Tanar Tigers & Bear

“While Glen Tanar is a lovely place to relax and enjoy the countryside its also a working estate and one of the things we are always keen to do is to educate people on how the estate’s ecology and economy work together.  To do this end we recently held an event for children from Aboyne Primary School which was all about deer management.  This event was designed to show why deer are managed, what value they bring and what impacts they can have as well as enjoying deer for the fabulous animals they are.  Kids played games to simulate stalking and to find out about the resources deer need to thrive.  In the spirit of Jamie Oliver we looked at deer as food, what they look like inside and how we butcher a carcase.  Most children are very open to this once you have got past a few understandable “ughs!”  One wee lad came up to me later and confided gleefully “I just touched some lungs!”  “Good on ya” I said.

However when you dress up 72 children as Environmental  Health Inspectors and get them to examine carcases you can hardly expect to sell the same carcases afterwards.  It’s a shame to throw away good food so we decided to be more creative.  The Polar Bear, Mercedes at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig is the only one in the UK and she is one of Scotland’s treasures.  She also has a liking for venison.  I had visions of a blog entry featuring a photo of Mercedes eating Glen Tanar venison under the headline “I know I have had a hard winter but this is ridiculous”.  However when the meat arrived she left her huge open enclosure and retired behind bars to enjoy her meal.  It didn’t make for a good photo at all but as you can see the Amur Tigers were much more obliging.”

Colin McClean, Wildlife Manager

1st Big Salmon caught on Glen Tanar Beat

The first big salmon of the 2010 season

The first big Salmon of the season was caught on Saturday 6th of March on one of Glen Tanar’s beats, Waterside & Ferrar.

The beautiful Salmon weighed 25lb and was caught by Crawford Mallean alongside Ghillie Davey Goodfellow.

We hope that this will be the start of a very good season.

Baitcam set up at Glen Tanar

At Glen Tanar we are keen to find new ways of showing people our wonderful wildlife.  One idea we are exploring is setting up a photography hide for Golden Eagles which would come to feed on the carcases of poor quality Deer shot by our stalkers.  Golden Eagle chicks grow much better when fed live prey rather than carrion, so carcases would only be supplied during the non breeding season.

During this winter our Wildlife Manager, Colin McClean has provided baits at a variety of sites, kept them free of snow and monitored what animals have been using them with a motion sensored camera.  Early results are quite exciting although we need to learn more about how our Eagles use these sites before opening a public facility.

Below is a photo of a Golden Eagle eating a Deer carcase on Glen Tanar Estate.

Videos of Glen Tanar and our Salmon Fishing

For those of you who want to catch a glimpse of life here on Deeside we now have two videos on the site for you to enjoy. The first is our new Glen Tanar promotional video which shows scenes of the local mountains and landscape, wildlife and birds, local characters and hard-working estate staff, visitors to our holiday cottages and some of the weddings and events what we host here.

The Glen Tanar video is also available on Youtube so if  anyone would like to embed it then you can do so from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cryK5cPwy2o

The second video is about Salmon and Trout Fishing and is a section from Sky TV’s fishing programme Tight Lines  featuring expert angler and TV presenter Fiona Armstrong, who visited Glen Tanar to fish on our stretch of the River Dee and on our trout loch. Fiona is a great fan of the Dee and really appreciated the quiet seclusion and wide open spaces of our beats.

Enjoy both videos and please let us know if you have any problems viewing them. They’re both quite large in order to maintain as much quality as possible so there may be a little buffering when downloading them, but we hope we’ve got the best balance between viewing and loading.

Salmon Fishing on River Dee

Today on Monday 1st of March 2010 we are very happy to say that the Salmon Fishing on Glen Tanar’s beats has officially started for the season.

Here at Glen Tanar we have 4 beats on the famous River Dee, these beats are Headinch & Cambus O’ May, Deecastle & Dinnet, Waterside & Ferrar & Craigendinnie.

