Glenmoriston

About six miles downstream from Dundreggan, and just a mile from where the River Moriston flows into Loch Ness, Glenmoriston narrows dramatically at a place called Levishie. The topography there steepens, and on the south side of the glen in particular the land slopes precipitously down to the river. This provides shade from the sun for most of the year, as well as some protection from the wind, and these factors, together with the constant spray of water from the gently tumbling water, create ideal conditions for a small patch of temperate rainforest to flourish alongside the river there. [Read more…] about A day in the Levishie rainforest

I was on my way to Dundreggan on Saturday, but as I’ve sometimes done before, I stopped beside the River Moriston, at a small patch of beautiful native woodland below the dam on the river, about a mile before reaching Dundreggan itself. This is a beautiful little area, and as has happened on previous occasions, I ended up spending the whole day there, so that I never made it to Dundreggan again.

[Read more…] about Another day I didn’t make it to Dundreggan!

This blog entry dates back to a memorable day in early July, when I spent several hours in a beautiful but tiny native woodland remnant downstream from the Dundreggan dam in Glen Moriston. The area is about a mile before the entrance to our Dundreggan Estate itself, and I sometimes stop there on my way to the estate, as it’s such a special area – I’ve written about it in a previous blog entry. [Read more…] about Egg thieves caught in the act!

I was on my way out to Dundreggan, and, as I sometimes do, I stopped at a special place beside the River Moriston, downstream of the dam, and about a mile before Dundreggan. The glen narrows at this point and the river passes through a series of cascades, with beautiful old Scots pines on the rocks on both sides. There’s also some very nice old oaks and aspens amongst the pines, and they are covered with mosses and ferns, because the topography and constant spray from the river create a temperate rainforest micro-climate there. [Read more…] about A special place beside the River Moriston

On Sunday, the day after I’d been up the Allt a Choire Bhuidhe burn on Dundreggan, I went across to the other (south) side of Glen Moriston, where the Allt Phocaichan burn flows down through a native pinewood remnant on Forestry Commission Scotland’s Inverwick site. I don’t know that area as well as Dundreggan, and there’s much of the length of the Allt Phocaichan that I haven’t explored yet, so this was a good chance to see it in its autumn finery. [Read more…] about A tale of two burns, part 2