Fly-Fishing in the Scottish Highlands

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Fly-fishing in the scottish Highlands

When the conditions are right, I don’t know of a more relaxing way to spend the day than fly-fishing.

I’ve fished since I was a wee boy growing up in a fishing community on Scotland’s north-east coast. Mr grandfather taught me how to bait a hook and encouraged my keenness but I didn’t learn to fly-fish until I was in my late teens. My job afforded me access to some of Scotland’s best fishing lochs and rivers and I’ve spent many happy hours on bank and boat and beat.

Come fishing with me

I offer a fly-fishing experience local to my base here in the north-east of Fife and, for this, I use local fisheries or rivers that best suit folks who are new to fishing or have never fished in Scotland before. But, for the more experienced or more adventurous, I can also incorporate fly-fishing into one of my custom driver-guided tours to the Highlands, depending on the water and the season.

The Scottish Countryman fly-fishing at a local reservoir.

Fishing in the West Highlands of Scotland

Recently, I took a two-day trip up to the West Highlands where I fished on a river, at the mouth of a sea-loch, and on a Victorian-built dam. The weather was ideal: a mix of cloudy skies and light rain but some occasional sunshine, too. I fished at four locations over the course of about 4 or 5 hours and just had the most wonderful time. Fishing is such a contemplative pastime - great for some head-space and time to reflect or refresh.

Did I catch anything?!

Yes, but only some very small fish that I put back - nothing for the pot and certainly nothing I could brag about over a wee dram that evening! I’m ever hopeful of a salmon, of course, but I typically catch brown trout and, sometimes, when I’m lucky, a sea trout up here.

The Scottish Countryman fishing on the dam at Kingairloch in the west Highlands of Scotland

There are fishing seasons for certain species and rivers, but Scotland’s range of fish and fishing spots means we can, in theory, fish on any day of the week and throughout the year.

If you’re interested in having a go at fly-fishing, take a look at my fishing experiences with a picnic lunch or without a picnic lunch or send me an email. I provide you with all the gear you’ll need along with full instruction on a rod that is bested suited to your height and ability. And if you’re keen to fish in some of the most beautiful scenery Scotland has to offer, I can customise a tour to feature some fly-fishing, too. Just get in touch!

Take a TSC Tour the East Neuk of Fife

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St Monans in the east neuk of fife

If you’ve been for an experience with me, whether it’s been fly-fishing, birds of prey or archery, you know that I am passionate about making sure you have a great time.

I’m now adding driver-guided tours to my list of experiences and I’d love to show you Scotland! Or, at least, some of the places in Scotland that I know and love. Let’s start with the East Neuk, since that’s on my doorstep…

What (and where) is the East Neuk?

The East Neuk (or ‘Nook’ or ‘corner’), is a strip of land in the north-east corner of the Kingdom of Fife. Along the coast, it runs from Kingsbarns round to Elie and Earlsferry taking in the seaside villages of Crail, Kilkenny, Cellardyke and Anstruther, Pittenweem, and St Monans. Inland, there are the hamlets of Carnbee and Arncroach and the hill villages of Kilconquhar and Collinsburgh.

Farming, fishing and foraging - food is good in the East Neuk

Although most famous for its coastal villages and seafaring history, the East Neuk’s inland strip means a focus on farming and food production, too: we’ve got farm shops and fishmongers, artisan bakers, and beer and cider brewers, a gin and whisky distillery, makers of jams and pickles cheeses, Michelin-guide restaurants, and everything from street food to cosy cafes. (If this is your thing, check out the Food from Fife site.)

With my half- and full-day tours of the East Neuk taking approximately 4 or 8 hours, I tailor the route and stopping points to your interests. I’ll create an itinerary to show you the best bits based on your wish-list and I’ll recommend the best places to grab a coffee or sit and have lunch, depending on the time available and your preferences.

A full-day tour example

As an example, on a recent full-day trip, I took guests to Falkland for the morning and then we visited St Monans (windmill and harbour), Pittenweem (the habour and cave, with a stop for a seafood platter), Anstruther (Shore Street and the Dreel Burn) and Cellardyke (harbour and tidal pool), before a wander round Crail exploring its beautiful marriage lintels, historic Church, Tolbooth, and harbour. We also called in at the Kingsbarns golf course to preview the location of my guests’ next-day activity.

