Wildlife At Mortonhall G.C
Mortonhall Golf Course is a great place to encourage wildlife as it requires habitat that provides nesting sites, shelter and food and water. All of these are easy to supply on our course. It would be a very long process to tell you about all the different wildlife that we have here, but I’ve chosen a few of the more common, beautiful and interesting creatures that have chosen Mortonhall as their home .
What’s In Elf Loch
Grey Heron
Our lone grey heron spends most of it’s time motionless in the shallow waters of Elf Loch, waiting for it’sprey to come within striking distance. It’s diet is mostly made up of toads, frogs and insects but has been known to catch the occasional small rodent or more upsettingly the odd duckling which gets too close. The average life expectancy of a heron is about 5 years but this fellow has been with us for over 10, so the environment Elf loch delivers must keep him well fed and healthy.
Frogs and Toads
We have a huge amount of frogs and toads in the area, all of which enter a state of dormancy during the colder months to survive. They shelter in burrows and under logs and leaf litter until the temperature rises and then head towards water to reproduce, and lay their eggs. Look out for their spawn in the springtime.Frog spawn is found in clumps and toad spawn is laid in double row strings.
Great Crested Newt
We have some Great Crested Newts which are starting to become quite rare as populations have disappeared from many areas across the country due to habitat loss. Rarely seen in daylight and most of the time we find them hiding in our irrigation boxes. Our Great Crested Newts are protected under UK Law and it is an offence to kill or injure them, unfortunately the crows on the course don’t care too much for this law as they love tucking into them,
Coots and Moorhens
We have a family of each nearly all year round and the best way to tell them apart is that the Moorhen has a red beak and the Coots’ beak is white. The dense vegetation that Elf Loch provides is an ideal habitat for them to live as it’s perfect for nesting. They are extremely aggressive towards others, especially the Heron when it’s eyeing up one of their young. With their huge feet they looking very amusing when noisily pattering over the water towards the Heron.
Mallard Ducks
We have a couple of different families which usually come back and form pairs in October and November until the female lays her eggs around the start of Spring. This year we had at one point 10 ducklings, but sadly lost a few at the hands of crows and the heron. On a lighter note, after periods of heavy rainfall these ducks enjoy nothing more than to have a holiday on the 2nd fairway, where they seem to adore swimming about on the newly formed lakes, mocking the Greenstaff as they pass by. A quick reminder as I always forget, the male Mallard is the colourful one with the bottle green head.
Birds On The Course
Buzzards
Mortonhall has it’s very own birds of prey as a pair of Buzzards patrol the skies around the wooded areas of the 11th, 12th, 13th and 15th holes. They are fiercely territorial and are often seen displaying aggression to passing magpies, crows and sometimes other buzzards which have strayed into their area. They mainly hunt over open areas and their prey is usually small mammals but the odd pheasant has come under attack.
Pheasants
Males have a rich chestnut body, with dark green head and red face, the female pheasant a paler brown colour. These birds were introduced into the UK solely for the purpose of game hunting but the vast amount which have made Mortonhall their home can roam freely without the fear of being shot by individuals dressed in tweed. They are usually seen near woodland edges looking for grasses, leaves, roots and wild fruits. They are found all year round.
Woodpeckers
When you have a tricky a putt on the 16th green or a long iron into the 2nd and you get disturbed with a loud drumming noise, it will probably be one of our resident Woodpeckers that house in the woodland to the right of the 2nd fairway. The drumming sound is mainly a territorial call and the Woodpeckers choose a surface that resonates the best, such as a hollow tree. They also bore into the tree to feed on insects and invertebrates living under the bark and in the wood.
On The Course
Fox
From time to time you will find a fox on the golf course which is always a good thing as they are expert hunters of rabbits. The foxes usually live in underground dens that they have excavated and if you look carefully in the gorse bushes on right of the 16th fairway you will see some of their old dens. The foxes we have on the course seem to be quite curious, as there has been a number of occasions that we have had a little admirer following us around, watching when we are out working.
Roe Deer
Most mornings the Greenstaff have the privilege to watch these beautiful and elegant animals browsing around the course looking for food, mainly for tree shoots, berries and dry grass. Their breeding season occurs between July and August and the offspring (usually twins of opposite sexes) born May to June. The young fawns will remain with their mother through the winter. We only have one family of deer on the course this year but usually have one or two more, so sadly not as many sightings this year. The sight of the current young fawns larking about like children with their mother looking on is something that always makes me smile.
This feature wouldn’t be as entertaining (well I hope it is entertaining) without the help from one of our members; Graeme Starkhas kindly donated most of the photos to help me out. When he is not leading Mortonhall to Summer League glory he is out at the crack of dawn hitting balls and taking photos of various parts of our fine course.
Shaun Cunningham
November 2017