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Alan Watson Featherstone

ECOLOGIST, NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER AND INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER
FOUNDER OF THE AWARD-WINNING CHARITY TREES FOR LIFE

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Glen Strathfarrar

Autumn approaches in Strathfarrar

Glen Strathfarrar: 21 September 2018 8 Comments

Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) and birches (Betula pubescens) in the Caledonian Forest in Glen Strathfarrar in late August 2018, with heather (Calluna vulgaris) in flower, bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) and blaeberries (Vaccinium myrtillus) changing colour on the forest floor.

When I went out to Strathfarrar on 27th August it had been about 10 months since my last visit to the glen. Such a long gap between trips to this beautiful area of old Caledonian Forest is quite unusual for me, but that’s because I’ve been concentrating my photographic trips recently on Glen Affric. I’ve also been to Chile a couple of times in the intervening period, so the months had slipped by and I was quite overdue for a return to what is one of my favourite places in the Highlands. It was therefore with considerable anticipation of having an interesting day that I headed there on one of the last days of August, hoping to catch the end of summer in the glen. [Read more…] about Autumn approaches in Strathfarrar

Spring in Strathfarrar, part 2 – flowers galore

Glen Strathfarrar: 31 August 2017 8 Comments

Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) in flower amongst dog’s mercury (Mercurialis perennis) and a moss covered log beside the Farrar River in Glen Strathfarrar in mid-May.

A week after the day in Glen Strathfarrar that I wrote about in my last blog, I returned to the glen for another visit. Unlike the first trip, this time I went by myself and I stopped at different parts of the glen, to experience and photograph different sections of the forest there. In the week between these two visits, spring had advanced considerably, and just as I got to the entrance to the glen I saw a large expanse of bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) in flower, where none had been visible seven days earlier. [Read more…] about Spring in Strathfarrar, part 2 – flowers galore

Spring in Strathfarrar, part 1

Glen Strathfarrar: 31 July 2017 6 Comments

Scots pines and backlit birches with new leaves in Strathfarrar in early May.

During the first half of May I made a couple of trips out to Glen Strathfarrar, which contains one of my favourite remnants of the original Caledonian Forest. There’s extensive areas of old Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) that are relatively little-visited by people, and the glen also contains a good number of aspen trees (Populus tremula), as well as some less common species such as oak (Quercus petraea) and juniper (Juniperus communis). The glen has a locked gate across the road into it, and only 25 cars are allowed in at any one time, so it’s always a quiet place to go and spend a day in the forest. [Read more…] about Spring in Strathfarrar, part 1

Return to Inchvuilt Wood

Glen Strathfarrar: 30 September 2016 2 Comments

Heather (Calluna vulgaris) in flower, with bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) changing colour amongst Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) in Inchvuilt Wood in Glen Strathfarrar in early September.
Heather (Calluna vulgaris) in flower, with bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) changing colour amongst Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) in Inchvuilt Wood in Glen Strathfarrar in early September.

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

Spring delight in Strathfarrar

Glen Strathfarrar: 18 April 2015 12 Comments

Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) on a rock outcrop in Glen Strathfarrar.
Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) on a rock outcrop in Glen Strathfarrar.

Spring seemed to have finally arrived in the Highlands at the end of the first week in April, when I made my first visit to Glen Strathfarrar for several months. On the previous Sunday, the last one in March, when I’d been out in the western Highlands I’d experienced driving snow, sleet and hail all day, with the temperature never rising about 2 degrees C. all day long, and it had felt like the middle of winter still. [Read more…] about Spring delight in Strathfarrar

Autumn surprise in Strathfarrar

Glen Strathfarrar: 25 November 2014 5 Comments

Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) and an aspen tree (Populus tremula) in autumn in Glen Strathfarrar.
Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) and an aspen tree (Populus tremula) in autumn in Glen Strathfarrar.

On 25th October I went out with my partner Pupak for the day to Glen Strathfarrar, hoping to catch the leaves of the trees there at the peak of their autumn colours. We’d been out in the glen at the beginning of the month, when some of the aspens (Populus tremula) were already brilliant gold in colour, but most of the trees had still been quite green then. Now, 3 weeks later, I knew that would have changed, and I was expecting the glen to look quite different, with all the deciduous trees in their autumn finery. [Read more…] about Autumn surprise in Strathfarrar

Early autumn in Strathfarrar

Glen Strathfarrar: 20 October 2014 11 Comments

Blog edited on 27th October to add this video footage of the dance of the aspen leaves in autumn:

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Aspen trees (Populus tremula) and Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) in autumn above a gorge on the Farrar  River in Glen Strathfarrar.
Aspen trees (Populus tremula) and Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) in autumn above a gorge on the Farrar River in Glen Strathfarrar.

