A warning has been issued to hillwalkers to 'beware of ravens' while scaling a world-famous Scots mountain range.
It comes after several reported incidents last week of ravens robbing food from people’s backpacks high up in The Cuillin on the Isle of Skye.
Posting in Facebook group ‘All Things Cuillin’, mountain guide Adrian Trendall said that Bealach a Bhasteir “seems to be home to a particularly switched on pair of Ravens who have their pack opening skills 100% dialled in”.
Bealach a Bhasteir - a low point between Sgurr nan Gillean and Am Basteir - is a popular area for walkers to leave their backpacks while they ascend both of the Cuillin peaks.
A team of guides arrived at the Bealach a Bhasteir on Thursday of last week to find that two backpacks “had succumbed to the ravens”.
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“Tissues were spread around, zips had been opened and, presumably, any food had long disappeared”, Mr Trendall added.
The post adds that a fellow hillwalker also reported having their backpack “completely emptied” by ravens last week after leaving it in the same area to summit Sgurr nan Gillean, with a “rubbish bag ripped open and strewn everywhere” and first aid kit and snack bag pulled out”, as well as a rubber part of their camera detached.
They said they “knew it wasn’t people” as nothing was taken, before labelling the ravens, “impressive little sh**s”.
The walker also recalled a similar occurrence back in September involving “multiple” ravens that had managed to undo zips on two packs, peck gaping holes in side and hip belt pockets and remove contents, leaving “food wrappers, tissues and half eaten food” scattered over a wide area.
“Usually I’ll brief clients about the possibility of raven attacks on their packs”, they added.
They advised walkers heading for The Cuillin are being advised to minimise the risks of their packs being the subject of raven attacks. “These birds are clever and know that the presence of people means a potential source of food. Make sure all pockets and zips are well done up. Stack packs either closely together or on top of each other perhaps with rocks on top or at least protecting strategic areas vulnerable to attack”, they said.
It’s not the first time a warning about ‘Skye Cuillin ravens’ has been issued to walkers heading for The Cuillin.
In 2012, a worker at Glenbrittle Youth Hostel - located at the foot of The Cuillin - took to the Walkhighlands website to warn of “an increasing number of tales of ravens going through unattended rucksacks on the ridge and leaving people with no food or water”.
The post, which begins, “You may think this is out of an Alfred Hithcock movie but its not”, notes how the ravens can “unzip pockets, open lunchboxes and tear dry bags to get at the contents as well as damage water bottles”.
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The worker confirmed that people staying at the hostel and local guides had mentioned the issue with ravens in The Cuillin, and highlighted one instance where they saw a man “stagger in” to the hostel having made a detour “instead of back over to his tent at Loch Coruisk after a day on the ridge, due to all his supplies being eaten” by ravens.
Meanwhile, another post from 2012 on the UK Hillwalking website forum, titled ‘Cuillin burglars’, noted an incident where ravens had raided the backpacks of two hillwalkers and left their contents - including car keys - strewn around.
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