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Ring Ouzels foraging on Cairngorms snow patches

On the early morning of 14 June 2023, I was walking up the southeast facing slope to the South Top on Beinn a’ Bhuird on the Mar Lodge estate in the Cairngorms. By 08:30 hrs it was already hot and approaching 20oC, with a light southeasterly breeze. Just below the South Top in the southeast corrie was a remnant snow patch (at c. 1,130 m a.s.l.) and I rested below it and watched as a pair of adult Ring Ouzels caught several invertebrate prey items and fed them to at least two recently fledged nearby chicks. The adults sat on rocks immediately adjacent to the snow patch, and regularly flew down to catch what were appeared to be ‘Cranefly (Tipulids)’ which were being blown upslope on to the snow patch from the glen below. Presumably, the invertebrate prey was much more visible once it had blown on to the snow patch, and the adults were quick to repeatedly take advantage of this foraging opportunity.

I moved on, and was soon walking across the plateau towards the Munro summit at the North Top. After approximately 2 km I could hear a watched, an adult male Ring Ouzel flew down to another remnant snow patch high up in the corrie (at 1,150 m a.s.l.), caught a prey item, and flew off to a nearby boulder field to feed a youngster. On this second observation, I was too far away to see what the prey item was, but the adult chased something mobile on the snow patch before catching it, in a manner similar to the first pair I had observed near the South Top.

Not having seen this behaviour before in this species, I was intrigued to see the adult Ring Ouzels targeting their foraging on the last few snow patches. As this was the first time I was on this part of the plateau in 2023, I was not able to determine if the Ring Ouzels had nested high in the corries or had nested lower down and brought their recently fledged chicks up on to higher ground. Given climate change modelling suggesting reductions or complete loss in Scotland’s summer snow patches, I wonder how long such foraging opportunities will be available to breeding Ring Ouzels in the Cairngorms?

Dr Peter Cosgrove, Coilintra House,

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