Make the most out of your time in the East Neuk and let me take care of the logistics. I’ll manage all of the driving, parking, and timings of your trip, so that you can relax and enjoy the sights of this beautiful corner of Fife in Scotland.

You can find out more about my full-day and half-day tours of the East Neuk here or send me an email. These tours can be on any day of the week and run throughout the year.

What is a bird of prey?

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What exactly is a ‘bird of prey’? It’s an odd name, when you think about it, isn’t it? (Even odder when you see it misspelled as ‘bird of pray’.) It’s a question that comes up a lot in our bird-of-prey and owl experiences, so let’s explore what is meant by a bird of prey.

The short answer is that a bird of prey eats meat; it is a predator that must hunt and eat other birds or animals to survive. Whilst lots of birds eat invertebrate animals such as insects and worms, birds of prey typically take larger vertebrates such as small mammals and other birds as their prey. A distinguishing feature of birds of prey is the fact that they use their feet (and sharp talons) to capture and carry their prey away and they have a hooked beak to kill and break into their prey. Most birds of prey hunt live prey but some species, like vultures, will also eat carrion.

Which birds are (and are not) birds of prey?

Birds of prey can be broadly separated into three (unrelated) groups: acciptrifoformes, which include eagles, buzzards, hawks, ospreys and harriers, the falconiformes (falcons), and the strigiform, which are the owls. In general, owls are nocturnal hunters while the others are all diurnal (daytime) hunters. There are around 300 species of acciptrifoformes and falconiformes and just over 200 species of owls.

Not all birds that hunt and eat other animals are birds of prey. Although birds like magpies, herons, gulls, penguins and storks are predators and eat other animals s

uch as songbirds, fish or frogs, they are not classed as birds of prey because they don’t have the distinguishing features of a bird of prey.

Harris hawk preparing to land - feet out

What are the distinguishing features of a bird of prey?

Across the species (eagles, buzzards, hawks, falcons and owls), birds of prey will have distinct and particular features that give them their apex hunter’s advantage. These features include wing shape, flying style and speed, feather colour and type, manoeuverability, leg length and more, but - because of how they hunt and kill - all birds of prey have powerful feet and a strong, hooked beak.

In eagles, the feet are very large and can exert very high pressure. A bald eagle, for example, has the strength to apply 400 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure in its enormous feet, which is ten times the grip of an average adult human. The golden eagle’s prey can include mammals the size of a roe deer or fox, so their feet and talons need to be capable of a strong grip for lifting and carrying away that kind of weight, as well as the killer pressure needed to crush mammal bones.

In the images above, you can see the impressive feet on Altai, our golden eagle. Steve’s falconry glove is triple thickness to protect his arm but, even so, if Altai decides to apply pressure, Steve knows about it! To give you an idea of his size, Altai’s talons alone are each around 5-7cm long…

Falcons catch their prey on the wing, or in mid-flight, so they need to have feet that can bind to their quarry and hold on to it but they also need a quick method of killing their prey before it wrestles free in the air or damages them in the process of struggling to escape. The hooded beak of a falcon includes an extra serrated bit on the upper part of the beak. It looks like a notch - a rough edge - and its known as, a ‘tooth’, specifically a tomial tooth, which is used a little like a can opener. Falcons and (kites) use this tomial tooth to quickly kill their prey by snapping the vertebrae. You can see it in the image below, on Logan’s upper beak.

Peregrine falcon and tomial tooth

LOGAN our peregrine falcon showing his tomial tooth.

The two photos below show off the falcon’s tools of the trade: hooded beaks, powerful feet and strong, sharply pointed wing tips, giving them the aerodynamic profile they need to cut through the air at high speed.

Another feature of birds of prey that makes them different from other birds and most other animals is that the males are smaller than the females, which is known as reversed sexual dimorphism.

In most vertebrates, and in non-predatory birds, the male is typically larger than the female. However, in birds of prey, the female is larger. The most noticeable size difference is in falcons and hawks - in some cases (the kestrel, for example) the female is larger than her male counterpart by as much as 50%.

Ailsa, our female eagle owl (right) weighs approximately 6.5lbs (2.9kg), while Fergus, our male eagle owl, is just 4lbs (1.8kg) - almost 50% lighter!