It had been several weeks since my last photo trip out to the Caledonian Forest, because of a recurrence of the sciatica in my leg, so on October 5th I was very pleased to get out again. I headed to Glen Strathfarrar with my partner Pupak, planning to have an easy day that wouldn’t stress my still-recovering leg too much. My intuition was that we’d find somewhere in the forest there, close to the road, where there would be plenty of interesting subjects for photography, and that indeed turned out to be the case.

[Read more…] about Early autumn in Strathfarrar

Summer day in Glen Strathfarrar

Glen Strathfarrar: 2 September 2014 1 Comment

Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) in the sunshine in  Glen Strathfarrar.
Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) in the sunshine in Glen Strathfarrar.

On the 20th of July I went out to Glen Strathfarrar for the day with my partner, Pupak, and an old friend, Sharon, who used to live at Findhorn, and did some volunteering with me in the very early days of Trees for Life, back in 1989. Neither of them had been in to Glen Strathfarrar before, so it was a chance to introduce both of them to the beauty of the area, and to the native pinewood remnants there.  It was some months since I’d been there myself as well, so it was a good opportunity to enjoy the fullness of summer in one of my favourite old pinewood areas. [Read more…] about Summer day in Glen Strathfarrar

Misty autumn day in Strathfarrar

Glen Strathfarrar: 4 December 2013 6 Comments

Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris), birches (Betula sp.) and aspen trees (Populus tremula) beside the Farrar River in autumn, in Glen Strathfarrar.
Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris), birches (Betula sp.) and aspen trees (Populus tremula) beside the Farrar River in autumn, in Glen Strathfarrar.

Updated on 14 January 2014 with video footage at the end of the blog.

On a Sunday in mid-October, after a beautiful, still and misty morning at Loch Achilty, I drove to Glen Strathfarrar, where I was hoping to catch the autumn colours of the trees in their prime. Strathfarrar contains one of the best remnants of the original Caledonian Forest, with a large expanse of native pinewood, which rivals that of the much better known Glen Affric. It is therefore something of a hidden secret in the Highlands, and it is at its best in autumn, when the leaves on the broadleaved trees change colour before being shed. [Read more…] about Misty autumn day in Strathfarrar

Beside the River Farrar

Glen Strathfarrar: 11 June 2013 2 Comments

Scots pines and a rock outcrop beside cascades on the Farrar River in Glen Strathfarrar.

In early April I made my first visit of the year to Glen Strathfarrar, one of my favourite native pinewood areas, and a glen which rivals Affric for its wildness and beauty. The road into the glen has a gate across it, which is closed to the public in the winter, only opening again at the beginning of April, so this was my first day out in the glen since last October, when I’d spent a day there photographing aspen trees (Populus tremula) at the peak of their autumn colours. [Read more…] about Beside the River Farrar

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    Ecologist, nature photographer and inspirational speaker. Founder of the award-winning charity Trees for Life that is restoring the Caledonian Forest.

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    alanwatsonfeat1 Alan Watson Featherstone @alanwatsonfeat1 ·
    16 May

    This is a red birch midget micro-moth (Phyllonorycter ulmifoliella) on a leaf of a silver birch (Betula pendula) on the Findhorn Hinterland today. The second photo includes part of my thumbnail & provides a sense of scale, showing how tiny this micro-moth is!

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    alanwatsonfeat1 Alan Watson Featherstone @alanwatsonfeat1 ·
    16 May

    Here's a mid-instar nymph of a red-legged shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes) with an alate or winged silver birch aphid (Euceraphis betulae) riding shotgun on it, on a twig of a silver birch (Betula pendula) on the Findhorn Hinterland today!

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    alanwatsonfeat1 Alan Watson Featherstone @alanwatsonfeat1 ·
    16 May

    Mid-instar nymph of a red-legged shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes) on a silver birch (Betula pendula) on the Findhorn Hinterland today.

    Reply on Twitter 1923495834399781073 Retweet on Twitter 1923495834399781073 1 Like on Twitter 1923495834399781073 3 Twitter 1923495834399781073
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