I had been planning on going to Glen Strathfarrar this week-end, but there’s a gate across the access road, and when I got there I found that it was still closed for the winter, so I was unable to get in. I decided to go on to Glen Affric instead, and this change of plans gave me an opportunity to return to the gorge on the Abhainn Gleann nam Fiadh burn, where I’d been two weeks ago. Then, I’d explored the lower section of the gorge, but I had run out of daylight when I’d reached a large cascading waterfall. Now, with a whole day ahead of me, I could pick up where I left off, revisiting the waterfall and then continuing to explore the gorge further upstream.
I parked at the bridge that crosses the Abhainn Gleann nam Fiadh burn, just before it discharges into Loch Beinn a’Mheadhoin. It was an ideal day for forest photography as it was wind-still and there was a bright, evenly-lit overcast sky. It didn’t look like it would rain, although the vegetation was still wet from recent precipitation – either in the night or the previous day. The moisture on the plants makes everything more lush and vibrant, and intensifies the colours as well. Perhaps because of this, my eye was drawn immediately to a couple of birch trees with brightly-coloured trunks that were growing right beside the parking area.
The combination of white bark on one and orangish-pink bark on the other was quite dramatic, and I spent a while taking some photographs of them, as it’s rare to see such vivid colours on the birches here. I was also struck by the fact that I’d never noticed these two trees particularly before, although I park there from time to time in my visits to Glen Affric.
Perhaps it was because there was only one other car there this day, instead of the dozen or more than are often there, so that the trees were more visible now, instead of being obscured by the vehicles? However, it could also have been due to the combination of light and moisture this day, making the trunks more vibrant and brilliant than on other occasions.
Whatever the reason, the two birches provided a good start to my day, and I was touched by how much beauty there is in such simple things. As with human beauty, I suspect that it also has a lot do with the eye of the beholder, and I was certainly in an appreciative state of mind this day!
I headed up the track that parallels the burn upstream, following it up to the point where I’d left off in my explorations two weeks ago. Walking across the open ground that lies between the track and the watercourse itself, I began to spot a lot of Scots pine seedlings (Pinus sylvestris) as I approached the gorge. There’s a narrow ribbon of mature pines along the edge of the gorge itself, so these seedlings were obviously their progeny, having germinated from seeds blown there by the wind.
However, they all bore the signs of having been overgrazed by red deer (Cervus elaphus), and none of them were taller than the surrounding heather and other vegetation – as soon as they grow any higher, they become conspicuous and are an easy target for hungry deer, especially in the winter. It’s only the trees along the steep slopes of the gorge itself that have been able to grow in this area, because the deer can’t reach them easily there.
It was quite a sad sight to find hundreds of seedlings like this (I also saw some willow and rowan seedlings, similarly browsed), and none of them being able to grow successfully into new trees. I’ve suggested to Forestry Commission Scotland before that it would be good to protect this area and allow the forest to regenerate naturally, but so far they haven’t been prepared to go ahead with any fencing in this area.
Reaching the edge of the gorge itself, I savoured the view of the waterfall again, this time in much better light than on my previous visit. The water tumbled down a series of cascades, spreading out in a fan shape as it descends in this steep-sided chasm in the gorge. When I’d been there two weeks previously, in the fading light of twilight, I had thought there was no way down into the gorge, and although that was true right at the waterfall itself, this time I saw there was a way down to the bottom about 50 metres downstream.
Walking downstream along the top edge of the gorge, I passed a number of mature Scots pines growing together on the uppermost part of the steep slope on the side of the gorge. Their straight trunks indicated they had grown up together at the same time – there must have been favourable conditions at some time in the past, when they germinated from seed, that enabled them to grow successfully.
I had to descend carefully into the gorge, for although it was passable, it was quite steep and the ground was wet and slippery. Partway down I got a better view of the waterfall itself, although because of the direction of the gorge and the angle I was looking from, I could still only see a part of the falls. It felt like a different world to that outside the gorge, as here there was only the cascading water in the burn and the trees growing out of the steep slopes to be seen – it was a little pocket of true wilderness tucked away mostly out of sight from above.