Despite all of the heavy snow and ice that we have been experiencing this Winter and are still working around today, we have managed to get the Fishing started.  We hope that the fishermen that we have out on the River this week will still manage to catch some fish despite being surrounded by snow.

Nature’s Calender at Glen Tanar

Nature’s Calender with presenter Chris Packham will be re-shown on Wednesday 3rd of February at 11am on BBC2 and will then be available on BBC iplayer soon after.

Wildcats

After attending a biodiversity seminar here in the Ballroom at Glen Tanar on Monday and hearing various speakers talking about the Wildlife that can be found on the Estate and how they are researching them I was amazed when on Wednesday I was looking out of the window in the Office and saw what I am 99% sure was a Wildcat!

After hearing Dr David Hetherington who is charge of the Cairngorms Wildcat Project speaking on Monday about Wildcats I instantly was looking for the markings of a Wildcat.  It was much bigger than a normal cat and had a shorter stumpy tail with black rings around it so I am convinced it was definitely a Wildcat.

Wildcat in the snow

International Students Take A Walk On The Wild Side

Truls & Martin

Two Norwegian students, 21 year olds Martin Ofstaas and Truls Leidland, of Hedmark, Norway are undertaking a three and a half month work placement here at Glen Tanar Estate.  They will be undertaking a range of wildlife management tasks such as controlling foxes, crows and rabbits.  Also feeding the fish in the trout loch and carrying out maintenance on the riverbanks to give salmon fishers better access to the river, preparing trophies for stalking guests, and helping to manage deer marauding on farmland.

Both students are experienced in Norwegian wildlife management issues and wanted to learn about wildlife in another country.  Martin’s father is one of Norway’s very few professional hunting guides and Martin has worked with him since a boy.  Truls has just completed a year at Hedmark University studying wildlife management which invloves developing a concept of how man manages wildlife populations in different situations around the world and understanding wildlife habitats and their importance to managing wildlife.  He visited Scotalnd in January as part of the course.

Colin McClean, the Estates Wildlife Manager, says, “The students have learned that there are differences between Norway and Scotalnd in terms of wildlife management issues and wildlife such as Norway having a stronger hunting culture than Scotland with a much higher proportion of people involved in hunting.  Hunting is a recreational activity which people do for fun but there are very few jobs associated with hunting in Norway and Scotland has lots of river ghillies and game keepers which you don’t find in Norway.  Norway also manages a wider range of species than we have, including many that we have lost such as wolves, bears, lynx and beaver.”

Claire Bruce, owner of Glen Tanar Estate, says, Martin and Truls have been invaluable to us, both in terms of manpower and sharing the skills that they have.  Our focus at the Estate is very much on the ongoing conservation of the 25,000 acre estate’s natural heritage and additional help and fresh ideas are always very welcomed.  The students have also been involved in the activities which we offer on the estate such as Salmon and Trout Fishing and Deer Stalking and they have been monitoring and feeding the fish so that we can maintain sustainable levels.”

Claire continues, “Colin McClean, has been mentoring the two students during their time with us.  Colin maintains and seeks to enhance the high standards of land management already practiced at Glen Tanar and uses his extensive wildlife knowledge to educate visitors who want to learn more about the species that inhabit the estate.”

Martin says, “This is my first visit to Scotalnd and I am very impressed.  The first thing that struck me about the Estate was its beauty.  The scenery within the Cairngorms National Park is truly spectacular.  We are extremely lucky to be experiencing such good weather conditions because I heard the climate here was a little unpredictable.”

Martin continues, “Colin McClean, the Estate’s Wildlife Manager, has been our mentor and we have gained invaluable advice and skills during our time here.  We have learned about deer culling, preparing venison for sale, driving machinery like the Argo and ATVs, predator control techniques and all round experience in how a Highland Estate works.  We leave at the end of July and will be very sad to go.”

Truls comments, “When I first came to Scotland as part of my course in January I was so impressed I knew I wanted to come back.  Glen Tanar has been extremely hospitable and we have received a particularly warm welcome.  I look forward to returning very soon.”