Red kite activist up for accolade
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A RED kite activist famed for his pioneering fieldwork and who helped raise the alarm during 2014’s bird poisoning incident on the Black Isle is up for a prestigious conservation award.
Professional bird watcher Brian Etheridge is up against the River Moriston’s Pearls in Peril project – which attaches pearl mussel larvae to the gills of salmon – in the RSPB’s Nature of Scotland Awards.
The 70-year-old, who spent 29 years with the charity after retiring from the RAF, was delighted.
"I’m really honoured," he said. "But I can think of lots of people who have done good things for wildlife."
The former aircraft engineer who lives in Avoch with wife Rita joined the RSPB after retiring from the services, fulfilling a life-long ambition to work in conservation.
His work between 1996 and last year involved monitoring the red kite population, climbing up to nests, tagging young, tracking nesting pairs and liaising with landowners.
Being shown the very first red kite nesting on the Rosehaugh Estate after they were reintroduced to the Highlands was among his many highlights.
"It was the very first one to breed in the Highlands for 100 years," he said. "That was right at the beginning of the red kite re-introduction. I felt very privileged."
Harsh times were lying ahead, however, and Mr Etheridge had an unenviable ringside seat for the mass poisoning of 16 red kites on the Black Isle in 2014.
"That was the worst time," he said. "I just felt that all my efforts over the previous years were almost in an instant reduced to rubble."
On the positive side, he said there was now more pressure on the Scottish Government to make changes to give greater protection to wildlife.
Competing in the same category is the River Moriston’s Pearls in Peril project led by Iain Sime from SNH’s eco-systems and biodiversity unit and partnered by the Ness and Beauly Fisheries Trust.
Scientists used a technique to enable pearl mussel larvae to attach to fish gills, replicating their natural life cycle in the wild. (Image above).
The larvae later dropped off where they settled onto the river bed. Given the right conditions, these juveniles could survive into adulthood. The work was carried out after it was found that few mussels were left in the river’s upper reaches.
The winners will be revealed on November 23.
