These blogs feature my writing and photographs from my experiences out in the Caledonian Forest and other natural ecosystems. Please subscribe to receive automatic notifications when new blog posts are added.
Alan’s blog
Alan’s blog
An unexpected sight in an aspen tree
Each autumn I usually spend a couple of nights in Glen Affric, so that I can experience the early mornings there. At that time of year the days are often completely wind-still and the mornings in particular are characterised by mirror-perfect reflections in the lochs and the vibrant autumnal colours of the leaves on the trees. Overnight mist often lingers for several hours after sunrise, making it the most photogenic and memorable time of the year to be in the Caledonian Forest. [Read more…] about An unexpected sight in an aspen tree
Seven year wait for a fungus
On 6th November 2009, while I was at Dundreggan, I discovered a large fungus fruiting at the base of an oak tree (Quercus petraea) that I’d never seen before. Situated right at the base of the tree, where the trunk emerges from the ground, it was very large for a fungus, and it had quite a complex shape, with a considerable number of overlapping and interconnected caps. As always when I find something new, I got quite excited and spent a while with the fungus, studying it and photographing it from different angles. [Read more…] about Seven year wait for a fungus
A wonder-full day at Dundreggan, part 2
The first part of this blog focussed almost entirely on the many insects I saw feeding on some ragwort plants (Senecio jacobaea) at Dundreggan in the middle of September. After lunch that day I continued walking in the birchwood near the lodge, and found a lot of other subjects of interest, so that I didn’t get very far at all during the course of the afternoon. I find this increasingly to the case – I cover less and less distance when I’m out in Nature, as I see more and more details in even small areas, often that I wasn’t aware of at all in times gone by. [Read more…] about A wonder-full day at Dundreggan, part 2
A wonder-full day at Dundreggan, part 1
September is a month of transition in the Caledonian Forest, with summer coming towards an end, and the first signs of autumn appearing as the bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) begins to change colour. However, there’s still a lot of life visible at this time of year, and so I was glad to have the opportunity of spending a Saturday at Dundreggan in the middle of the month purely for photography. I had some thoughts about going to one of the more distant parts of the estate, but as it transpired, I didn’t get further than about a 10 minute walk from the lodge, because there was so much of interest nearby! [Read more…] about A wonder-full day at Dundreggan, part 1
Return to Inchvuilt Wood
The end of August and early September is the peak time for common heather (Calluna vulgaris) to be flowering in the Highlands, and I usually aim to do a couple of days of photography of this seasonal phenomenon at different locations each year. This summer I decided to make a return visit to the Inchvuilt Wood in Glen Strathfarrar, which I’d first been to in 2012, but hadn’t gone back to since then. So it was that I set off there on the first Sunday in September, hoping to find the heather at its peak of blossom… [Read more…] about Return to Inchvuilt Wood
A day in Glasdrum Wood, Part 2
This is the follow up to my previous blog, about my visit to Glasdrum Wood National Nature Reserve in Argyll at the end of July. Rather than make one very long blog, I decided to split it into two, in the interest of making it more readable, and also for my own ease of posting blogs relatively regularly. The amount of work involved in creating each blog is obviously proportional to the length of the blog, and my aim is to get two blogs posted each month, so dividing my day at Glasdrum between two has enabled me to keep to that schedule. [Read more…] about A day in Glasdrum Wood, Part 2
A day in Glasdrum Wood, part 1
For quite a few years I’d been wanting to visit Glasdrum Wood, a special area of temperate rainforest that is protected as a National Nature Reserve (NNR) on the west coast of Scotland, and at the end of July I finally made a visit there. Situated about midway between Fort William and Oban, on the north shore of Loch Creran, the wood is about 3 hours by car from my home so I set off at 6 am to ensure I had enough time to explore the woodland. [Read more…] about A day in Glasdrum Wood, part 1
Floral attraction in Glen Affric
July is one of my favourite months of the year, as it is the peak time for a lot of activity in nature – the blossoming of many summer flowers, their pollination by a host of insects and the dispersal of young birds and mammals from their parents, to name some of the main events. In the middle of the month I spent a day in Glen Affric, visiting various areas of forest there, but the highlight of this trip was the time I spent with a few hogweed plants (Heracleum sphondylium) that were flowering beside the road, between Badger Falls and Dog Falls. [Read more…] about Floral attraction in Glen Affric
Birth and death on a birch tree
On Saturday 9th July I spent some time in my garden looking at an aspen tree (Populus tremula) I planted there about 10 years ago. As I was doing so, I noticed little spots of liquid on some of the leaves that I recognised as being the honeydew that is secreted by aphids when they feed on the tree’s sap. This prompted me to start looking at the leaves higher up on the tree, in search of the aphids themselves. Almost immediately, I found some large aphids on a few of the aspen’s leaves, but they didn’t look like the aphid species that I’m familiar with that feed on aspen. [Read more…] about Birth and death on a birch tree
A day at Loch an Eilein
Loch an Eilein was a slightly unusual destination for one of my photographic trips, as I usually go to the glens west of Loch Ness, where Trees for Life carries out most of its forest restoration work. However, my partner’s son was staying with us for a few days in the middle of June, and he and his mother were keen to visit the Cairngorms, to climb one of the peaks there. I was more interested in the native forest than the high peaks (which I’ve climbed on various occasions in the past) so we traveled together to the National Park, and they dropped me off at Loch an Eilein before going on to climb Cairngorm Mountain and hiking on the summit plateau. [Read more…] about A day at Loch an Eilein