Thursday 18th:

Even with the curtains closed it is light enough to trigger an early wake up. But waking up to blue skies and calm weather is always welcome and so it was this morning after a busy week that my light alarm got me out of bed at 5.30am.

I had intended getting up anyway, it is getting past the time for deer counts as the trees start to flush around now giving them plenty cover. So it was okay after my cup of coffee and a read of to-days paper to see what madness Trump had got up to overnight, to head out.

By 6.30am I was on the go, rifle on my back just in case I saw a casualty, last year I saw a hind that appeared to have the ‘Staggers’. Very disconcerting to see and by the time I got back to the location with the rifle, she was gone. Most likely to suffer a lingering death, she was not in good shape. But I am pleased to report there were no traumas to-day.

Very strange time we live in here on Rona as we head for retirement, I am 69 years old and it is about time I took a backseat, so retirement looms. I keep having these thoughts, “is this the last time I will be doing this or that, it is a very strange feeling?”

Anyway moving on from that thought the deer count is an annual or bi-annual event depending on just how busy we are at this time (very busy!!) and this week no exceptiuon, with visitors and cottages, then making venison burgers. It has been a full week so far. We have a changeover tomorrow with no one coming in, heavy rain forecast so we will chill.

I usually have help but as things are a bit up in the air at the moment and my usual counter ‘Marc’ is stuffed for time off I went out myself. But there is always something serene about sitting up on one of Rona’s high points just taking in the view on a very sunny warm on the back morning.

There was some debate on myself and Marc’s counting last year. But in our world it was one of the most positive counting days in all the time I was on Rona, so it was disappointing to have doubters. The weather was perfect over the days we carried it out. The wind even better, changing direction when we got to the Lighthouse and allowing for us to not wind and scare the deer off on the way back, on the first day, perfect. The next day the weather was grim from around 10.30am, but the third day it returened to normal and we concluded with a very good day in the South area.

When discussing our cull returns with Victor Clements our Deer Management Adviser who confirmed that to have culled the amount we did we must have numbers in the region we counted in April 2024.

This year it is almost a repeat.

Looking North and South from this point the air was clear, the light very good, it was possible to see deer miles away. My tally quickly rose, mostly hinds and calves as Rona is predominantly a ‘Hind’ Island.

The young males stay with the family group until about 4 years old, after that they are chased out of the group during the rut and when they return post rut they are sidelined, often joining a young bachelor party in the South quarter of Rona. Thereafter they will migrate to Raassay the following year with the bigger stags that come and go all year round. So basically the group of mature stags at the North end of Raasay are predominantly Rona stags. Leaving after the Rut in spring, summering on Raasay then returning during the Rut. In the summer in early mornings or late evenings I come across them emerging from their hiding places.

Here is a typical place where a stag will live during the summer, a wee valley betwen two rock forming a flat area, quite dry and giving enough depth for Birch to easily establish. In my 23 years here some of these valleys have changed little, the dominant Birch eventually shading out the smaller ones, we have thinned quite a few of these areas for firewood. The hinds like them too and there is a bite for them, not so good to walk through with a rifle often snagging, but the deer do knock the lower branches off.

We are lucky here that we have a huge array of insects especially Dragonflies (of all colours and sizes) and here we have a typical pool forming at the base of the root plate of the windblown Birch. Nature in action on this flatter more wooded area which surprisingly, there are quite a few on Rona. Often where fields/runrigs wewre worked from a bygone age.

In fact from a helicopter it is obvious, like much of Scotland, on Rona, the hand of man has been busy.

Counting deer can notoriously be a difficult task as deer are moved during the operation but on Rona, the groups are hefted to their areas and familiar faces confirm this, so doing it over three days, even for a small Island is not really an issue.

Although it is handy when as I write this the local family group decide to feed after the heavy rain around the house.

On the right is Tufty, the pet, she is over three years old, stunted and feeds from the vegetable scraps we give her plus some sheep pencils, everyone likes an underdog, Lorraine especially!! She was cast out by her Mother, a striking hind that for some reason, either, she ran out of milk of she just abandoned her. But Tufty hangs about with the Mother still and her new last years calf (the Mother is pregnant again). Last years calf as you can see is as big as Tufty. Often Tufty will go off on her own and I will see her quite a distance away.

As you can see Tufty’s Mother is a good hind in perfect condition, this taken in March this year, not typical of those West Highland hinds with no access to low ground and forest. Such is the lack of understanding of the needs of our wonderful Red Deer. In some folks world all they can think of is killing them, so sad.

The deer have drifted off and it is symbolic of our relationship here with deer that living in a remote location you have all the time in the world to study the Red Deer on our doorstep. Much negativity is written about Scotland’s deer, as a Deer Manager and with other collegues in the ‘trade’ it is so frustrating to hear or read what is said. The myths, the misunderstood. Maybe those that make the most noise should really listen to those that have lived with deer for most of their lives.

Looking forward to being back out tomorrow after the rain and looking forward to continuing the count.