FBD,
One of the main reasons I’ve always enjoyed a quick few holes on my own first thing in the morning or last thing at night, is the opportunity to see some interesting wildlife, especially birds. I’m certainly no twitcher, those guys are mental, more a Bad Birdwatcher, a phrase coined by Simon Barnes in his excellent book of the same name.
Anyway, I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve been standing over a putt and instead of thinking about holing I’ve been thinking “ooo, that sounds like a buzzard overhead!”
I’ve seen plenty of birds on courses, from the everyday tits (no sniggering at the back there!), blackbirds and swallows to greater spotted and green woodpeckers, skylarks, jays, mistle thrush, sparrowhawks, pegrine falcons, buzzards. There is also a great sand martin colony in an old quarry at Notts GC similar to the sand bank at Castle Stuart. But my favourite sightings have been a kestrel and an osprey:
A kestrel sitting in a small silver birch at Notts GC. Never seen one sitting in a tree before so close, but it was a really windy day and this kestrel had its eye on something. When they hover their heads stay perfectly still watching its prey as their wings and body move around. This kestrel was in a tree being buffeted by the wind so the branch and therefore its body was all over the place, but the head stayed perfectly still, as did I watching it, until the guys up on the green had to call me to run and catch up.
An osprey flying over Spey Valley golf club, complete with its prey. The fish was being held head facing forward to be more streamlined. Spectacular. Unfortunately I didn’t see a thing the next year when I played Boat of Garten, as it was too late in the year and chucking it down anyway!
And not to rub it in FBD, but I did see red cardinals when on holiday in Virginia. Beautiful!
Niall,
A good point about birds on logos. A few of my favourite club logos featuring birds are:
Green woodpecker at New Zealand
Arctic tern for Brora
You do see terns on the course, but they are more prominent on the beach. On many occasions when I’ve walked along the beach have I been dive bombed by the turns if I’m in the vicinity of their nest.
Red kite at Huntercombe
My understanding is that they are now so prominent in the area that the club changed their logo to this beautiful bird. I remember playing the second hole there and a kite was flying around at almost head height oblivious to us golfers. They really are massive and magnificent raptors!
Cheers,
James