The size difference between sexes is much less obvious in birds of prey that predate on slower species. Vultures, for example, which rely on team work or others’ left-overs (and carrion) to be able to eat, have little size difference between the sexes.

Female eagle owl

Ailsa, our female eagle owl

There are several theories as to why birds of prey have reverse sexual dimorphism. These include the suggestion that males and females can more easily share territory if they are different sizes: birds of the same species will not be in competition for the same prey if one is significantly smaller / larger than the other. And perhaps a female’s need to produce and spend time incubating eggs accounts for her larger size - she needs larger reserves of energy.

Is a raptor different from a bird of prey?

No, raptors and birds of prey are the same thing. The Victorians called birds of prey raptors, from a Latin world meaning to plunder or take by force. This perfectly describes a bird of prey’s hunting style, which is to ambush its prey and then carry it off to a safe place to eat. (The term ‘raptor’ is also used for the group of dinosaurs known as Dromaeosauridae, the feathered lizards that include the Velociraptor made famous by the film ‘Jurassic Park’. Scientists are yet to confirm a direct evolutionary link between these bird-like dinosaurs and the birds of today, but they certainly share the same design of powerful feet and fierce talons as our birds of prey. )

What birds of prey can be found in Scotland?

There are 14 species of diurnal (daytime-hunting) raptors (falcons, hawks, eagles) and 4 nocturnal raptors (owls) in Scotland.

The diurnal Scottish birds of prey are: red kite, honey buzzard, common buzzard, goshawk, sparrowhawk, merlin, kestrel, golden eagle, white-tailed (sea) eagle, osprey, hobby falcon, peregrine falcon, hen harrier and marsh harrier. Below is a photo of Lewis, Steve’s goshawk on a pheasant kill. In it you can see his hooked beak and sturdy, powerful legs but his feet are covered in the pheasant’s feathers.

A goshawk on a kill

The nocturnal birds of prey found in Scotland are: barn owl, tawny owl, short-eared owl and long-eared owl.

The barn owl’s feet, used with such precision to capture thousands of voles and mice in a year, are covered with tiny feathers to minimise the sound of the air passing over them, allowing the owl to fly almost silently, in order to surprise its unsuspecting prey.

Eagle owls are now also to be found living wild in Scotland (having escaped from captivity) and Snowy owls are sometimes seen on the islands of the Outer Hebrides, but neither species is considered native.

Want to know more about birds of prey?

I’ve included some reference below but I’m confident you’ll learn the most and get the most out of booking an experience with Steve!

In The Scottish Countryman’s team, we have a barn owl and two eagle owls, a golden eagle, falcons and hawks. You can get up close to and learn more about each of these birds in our bird of prey experience or owl experience. Steve explains each of the birds’ ‘super powers’ and demonstrates their hunting/flying styles for you so that you can really appreciate the specific distinguishing features that make them all such superb birds of prey.

Easter eggs at Hammer Inn

/ The Scottish Countryman/
Easter eggs at Hammer Inn

Happy Easter from Hammer Inn. Here’s how we celebrate it and why eggs are big news right now.

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10 things you didn't know about eggs

/ The Scottish Countryman/
10 things you didn't know about eggs

Eggs are one of our most popular foods and they’re familiar to everybody - especially at Easter - but how much do you really know about eggs?

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What is the point of wasps?

/ The Scottish Countryman/

What is the point of wasps?

Have you noticed the increase is wasp numbers in the last couple of weeks? It seems as though they're everywhere! Buzzing angrily at windows in your office and at home, being pesky at picnics and beer gardens, interrupting conversations, causing us to shudder and shift, squeal and shriek, swat and swear.

It's hard to find anyone who's a fan of wasps - most people loathe them and many have a big fear of them. Is that you? Do wasps make you shudder or shriek? Are you frightened of the pain wasp stings inflict?Frightened that they'll attack and sting you multiple times, and that those stings could even be deadly?

I know - and I get it. But it seems such a small creature to cause such fear and loathing!

I expect that this level of fear and loathing is part of the reason we know so little about wasps. Wasps are mysterious to most of us. Think about it: what do you really know about wasps?

'They sting!'

Okay,... Anything else? 

