Synchronised progress ..

Day 327 #365DaysWild

Such a wealth of nature around us here in Argyll.

Walking along the shore of Loch Striven a young dog otter and then two harbour porpoise in synchronised progress along the shore.

Willow warblers plentiful. Tree pipits in parachuting display flight.

A dusk walk tonight delivered two calling male cuckoos, a buzzard in lumbering flight between trees and a barking male roe deer.

The contrast with my native Nottinghamshire is stark.

Although roe deer numbers are at their highest on record due to lack of predation and otters are beginning their recovery, other species are failing.

Willow warblers are slowly moving north as breeding birds due to climate change. Tree pipits are uncommon. We haven’t had cuckoos in the garden for two years. Their diet is big, hairy caterpillars and as with all insect eaters, their numbers have collapsed.

And surprising as it may seem, porpoise would once have been a Nottinghamshire mammal, reaching us along the tidal Trent.

All of these regrettable changes can be reversed with sufficient will.