Today we were heading out down Glen Strathconnon. Our chances of seeing any serious wildlife didn’t seem that good because of the gusting wind and intermittent (heavy!) showers.
Our first stop was in a little churchyard where the fungi group had apparently seen some ‘spectacular’ pink waxcaps. I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed by these – they just looked like small reddish mushrooms to me (I could have stepped on several without noticing). The churchyard was very pretty though – especially as the sun was out.

We carried on up the glen and went to look for eagles. There are four pairs of breeding golden eagles in Strathconnon and unusually, three out of the four had managed to fledge two chicks this year. A gruesome fact is that typically, eagles lay two eggs, and the first chick, which is bigger and stronger, generally eats its weaker sibling the first time the going gets tough. It is indicative of what a good year for wildlife it has been that obviously the going never did get that tough. We didn’t see any eagles and got caught in a squall which rapidly half drenched us.
Turning to come back, we stopped at the location where one of the nests had been that year. Instantly, the ranger recognized the call of two juvenile eagles, and we were able to spot them with the scope, perched on a branch and looking somewhat miserable in the rain. Almost immediately, an adult appeared, circled a while and then landed next to the yearlings. As though this was not enough, when we were just turning to go, R spotted another adult eagle, who must have been the fourth member of the family (Daddy perhaps?). He swooped over several times and we got to see his immense wingspan and appreciate what people mean when they say that a golden eagle is ‘as big as a barn door’.

After lunch we briefly went into Strathpeffer. I stayed here for a week over twenty years ago and it still looks very gentile and well-groomed. The place where I sampled the disgusting spa water seems to have been turned into a shop however – and I can’t say I am sorry about that.
We briefly stopped at a small loch where we saw two pairs of rare Slovonian Grebes (only forty breeding pairs in UK) and then pushed on to our final destination of the day. This was the Rhogie Falls which are a famous salmon leap. I was somewhat disillusioned to discover that when you see pictures of salmon attempting to jump up seemingly impossible waterfalls – that in a number of cases these are actually impossible. Apparently sometimes eggs are taken from hen salmon and ‘planted’ in rivers in order to increase salmon breeding populations. If these rivers contain huge impassable waterfalls, the salmon will still return to the river and try to climb back up them. Somehow I find this sad, although apparently after a while they do give up and spawn lower down the river.
Anyway, we had a lovely walk down to the waterfalls and did indeed see the salmon attempting to jump up them (ignoring the fish ladder to one side which would have made for an easy climb). This was yet another first for me.

Then it was back to Aigas for one final dinner of haggis followed by roast lamb and raspberry compote.
Over coffee we said goodbye to the many friends we have made this week. Hopefully one day we will see them at Aigas again, or if they are ever on the banks of the Donich, they will meet with a warm welcome from R and myself.

Nigg was not a great success. By the time we arrived the wind had seriously got up and when we opened the window to use the scope, the door immediately blew open. The latch seemed to be defective as it just would not stay closed, and in the end R had to hold it closed by hanging on to the handle. In addition, all the birds seemed to have decided to seek shelter somewhere else and there were few to be seen.

By this time, the need for toilets had become urgent in some of our party (myself I am a fan of a good bush). We shot off to find some, but the only potential we could find was a local Lidl. Goodness knows what they must have thought of a mini-bus turning up and eight people queuing up to use their toilets.
Anyway – after that excitement we went on to Fleet where things greatly improved. The wind had dropped a bit, and in any case it was more sheltered, so we saw a wide variety of water birds and a few deer. The big highlight, however, was seeing a juvenile osprey sitting in a tree. This is a rarity so late in the year and a thrill for R and me who had never seen one before.
After watching it for quite a while, we went back through Dornoch (very pretty and quaint) and picked up coffee, then on through Golspie (also pretty and quaint) out to the beach where we went for a walk. We didn’t see anything stunning on this, but it was lovely and peaceful with the sun shining now, and in the way of these east coast beaches, not a soul to be seen (partially because it is generally too damn cold). I gathered some shells and we looked at a few birds and some seals fishing in the river’s mouth. More than anything else the area with its pine trees, sand dunes and clear beach reminded me of North Norfolk.