Do you know about the different types of wasps there are and the nests they build? About what wasps eat? And, come to think of it, what eats wasps? How (and why) wasps sting? What makes a wasp's sting so sore? How long do wasps live for? How do wasps raise their young? No idea?! 

It's true to say that most people don't know much about wasps at all. In fact, one of Google's most common wasp-related questions is 'What's the point of wasps?' Let's see if we can figure that out in this blog post. 

What do wasps do?

You might not think it, but wasps are helpful! Like all creatures, wasps have a purpose - they are a natural pesticide; they cut down the number of pests you have to deal with by hoovering up bugs, insects and animal matter. Sterile worker females forage for insects (including aphids and blackfly) and carrion to bring back to the wasp grubs or larvae growing in the nest.

We've had a colony of Western Yellow-jackets in the font garden this summer. The workers were frequent visitors to Steve's stash of hawk food in the early part of summer, looking for meat or protein to take to the nest.

What's fascinating, however, is that these female wasps feed off a sweet liquid that is secreted by the larvae they bring the meat to. They feed the larvae and the larvae feed them, in return; each gets something from the other: the larvae gets protein; the females get carbs in the form of sugar. 

It's only when the wasp larvae have matured - at the end of summer - that you'll suddenly become much more aware of wasps in numbers because the females are no longer getting that sugary secretion from within the nest. The larvae have grown into fertile males and females and left the nest to prepare next year's colony, so the infertile worker females are forced to seek sweet liquids outside the nest. And that's when your juice and ice-cream and flowers suddenly become a magnet for a multitude of wasps. No wonder they're aggressive. To use a runner's parlance, they're 'hangry'!

Because nature is amazing, it just so happens that the timing of 'hangry' wasps looking for sugary food coincides with ripening fruit falling to the ground and releasing ripening, even pungent, sugars. I managed to capture the wasps demolishing an apple near their nest over just a few days last month. Isn't it amazing? And a little twitch-inducing!

Day 1: the wasps break into the apple

Day 2: burrowing right into the apple now

Now that we know all that, let's address the big concern: can you die if a wasp stings you?

Yes, but it's extremely unlikely! Like really rare.

Here are the two ways that wasps stings can be fatal: you can die as a result of receiving too many stings and you can die as the result of an allergic reaction to even one single sting. What are your chances of either?

Firstly, how many wasps stings is too many? How many wasps stings would it take to kill you? Of course it all depends, but the answer is probably more than you'd think.

Generally, it's thought that an otherwise healthy adult can survive as many as 1,000 wasps stings. A THOUSAND stings! Now a thousand stings is certainly night-marish. That kind of experience would be beyond painful and it's obviously a serious level of injury, yet it's survivable. But how often do you hear of anyone being stung even a hundred times? Or ten? Most people that have been stung have suffered a single sting and a few had the bad luck of two or three but I've never heard of more than a handful of times in the one attack. That makes the chances of a multi-sting death are pretty low, wouldn't you agree?

So what about a single-sting reaction? 

Anaphylaxis is the extreme allergic reaction that causes the body's defence systems to over-react - to go into shock and, in a few cases, to shut down. It can be triggered by certain foods and medicines, but also by bee and wasp stings. ‘Anaphylactic shock’ happens fast and it's difficult to predict and prevent. It is a terrifying thought but it's extremely rare, in fact it's estimated that less than 0.5% of the population is affected. Records show that fewer than 10 people each year in Britain die from anaphylactic shock resulting from wasp stings. In a population of more than 55 million, that's also pretty low odds.

Statistically speaking, then, we are extremely unlikely to die as the result of a wasp sting. And yet many of us are still afraid of wasps. And even those of us who aren't are still wary when a wasp enters our space. Why? Because wasps are aggressive and they do sting and their stings hurt!

Why does a wasp sting hurt so much?

There are three main problems with a wasp's sting:

  1. A wasp's sting hurts going in but it also has a complex chemical make-up that can agitate the sting site and the surrounding area for days. Wasp stings also include the allergy-inducing component called Antigen 5 that can cause anaphylactic shock.

  2. Each sting acts as a marker or a signpost to other wasps, signalling the sting recipient as a threat and driving more wasps to attack the victim.

  3. The sting is not a once-only option for a wasp. Wasps can sting multiple times because, unlike bees, the wasp's stinger can be retracted and reused and a stinging wasp doesn't die.

