focus on soil health and crop variety choice. 

"New in-field flower margins were planted in autumn and are still under a mowing regime for thistle control before they can mature into a valuable flowering resource. 

"To reduce inorganic nutrient input, we have, for the second year, been running Soil Nitrogen Supply tests alongside our manure nutrient content testing. 

"For the first time, we have also started to delve into tissue testing so as to be more precise about the risk of applying more nutrients than a crop needs which may then become damaging to the environment."

What about fungus-killing treatments?

"We continue to look at reducing fungicide use, partly by growing crops, such as YQ wheat, that do not require their use."

Ms Bray concludes: "Although Hope Farm is not organic, we hope that our approach  demonstrates that high crop yields can be achieved employing a  system that can accommodate organic principles and diligent habitat management.

"Ambitions are high. As ever, we are determined to do the best we can in terms of nature-friendly farming and are looking to adopt improved regenerative practices all the while. 

"We are also keen as ever to share where things have gone well and not so well - warts and all."

 

                                    

Almost ready for harvest - wheat crop at Hope Farm (photo: RSPB)

Disappointment for birders as Lincolnshire lake's rare grebe performs overnight vanishing act

 

There was disappointment yesterday for birders who had hoped to glimpse a rare Slavonian grebe that spent Saturday on the lake in the country park in Cleethorpes, near Grimsby, on the North East Lincolnshire coast. Unless it was skulking among the reeds, the bird had moved on, probably  overnight. A cold- weather visitor from Greenland (or Russia), this member of the grebe family has vivid orange head feathers in its summer breeding season plumage, but in winter it is more sombre looking - a blend of black, grey and white. However, it retains a distinctive bright pink eye, almost of jewel-like intensity. This bird was probably  one of fewer than a score  that were recorded  last week  in the whole of Britain. The species is reckoned to threatened with extinction,  30 per cent decline in its global population having been noted over the past three decades.