Back to Aigas for tea. R finally succumbed to his sad addiction and spent an hour by the fireside in the common room with the (not very nippy) satellite connection all to himself.
Dinner was stilton and broccoli soup (R actually ate this!), venison (I actually ate this!) with red cabbage and mashed potatoes, dark chocolate mousse with raspberries.
After dinner, we went up to the hide for a go at seeing pine martens and badgers. This time we were successful (the lochside hide seems to be much better than the quarry hide where we went the other night at the moment). When we arrived there at 8pm there was a badger already in evidence. The rangers had hidden peanuts in three holes in a log and put stones over the top of them. One by one he pushed them off and consumed the nuts with great relish. I’d never realized from our badgers how noisy at eating they are. After about 15 minutes with the nuts he trundled off and it was instructive to see how badgers search for food – everything was driven by his ever-questing nose. We waited for another ten minutes and then a pine marten appeared – he was a young one (only about two thirds of the size of the one we see in our garden) and very nervous. He climbed to the top of one of the posts where nuts were concealed and had a good munch, always looking about him (he was obviously more vision oriented than the badgers). After a few minutes he was spooked by something and vanished off into the woods. But a good end to a good day.

After a quick briefing in the library with its ‘whole wall’ map of the area (I would like to do one of these at home) we headed out. Today our ranger was Warwick Lister-Kaye (the son of the famous naturalist Sir John Lister-Kaye who runs Aigas) and he was really informative on the geology, history and ecology of the area during the whole of the drive (especially impressive as the microphone in the bus didn’t work properly and he was having to talk really loudly).

First stop was for loos (they always do enough stops for this which is good because there are few things worse than sitting with your legs crossed all the time when you never know if there will be a stop) at a beautiful river gorge where we saw a dipper. Then we headed across the great MAMBO (miles and miles of bugger all) and we learned about what had caused the ‘wet desert’ in parts of the Highlands which I was loosely aware of but didn’t know about in detail. We crossed the geological divide into the coastal area and stopped for pictures of some mountains and ravens and buzzards circling overhead.

Our first stop at the coast was at Gruinard island – which is better known as ‘Anthrax Isle’. During the Second World War an unfortunately flock of innocent sheep were bombed with anthrax spores and (inevitably) died. Having proved their point, the island had to be left alone for 50 years, doused in formaldehyde and then razed before it was safe to visit again (which it is now). This story tells you a lot of what you need to know about humanity.

A little further round the bay we suddenly stopped as Warwick had seen an otter swimming ashore. He quickly set the scope up and we watched it for ages. First it ate the fish it had brought with it, then it had a wash, a scratch and a roll about. Finally it curled up and went to sleep on a rock. This was actually one of the big strengths of this type of holiday. R and I have always been huge fans of just doing our own exploring, but we would not have seen this without guidance from someone who knew the area (the same goes for eagles and other things we saw). It was also the first sighting I have had of an otter really close up – I’ve seen them plenty of times in Shetland, but at the most in the middle distance. I think we may have to buy ourselves a scope when we get back.

We ate lunch near the beach at Mellan Ugrigall (hope I have spelled this correctly as I can’t find it on the map – apparently just means ‘Ugrigall’s field’). There were some strange animal shapes made out of stones which someone had obviously taken trouble with. At this point we saw our first golden eagle – a juvenile perched in a tree in the distance.

We stopped for tea at Loch Maree and discovered why it is the world capital for midgies – although they are long gone elsewhere, here they were still out in force and we had to beat a hasty retreat. On the way home we saw large numbers of red deer preparing for their autumn rut.