The ground nest of our colony of yellow jacket wasps.

How can you avoid being stung by a wasp?

Wasps get riled up by intruders and especially by intruders wearing bright colours (hello, summer wardrobe) or behaving aggressively, so you can minimise your risk of being stung by staying away from wasp nests and not making loud, sudden movements in colourful clothes around wasps. (Less of all that shrieking and swatting, for a start! It doesn't help and it's almost certainly making things worse.) 

Most people aren't encountering wasps at their nest site, of course. You're probably not intruding into their space - they're probably in yours. If that's in your house, or at the office, or in a beer garden or at the park, try to stay calm and leave them be. They're likely to move on or find something more interesting than you - something sweet, probably. 

That's not to say that you shouldn't get out of the way if you come under attack by a wasp. Because one wasp's aggression is contagious to the others, and one sting encourages more to sting, so you definitely shouldn't stand still if a wasp stings you. Get out of there! But just try not to flail your arms and scream and shout at the same time. 

If you do get stung by a wasp, antihistamine is your best bet at countering the effects. 

How do you get rid of a wasp's nest?

I know plenty of people have managed to remove nests or bykes for themselves by using one of the many sprays and powders on sale, but for me that's an easy one: just call in the professionals. Here's the thing: wasp nests can be HUGE. By mid-summer, they are likely to contain many thousands of wasps. That's not something you want to unleash and get wrong on your own. It’s also possible that what you think is a wasp is not and it would be tragic to get rid of bees by mistake :-( It happens every year.

The yellowjackets’ nest

The yellowjacket burrow we have may hold as many as 20,000 wasps. It's 5 feet from the house and definitely not something I’d want to stir up! We haven't done anything about it as there hasn't been a reason to - they have just gone about their business.

Once the colder weather comes in, that colony will die out and they won't reuse the same site next year. But if they set up home somewhere that puts us in conflict, or that increases our risk of being attacked to a level that's just not acceptable, we'll get a pest-control pro in to help.

What eats wasps?

It's the cold weather that kills most wasps but they are also predated upon, which always surprises people. In Scotland's countryside, badgers will dig up an underground nest to feed on the larvae. Honey buzzards, though mostly based down south in places like the New Forest, do breed as far north as the Lake District and parts of Scotland, and they raise their chicks on a diet that includes wasp and bee grubs. The densely-packed feathers around honey buzzards' beaks enables them to resist wasp stings and their strong talons help them to excavate wasp nests. 

Also, despite the wasp's clear warning in the form of its yellow and black stripes, a danger-sign in nature, other smaller birds are also happy to risk eating wasps, notably blackbirds, magpies and starlings. We had a colony of starlings in the Leylandii hedge this summer, which is just above the wasps' nest and just below the apple tree. Which means bed and breakfast for all! 

Other predators of wasps are dragonflies, beetles and moths. Without wasps, these other species wouldn't be able to thrive, which is the whole point of wasps and everything else that makes up an eco-system!

After just 3 days, this is what's left of the apple.

After just 3 days, this is what's left of the apple.

Wasp trivia

There are over 100,000 different types of wasp in the world, and 250 in the UK. As with bees, most species of wasp are solitary but we tend to think of colony wasps such as the Western Yellowjackets as the only kind of wasps. 

Wasps have never been popular, even before we had beer gardens and windows! Unlike bees, they rarely feature in place names, pub names or heraldry and they always symbolise aggression, which is why their name is bestowed on military aircraft and ships, rugby teams and angry people. 

The Latin name for a wasp is a vespa. Did you just have a moment of enlightenment with that fact? It stopped me in my tracks when I realised! How had I not known that before? (Mind you, it took me until my forties to twig that Eeyore's name was also onomatopoeic.) 

Of course! A Vespa! What a perfect name for that stylish little buzzing scooter! Brilliant. 

I hope this article at least makes you less anti-wasp and more aware of their benefits to our eco-system. GIve it a like if you found it interesting but, if you have any wasp stories or more wasp trivia, do tell! You can comment below.

Sources

Images

Photos and video by Deborah Brazendale

Tell me about your interactions with wasps in the comments below. Hate them? Sneaking admiration for wasps? Worse that spiders or not?! Is there another garden or countryside creature in Scotland that you'd like to know more about?