Rainy day at Badger Falls

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.

Thus, I headed for Glen Affric, where Badger Falls is situated at the eastern end of the National Nature Reserve, and only a few minutes by car from the village of Cannich. Despite its location, Badger Falls is seldom visited. It isn’t signposted, and there are no paths or trails to it, as it requires a steep descent from the road into the Affric River gorge. This makes it all the more attractive to me, as it is a wild location, and at the bottom of the gorge it’s easy to imagine that I’m miles from other people and any signs of civilisation.

Where I left my car, there’s a birch tree with an extensive growth of a bright yellow lichen (Chrysothrix candelaris) on its trunk, and on this overcast and damp day the colour was particularly vivid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was photographing the lichen on the birch tree I noticed the pattern of branches and trunks on some alder trees (Alnus glutinosa) lower down the slope. This was very aesthetically pleasing to my eye, and is the sort of thing that is only visible in winter – in summer the trees’ leaves obscure these patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heading down the slope towards the river, I stopped to photograph some tinder fungi (Fomes fomentarius) that were fruiting on a recently-dead but still standing birch tree. These tough woody brackets persist for many years are one of the few fungi that are easily seen in winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were some other tinder fungi growing at the base of another birch, so I stopped to have a look at them too. Because of the wet conditions they were black and shiny with moisture, looking much more vibrant than the dull grey colour they have in dry weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By this time it was after midday and there were only 2 or 3 hours of daylight left so I made my way down into the gorge itself.

 

 

 

At the bottom of the slope some old Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) are growing on the cliff edge, whilst across the river, the main extent of the old pine forest in Glen Affric begins.

 

The pines there are draped in beard lichen (Usnea filipendula), which thrives in the permanently moist conditions of the gorge. The sun rarely penetrates into the gorge so the spray from the cascades stays on the trees, enabling the lichens to flourish there.

The beard lichen brings a primeval and wild quality to the forest, and reminds me both of temperate rainforests I’ve visited in places such as Tasmania and Tierra del Fuego in South America, and of the mythical forests of Mirkwood and Fangorn from Tolkien’s tales of Middle Earth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The narrow confines of the gorge meant that there was even less light there, and it soon reached the stage where the conditions weren’t good for photography.

I took a couple of quick images of the cascades on the river, and then headed back up to my car.

Unfortunately though, on my way up the slope, the zip on my camera backpack came open, as the teeth hadn’t aligned properly when I closed it. Some of my equipment came out and although I thought I’d recovered all of it in the fading light, when I got home I discovered that the spare battery for my camera was missing! Thus, a couple of days later I went back out again to the same spot, and within a minute or two I’d found the battery, which seemed none the worse for its two days out in the elements, although its charge level was low. Being there again of course gave me a chance to continue my explorations, and this time I descended into the gorge, right down to the river itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was difficult to get around in the gorge, as the rocks are extremely slippery – I knew from previous visits there that many of them are coated with a thin layer of green algae which makes them very slick indeed. I didn’t have to go far though, as the shapes of the rocks are very photogenic, as are the lichens growing on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time was rather limited this day, but I made the most of it by not moving far, and by paying attention to the details of my immediate surroundings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(This will be my last posting on this blog for a while, as I’m off on leave tomorrow for almost three weeks).