Dundreggan

We’ve been having some unseasonably mild weather recently, and, at Findhorn where I live, snowdrops and crocuses have been in flower for a while and catkins have unfurled on hazel trees. I was going to Dundreggan for the day on Saturday, and I wondered if there would be any signs of spring there, as things are usually a week or more later in Glen Moriston, because of the colder climate in the mountains of the western Highlands. [Read more…] about The first signs of spring

On my previous visit to Dundreggan there had been a lot of beautiful hoar frost on the vegetation. The last few days had been similarly very cold, with sub-zero temperatures, but it had got warmer over night, with quite a lot of rain falling, so I was expecting a wet day rather than a frosty one this time. Arriving in Glen Moriston, there was low mist drifting across the hillsides on the south of the valley, giving a very atmospheric appearance to the landscape. [Read more…] about A rainy winter’s day at Dundreggan

On Sunday it was a clear, cold and sunny morning when I headed out to Dundreggan, with the first rays of sunshine turning the snow-covered peak of Ben Wyvis (to the northwest) pink, as I left Forres on the road to Inverness. It was going to be my first day out in the forest after the Christmas and New Year break, and the low temperature (-4 degrees C at Findhorn) and abundant frost seemed like Nature’s heralds for what promised to be a beautiful day. [Read more…] about A frosty day at Dundreggan

The weather had been getting colder for a few days, and with snow forecast for the week-end, I headed out to Dundreggan, hoping to catch my first experience of a white world this winter. Saturday had been very windy so I’d opted to go out on Sunday, and there was intermittent snow falling en route, and I could see that the high ground was white, so I was optimistic there would be some fresh snow when I arrived at Dundreggan. [Read more…] about The first snow of winter

This blog entry actually dates back to the 19th of September, when I spent a day at Dundreggan, photographing the huge abundance and large diversity of fungi fruiting there then. In particular, I spent quite a long time with a specific group of one species, taking about 50 photographs of them. However, it is only recently that I’ve had the species identified as being the common cavalier (Melanoleuca polioleuca), and so I’m taking the opportunity of writing up this blog about it now. [Read more…] about Portrait of a fungus

It was my first day out at Dundreggan for 2 or 3 weeks, and I had planned to go up to look at the new fence that is being erected in the Allt Fearna area, for planting with native trees during the next 3 years. However, the key for the access gate on the hydro road that leads up near that area wasn’t where I had expected it to be, so I ended up spending the time on the low ground instead, not far from Dundreggan Lodge.   [Read more…] about Miniature worlds on Dundreggan

I usually aim to get out for a week-end in the forest in late October each year, to make the most of the autumn colours of the trees when they’re at their peak. So, last week-end I stayed at Dundreggan, and on the Saturday I decided to go up the Allt a Choire Bhuidhe burn, which rises between the peaks of Binnilidh Bheag and Binnilidh Mhor and flows down to a spectacularly-cascading waterfall on the new all-ability footpath we’ve created on the Estate.  [Read more…] about A tale of two burns, part 1

It was another Sunday to head out into the forest, and like last week, I was seeking some good displays of autumn colours – this time I was going back to Dundreggan. However, as it turned out, like the previous Sunday, it was very windy, which I was slightly dismayed about, not only because of the difficulties it poses for photography, but also because it meant that the leaves would be blown off the trees more quickly than they otherwise would. [Read more…] about A windy day at Dundreggan

In the last 10 days I’ve been out twice to Dundreggan, meeting up with some specialist biodiversity surveyors from the British Myriapod and Isopod Group. That rather cumbersome title refers to centipedes and millipedes (Myriapods) and woodlice and pill bugs (Isopods), and the group had chosen to spend a week at Dundreggan, contributing to our biodiversity surveys of the estate, for their annual field trip. [Read more…] about Fabulous fungi and slug-fest at Dundreggan!