Glen Affric

In late March, before the clocks went forward by an hour, and when it was still getting dark quite early, I had a relatively short day out in Glen Affric. Because of this, I decided not to go into the glen proper, but rather to spend the time below Badger Falls, where the Affric River descends rapidly on its way to join the upper reaches of the River Glass. I’ve been to Badger Falls many times over the years, most recently on the 2nd of January this year, but I’ve never explored the river below the falls themselves. [Read more…] about Below Badger Falls

In the middle of March I made another visit to the Abhainn Gleann nam Fiadh burn in Glen Affric. This is the largest of the tributary burns that feed into the main lochs and river system in Glen Affric, and I’ve written a couple of blogs about it last year, in September and February. On each of those occasions I’d spent the day in some relatively small sections of the burn, working upstream from where it discharges into Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin, but there’s still lots more to explore, so this day was an opportunity to photograph another section. [Read more…] about Back to the Abhainn Gleann nam Fiadh burn

When I headed out to Glen Affric on 2nd February, it was for my first day out in the Caledonian Forest in a month, as I’d been away for 3 weeks in January. Two of those weeks were in Thailand, a very different environment and climate entirely to the Highlands in winter, but I’d returned from that trip refreshed, revitalised and renewed, and I was looking forward to reconnecting with one of my favourite places again. [Read more…] about The ephemeral beauty of ice

On the 2nd of January I spent another day out in the Caledonian Forest, but the day was a complete contrast to my trip on Boxing Day to the pinewood on the south shore of Loch Mullardoch in Glen Cannich. That had been a cold but clear and cloudless day, whereas this one was an overcast and damp day. Although it was warmer, with temperatures ranging around 10 degrees all day, the dull weather, combined with the limited daylight at this time of year, prompted me to choose an area which was easier and quicker to access. [Read more…] about Rainy day at Badger Falls

With the sun having burned off the morning fog, Glen Affric was transformed on this October day, as the sunshine illuminated the autumn colours of the birch trees and Loch Beinn a’Mheadhoin reflected the blue sky in its still waters. Autumn is when the Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) stand out the most from the birches, with the blue-ish green of their foliage contrasting with the yellows and golds of the birches. [Read more…] about Magic morning in Glen Affric, part 2

In the middle of October I camped out in Glen Affric for a night, near Loch Beinn a’Mheadhoin, hoping for some special autumn weather to go with the colours of the trees. At that time of year there’s often a lot of fog in the mornings, but it’s necessary to be there early to make the most of the conditions, before the sun burns off the low-lying cloud that accumulates over water bodies such as the loch, when night-time temperatures drop significantly. [Read more…] about Magic morning in Glen Affric, part 1

(Edited on 11th October to add video footage at the end of the blog)

In early September I spent a couple of days out at Athnamulloch, in the western part of Glen Affric, which is the site of Trees for Life’s first tree planting, in 1991-92. In the spring of each of those two years, our first volunteer groups planted 21,400 Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) inside a 60 hectare fenced exclosure that had been erected by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) in 1990. In subsequent years we returned to plant smaller numbers of broadleaved trees such as aspen (Populus tremula) and some junipers (Juniperus communis). [Read more…] about The wild garden of Athnamulloch

In the second half of July I spent a day in Glen Affric exploring the Abhainn Gleann nam Fiadh burn, which flows down from the upper flanks of Carn Eige, the highest peak north of the Great Glen in Scotland. This is the largest of the tributary burns that feed into the main lochs and river system in Glen Affric, and I’d explored some of the lower section of it earlier in the year. Now, I wanted to continue upstream, particularly in light of the fact that the burn is being seriously considered for a micro-hydro development. [Read more…] about Exploration of a threatened burn