Autumn
07th October 2006
Autumn is the season in which the glory of Scotland's countryside is realised most fully, with stunning colours highlighting the beauty of the glens and snow dusting the highest tops. It is also a key period for the country's wildlife; a real sense of change sweeps over our natural environment. In autumn, stags gather in the sheltered glens for the annual rut, a loud and often violent ritual defined by echoing roars and the clatter of antlers. Red deer males must compete to mate with their female counterparts (hinds) and the strongest may end up breeding successfully with up to twenty in one year. Among the finest locations to hear and view the rut in full flow are the Hebridean islands of Jura and Rum, the Perthshire Highlands and the Galloway hills.
The Solway coast of Dumfries & Galloway also comes alive in autumn, as the entire breeding population of barnacle geese from Spitsbergen (some 25,000) descends on its meadows, salt marshes and mud flats. At the same time, hundreds of Icelandic whooper swans and Siberian Bewick's swans appear, as do many pink-footed and greylag geese. All these birds may be viewed at the Caerlaverock and Mersehead reserves by Dumfries. A second population of barnacle geese, numbering over 30,000, arrives simultaneously on Islay, as does the Greenland population of white-fronted geese. The sheer spectacle of these birds settling to roost by Loch Indaal at night is among Scotland's natural highlights. Likewise, further up the west coast, the volume of grey seals hauled up with fur-coated pups at sites such as Oronsay and the Monach Isles provides an unforgettable wildlife display. Scotland accounts for 40% of the international grey seal population, and this fact is best demonstrated during autumn.
The Solway coast of Dumfries & Galloway also comes alive in autumn, as the entire breeding population of barnacle geese from Spitsbergen (some 25,000) descends on its meadows, salt marshes and mud flats. At the same time, hundreds of Icelandic whooper swans and Siberian Bewick's swans appear, as do many pink-footed and greylag geese. All these birds may be viewed at the Caerlaverock and Mersehead reserves by Dumfries. A second population of barnacle geese, numbering over 30,000, arrives simultaneously on Islay, as does the Greenland population of white-fronted geese. The sheer spectacle of these birds settling to roost by Loch Indaal at night is among Scotland's natural highlights. Likewise, further up the west coast, the volume of grey seals hauled up with fur-coated pups at sites such as Oronsay and the Monach Isles provides an unforgettable wildlife display. Scotland accounts for 40% of the international grey seal population, and this fact is best demonstrated during autumn.