We arrived back after 6pm pretty exhausted. Dinner was mushroom soup (you could see some people getting a bit worried in case this was a contribution to the catering by the fungi group from what they had collected that day – but it apparently wasn’t), chicken with olives, capers and prunes (unusual but quite good) and cheesecake. There was a presentation after dinner about British fungi, but I was too tired to go it and went to bed early, ready for another busy day.

I had been going to go in to the beaver hide, but getting close to it I noticed that there were people already in there, and as I didn’t want to disturb them, I walked up to the flat top rock instead, and stood up there for ten minutes or so, watching one of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever seen.

We had been told that there were ‘workshops’ in the morning and R had cried off because I think he imagined something PowerPoint related. When he discovered it was pond dipping, he changed his mind, and we spent a happy hour looking at dragonfly larvae and caddis flies (it all rather reminded me of ‘The Water Babies’ – a really strange book which I enjoyed as a child without understanding at all).
We then went for a walk through an old oak woodland to see a badger sett. On the way back I am ashamed to admit that I was too busy talking about cats with one of our party to notice a sheep stranded on its back – which some of the others saw and helped to its feet. In the afternoon, R and I walked up to the Iron Age fort at the top of the estate. The views over the area were quite sensational.

We had intended to walk further up into the hills, but it was terribly wet and marshy with no real path so we abandoned the attempt. On the way back down we saw a lovely big hairy caterpillar, some beautiful iridescent beetles, and a small brown toad no bigger than my thumb nail who wasn’t prepared to hang around to have his picture taken.

We then just chilled out until dinner which was tomato soup, roast pork with potatoes dauphinoise and butterscotch ice cream. By then it had started to pour with rain (first time this week), so after an abortive attempt to do a night walk where all the wildlife had decided to take shelter and go to sleep, we decided to join them in an early night.

We had a packed lunch at another RSPB sanctuary where we saw huge numbers of ducks, gulls and herons. I should have mentioned this earlier – but Aigas have a good way of doing packed lunches. Basically the night before they tell you what the main ingredient in the next day’s sandwiches will be (e.g. tuna or cheese) and give you a chance to choose something else if you don’t like it. Then on the morning, they lay the sandwiches and a load of other stuff like packets of crisps, cheese, fruit, crackers, chocolate, biscuits etc out on the table in the common room and you pack your own brown paper bag with the things you like. This avoids a lot of waste (for example I always seem to get a chocolate biscuit which I am not fond of in packed lunches, equally for R and bananas), plus ensures you get what you like.

We then went on for the highlight of the day which was the dolphin watching boat trip from Cromarty. The boat company was Eco-Ventures and they use a fast rubber motor boat which takes up to 12 people. First they gave us a complete set of waterproofs to wear. By the time I had put these over the extra layers I was already wearing because I knew how cold it gets on boats, I looked like the Michelin man (or as someone else put it a blue Teletubby with piles). R and I sat right at the front of the boat on a seat rather like a saddle with one leg to either side and a handle at the front, and off we went at speed. We stopped to look at Cromarty waterfront, the site of a wreck, and (most interestingly) a half-demolished oil rig which was being ‘parked’ in the bay by its owner during a dispute, and had become the nesting place for gulls, shags, and a peregrine falcon pursuing pigeons. Then we headed for the Moray Firth and the cetaceans.

First we met with a pod of harbour porpoise which are like a ‘miniature dolphin’. These aren’t often seen in the Moray Firth for the rather sad reason that the local dolphins (which are bigger and nastier than most bottlenose dolphins – forget Flipper here) attack and kill them. Then a little later on we met with the first of several pods of dolphin – up to six individuals in each and several juveniles which were a lighter colour and stuck closely to their mother. We saw them fishing, jumping clean out of the water, and at one point they came in so close that I could literally have reached over the side and touched them. Quite thrilling, and on the way back we had hot chocolate and shortbread which we needed because as suspected it was damn cold.
By the time we got back to Aigas I was feeling a bit jaded from lack of exercise, plus not to put too fine a point on it, had a bit of a sore backside from the ‘ride ‘em cowboy’ seat in the boat, so I went for a walk round the loch on my own before dinner.

