#222 The Beasties

In the last post we visited with the birds and the bugs, and now it’s time we saw the beasts, which is about as wild as I ever get. The stories come from my travel book, Sixteen Years of Travel in Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales (available at Amazon), and the photos come from travels in the UK, the American Southwest, Canada, and locally. As always comments and questions about the stories or photos are appreciated.

Red Squirrel, Scotland

The Golf Wildlife 

One year at the Gearheart Golf Links on the Oregon coast we came upon some real wildlife. A party of businessmen had brought with them some girls in business and they were driving around the course in all manner of undress. We haven’t seen that kind of wildlife on courses in the British Isles, but we have observed other wildlife. 

Arizona

Valley of Fire, NV

Grumpy Guy, Santa Fe golf course

Twice we’ve encountered hedgehogs in Scotland, once at Crieff and once at Tulliallan. We learned though that as cute as the hedgehog is it is probably just as full of fleas and other small critters and better left alone. Jamie Montgomery introduced us to black grouse which inhabit the Montgomery and Bruce courses he owns in Kinross. At Boat of Garten while looking for my wayward ball I flushed a covey of ptarmigan, and I was so startled that I just pointed (Good dog, Bob!). On a recent visit to Panmure GC on Scotland’s east coast I was lucky enough to get a decent picture of a harrier hawk as it fluttered above its prey. 

Pallas's Cat, Wildlife Refuge, Scotland

We definitely know that a coyote does shit in the woods around Lake Tahoe.

I was hoping for some special photos when I spotted a large bird at Blairgowrie’s Landsdowne course in the fairway ahead of us. I took several shots and moved closer for more. I thought perhaps I’d have special photos of the rare Capricallie (a large colorful wild grouse) until I got close enough to see that it was just a colorful rooster. The pro at the shop said the bird had appeared about five weeks before and was getting quite good at dodging golf balls. 

The wild deer are friendly in Scotland, St Fillans GC.

Mule deer, Painted Hills, Oregon

There are no serpents in Ireland; St Patrick cast them out. On Isle Arran’s Corrie GC we saw a sign which said, “Beware of Snakes.” It was at Pwllheli Golf Course in northern Wales that we finally heard that indeed there were snakes in the British Isles, and not just the harmless garden variety. Our golfing hosts told us that there were reports of black adders (relative to the cobra) in the area. At Milford Haven GC in southern Wales I hit a tee shot over a stone fence into an old croft orchard next to the course. Our playing companion told me to just play one from outside the stone fence. I asked if the area was Out of Bounds? He said, “No, but nobody goes in there.” After my quizzical look he emphatically added, “Black adders live there!” I took my penalty and dropped a new ball well away from what the locals call “The Snake Pit.” 

Elk, Banff National Park, Canada

One of our most unusual encounters was one we only heard, but never saw. As we played the St Fillans course in central Scotland on October 5 (the last round of our 2009 trip), we heard strange noises as we came up the 7th fairway. It sounded like a cow was in distress in the hills north of the club. We asked a local playing through if he’d heard anything strange, but he said he hadn’t. On our second time around we could still hear the noises coming from the hills. As we stood listening the player we’d talked to earlier came over from an adjoining fairway and asked if that was the sound we’d heard before. We said it was. He then explained that it was the bellowing of red deer stags at the beginning of the rutting season. He added, though, that it was the earliest he’d ever heard their calls, which explained why we’d never heard them before since this was the time we always would end our fall trip. Anne and I played the last three holes badly because we kept looking into the hills trying to glimpse the deer. 

Dartmoor Wild Pony

Exmoor Wild Horses

We’ve had two run-ins with fox on golf courses. One was quite fleeting as a large coyote-sized red fox ran across the path in front of us just before the twelfth tee at St Andrews Duke’s course. The other meeting was more interesting. At the East Clare Golf Club golf shop in Ireland the pro told us to be on the lookout for a red fox around the ninth or tenth hole. The fox was still wild but was becoming quite adept at begging for, of all things, chocolate. On the eleventh fairway the fox came trotting up towards Anne, who offered a carrot instead of chocolate (which isn’t supposed to be good for canines). That offering was rejected. He came within about five feet of me (great for photos) before realizing I had nothing for him and moseying on. 

We really found these kind of fox more fitting with the golf environment than the foxes we saw at Gearheart--although, they were an interesting distraction, too. 

Big Horn Sheep, Rio Grande Gorge, NM

Mt Goat and Kidd, Banff, Alberta, Canada

Midgies--the Scourge of Scotland 

We’d heard stories, had warnings, but had never had a personal introduction to Culicoides impunctatus. Most of our travel has been off-season, April-May and September-October. We’d never been in the Highlands in the peak season of early June through late August. According to one book, “During the Second World War Scottish soldiers training in the Highlands branded her worse than Hitler.” The “she” referred to is none other than The Midge. 

Of the 34 different species of biting flies in Scotland, only five are attracted to people and 85% of the attacks are by Culicoides impunctatus. Midges or midgies are small biting flies that appear in mid to late summer, especially in the Highlands and around water. In the Northwest we would call them “No See ‘Ems” or gnats, but ours don’t bite. 

Pronghorn Antelope, near Moab, Utah

Cool Dude (coyote), Rio Grande Gorge, NM

September 2007 was our tenth trip to Scotland, and it was the first time for us to come face-to-face (or rather mouth-to-arm) with the midges. When we played Ullapool GC in the northwest of the Scottish Highlands it was a wind free, overcast with light showers day. We thought we were prepared with insect repellant, but I was in for a surprise. By the time we’d reached the tee at the second we knew we needed protection. We sprayed our necks and heads with Off! and played on. The repellant worked fairly well, except that I didn’t think about the fact that I was wearing short sleeves while Anne had on long. Even though I hadn’t felt a single bite, by the end of the round there were a few welts on my arms that were beginning to itch. By that evening I was putting on the only anti-itch medicine we had by the gobs. The next morning I could count more than forty bites per arm and nothing was stopping the itch. Midge bites are not like mosquito bites which sting, swell up, itch for a couple of days, and are forgotten. Midge bites itch for a month! I tried every remedy available from every chemist (pharmacy) at which we stopped. Some worked a little or for a while, some didn’t work at all. We’ve since learned a lot more about the midges. As far as repellents go, the Off! worked fairly well, but we’ve since heard that Avon’s Skin So Soft is the preferred repellent by locals. One description I heard said that you slathered it on good and thick, and then any midges who do land on you drown in the lotion. 

Reindeer have been reintroduced into Scotland.

Very different look, but from the same herd.

Midges like the twilight and the females, who do the biting, are most voracious at dawn and dusk. Sun and wind are actually the enemies of the midge. They will never bite in the midday sun and can’t fly in breezes more than seven miles per hour. If the weather is dull and overcast, as our day at Ullapool, they can bite anytime. Businesses have refused to locate in the Highlands because of the midges. Scotland loses millions of pounds in lost work-time a year at Highland outdoor employment because of the “wee beasties.” 

Harbour seals lounge off the southern tip of the Kintyre Peninsula, Scotland.

The same picture could be taken at every village harbour in Scotland.

As I say, it took us ten visits to Scotland to become personally acquainted with the Scourge of Scotland. When we next travel in the Highlands in Midge Season we will be better prepared with a good repellant, protective clothing, and as much anti-itch lotion as we can carry. 

Black bear near Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

Moose in high mountain lake, near Canmore, Canada.

NEXT: Some more old pictures--I've got plenty to choose from.