Reaching the bottom, I stopped to have lunch beside the burn, downstream from the falls. There was a young willow tree next to where I sat – in the absence of leaves I was unable to tell if it was a goat willow (Salix caprea) or a grey willow (Salix cinerea). However as I looked at it, I noticed there were some fungi on its branches – the willow jelly fungi (Exidia recisa) that I had photographed elsewhere in Glen Affric at the end of November.
Because of posting that entry on my blog, Rick Jaspers, who lives in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, had been able to identify photographs of the same species he had taken over there, and he posted a comment on my blog with a link to his own photos. It’s nice to know that my words and images are being useful part way around the world! This fungus is one which shrivels up to almost nothing when conditions are very dry, but here in the gorge this day the fruiting bodies were fully hydrated.
From where I sat, I could see that there were some beautifully-shaped boulders in the burn, amongst the cascades downstream from the waterfall, so I spent quite a while appreciating and photographing them. I’ve noticed before, further upstream on this burn, that there are some beautiful rock formations – it has some of the most attractive-looking geology in the glen.
I could easily have spent the rest of the day in this section of the gorge, as there seemed to me to be endless beauty and interesting forms in the boulders and bedrock, all enhanced by the flowing water and the vibrancy of colour it brought to the stones. Turning up towards the main waterfall, it was still very difficult to get a good view of it, because of the steep sides of the gorge and the difficulty of getting close enough to see the whole falls clearly.
I stopped beside an alder tree (Alnus glutinosa) that had a wonderful patch of tree lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria) growing on it. This foliose lichen flourishes in very wet places, so it was no surprise to see it growing so well here.
While I’d been taking all these still photos, I’d also been shooting some video, with my camera, in part because of the positive comments I’ve had from people who appreciated the video clips I’ve put in other recent blogs. Flowing water makes a good subject for these short video pieces:
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Climbing back up out of the gorge, I walked a little bit further upstream, where I could get a different view down to the waterfall. Once again, it wasn’t possible to see the entirety of the falls from one place, because of the presence of more Scots pines, and also due to the steepness of the gorge and the position of some of the rocks, which always seemed to obscure part of the falls, no matter where I was looking from.
Nevertheless, I continued to appreciate the combination of pine trunks and branches, with a view through them to the foaming, turbulent water underneath, as it plunged down the waterfall on its way to the calmness of Loch Beinn a’Mheadhoin further downstream.
By this time it was getting late in the day, and I still wanted to see more of the gorge above the waterfall, so I headed upstream in the fading light.
There were a number of smaller cascades on the burn, although the gorge was not as deep or dramatic as it had been by the large waterfall. The pine trees seemed to crowd closer to the water there, and that combination enhanced the quality of wilderness that I experienced. The burn gave the impression of having cut a channel right through the heart of an ancient pinewood, whereas the reality was the other way round – the pine trees grew beside the beautiful watercourse that was already there, and that perhaps had been last shaped substantially during the recent Ice Age, when there were no trees in the area at all.
By this time I had literally run out of light, and I couldn’t take any more photographs. However I continued on upstream for another 300 metres or so in the twilight, to reach the edge of the Meallan exclosure, which we funded on Forestry Commission Scotland land in 1991, and planted with pines in 1992-93. I knew the burn from there upstream, so it was good to walk this lower section that I hadn’t seen before, although I’ll need another visit still to explore it in detail, when the light is better!
Rick Jaspers says
Spectacular post Alan! I especially liked the long exposures of water and rocks. The video was nice as well. It looks like a wonderful area filled with natural beauty.
Many thanks for the link to my post on Willow Jellies.
alan says
Hi Rick, Nice to hear from you again and thanks for your comments on the photos and the video.
It’s good to get the links going back and forth about the willow jelly fungi, as that should help other people to identify any of those fungi that they find and carry out searches for on the web.
Rob Mutch says
Very nice Alan. I especially enjoy your attention to often overlooked details of flora/fauna and geology such as the fungi, lichens, and rock. Rob :o)
Nicola says
Aptly titled! Absolutely gorge-ous follow up to the previous Glen Affric section, Alan .
It’s great to hear the waterfall on the video too. Thanks once more.
alan says
Hi Nicki, Thanks for your appreciative comments – I’m glad you’re continuing to enjoy the photos and videos.