Walking past the beaver lodge, I heard a mysterious splosh and saw a large ring in the water which could have been a fleeing beaver, but although I stood silently for ten minutes or so, he didn’t return. I watched a pair of wrens hunting insects around the base of a tree and then walked back past the field holding a number of domesticated guinea fowl (discovering as I did so that disturbed guinea fowl make a noise like someone sawing concrete).
Dinner was spinach soup, duck in mango and blackcurrant sauce and chocolate and brandy ice cream. None I must admit entirely to my taste or what I would have chosen in a restaurant – so it must be R bribing the chef by way of revenge as I made all those remarks about him being a fussy eater.
We then went out for our ranger led visit to a hide. Unfortunately, this was a complete failure. Although there had been badgers visiting every night in the previous week, and pine martens most nights, on our night we saw nothing apart from bats and insects. The next day Sir John Lister-Kaye informed us that the reason for this was probably that when it rains for the first time after a long dry period, badgers go nuts looking for earthworms, and don’t have their normal interest in peanuts. Who knew (me now)…. Still, plenty more time for people to see badgers and marten…

Back at 10pm and off to bed immediately so can get up early next day for another try at the beavers – R expresses a desire not to join me which I will scrupulously respect.

They’d said we didn’t have much chance of seeing beavers and right enough – this morning we didn’t. However it was lovely and peaceful sitting looking over the loch, with the bats flitting backward and forward catching moths, and occasionally scrabbling over the hide roof. We walked back round the loch listening to the bird song while the sun properly came up. Then we had breakfast in the grand hall – a selection of cereals, fruit, porridge and toast. Our fellow guests are largely British of various persuasions (including quite a few Scots) and it was interesting to see that quite a few people ate porridge, but no one including the natives seemed to put salt on it!

We then had an interesting presentation from one of the rangers about the beaver reintroduction project in Scotland and saw a stuffed beaver who turned out to be ‘Boris’ the erstwhile patriarch of the Aigas beaver clan who had been found dead the previous year and was now having a useful afterlife displaying himself to guests.

Afterwards we had a ranger led walk round the whole estate and were shown how to identify beaver lodges and beaver felled trees (look as though they had been pencils sharpened old style with a knife by a not-particularly-skilled operator). We saw newts and a slow worm, together with a wide variety of bird life.
Lunch was a buffet with potato and onion soup followed by quiche and salad (R even ate this!).

In the afternoon we went out in a mini-bus to Glen Strathfarron. It was interesting to see the scenery turn from the ‘lowland’ hills and fields of the Black Isle into highland crags and moors within a few miles. By now the sun was shining and the view stupendous and we stopped by the river to see what we could observe.

The ranger put up a 60* magnification scope, and we were able to observe, first a wild goat on a mountainside so far away he could hardly be observed by the naked eye, and secondly, two circling golden eagles. These were specks unenhanced, but with the binoculars we could see they were big birds, and with the scope, the glint of gold at their necks. These were only the second golden eagles I have seen in my life (the first being one sitting on a fencepost near Wick over thirty years previously).
We then went for a walk in the relict Caledonia forest nearby – for us a huge contrast to the managed forestry plantations near us, far more open and less of a monoculture, for both reasons encouraging a greater variety of supported species.

Dinner was tomato and basil soup, followed by beef casseroled in red kite ale (I did a double take reading this as for a moment I thought we were getting red kite to eat!) and rhubarb and ginger crumble.
We were all getting tired by now and R wimped out of the last event of the day which was a presentation about the geography of the Highlands and the impact it has had on their wildlife. Being me I couldn’t bring myself to miss something which might be good (which it was) so had a big cup of coffee while watching the presentation, then came back to the cabin and tumbled into bed exhausted.

Sure enough the A82 was jammed with boats, cyclists, camper vans with canoes on top and many drivers who (frankly) aren’t competent to be on the roads. But aside from that, what a beautiful beautiful journey it was. First the Rest and be Thankful, Loch Long, Loch Lomond, and up to Crianlarich . When we got there, R saw a plume of smoke and we realised it was a steam engine and got out to take a look. Actually it was two steam engines pulling double headed the famous ‘Jacobite’ train between Glasgow and Mallaig. We took some pictures as I am very fond of steam engines.

Then we continued over Ranoch Moor to the high peaks of Glencoe and the Nevis range. I had actually never driven this way before today, although I have walked through the area doing the West Highland Way (twice). Near Glencoe we stopped for more photos (which don’t really do it justice).

We then headed on north, this time up the side of Loch Ness. The traffic was even more hideous here, with no less than six buses in the park at Urquart Castle.

We finally arrived in Beauly more or less on the money at 2:50pm, picked up V and headed for Aigas which is only about five miles further on. This area is a bit of an anomaly as part of the Highlands – because to me it doesn’t quite look the part. There are lovely rolling hills and green fields dotted with cows – in fact way less ‘Highlandish’ than Argyll, for all we are much further south.

The Aigas field centre is in an old Victorian baronial house which had fallen on hard times and was about to be demolished when it was rescued by the great naturalist John Lister-Kaye (author of ‘Song of the Rolling Earth’ and others) and turned into a centre for nature study, ecology and wildlife watching. Small groups of people go on either general ‘wildlife weeks’ or specialist studies such as Fungi, nature writing, photography etc. Meals and communal activities take place in the big house and accommodation is in separate wooden lodge houses a few hundred yards away.

Our lodge was lovely. Clean warm and comfortable with a large lounge and two separate private areas, each with a small kitchen and bedroom with en-suite bathroom. Because there were three of us, we had the whole lodge to ourselves. We went up to the main house for tea, scones and shortbread. In a very nice touch – V who is a vegan found that a special cake had been made for her and labelled with her name. We also got to meet the rest of the people staying the week – a pretty varied bunch from all over the country, though seemingly only two people from abroad (a couple from Canada who had originated from Scotland). We had an orientation to the events of the week to come, given by Sir John’s son Warwick Lister-Kaye.

Basically each day would have its own Ranger led activity during the day (for example going out in a boat for whale watching), plus there are lots of different hides and walks around the grounds where you can get the opportunity to observe some of the iconic wildlife.

After a drink in the common room we had dinner in the Grand Baronial hall, watched over by family portraits and the melancholic view of stuffed deer heads (I have to say I hate this Highland practice). We had pea and mint soup, salmon with hollandaise sauce (V had mushroom rissoles), and gooseberry fool. All freshly prepared and very good.

As it was our first night we picked up our rented high performance binoculars and went back to our lodge. Tomorrow we will get up at dawn and see if we can see a beaver down at the loch.

This time we are going to the Aigas Field Centre near Inverness for a week. There will be lots of opportunity to see wildlife – but key from my point of view will be to learn more from the rangers there, so we can better appreciate and identify what we have locally. I’m completely self-taught about natural history from books I have read and delvings on the Internet, so will be great to hear more about (for example), how to identify tracks and scat, how to best view wildlife without scaring it off etc. I also hope we will get to see some of the things we don’t have here – golden eagles and beaver come to mind.

Having said all this – we booked the holiday just after we moved here and before we knew what a gem we had on the Donich, so I hope this will not be too much taking coals to Newcastle.

Anyway – I will get photos and try to post them up while we are away but I have a feeling that Internet access is going to be very limited. I think it is satellite and (from bitter experience) this can be quite slow even on our connection – so goodness knows what it will be like with about 20 people trying to attach to it.

So a nice image of Loch Goil attached to this post as I don’t have one of Aigas yet….