Wildlife Bonanza

Our focus this week is on the special Highland species of flowers, dragonflies and butterflies, so we may start locally, visiting ancient Caledonian Pines where delicate Twinflower spread in patches on the forest floor.

Common, Intermediate and Serrated-leaved Wintergreen are here too, plus One-flowered Wintergreen, while boggy pools hold Common Hawker and Four-spotted Chaser. Orchid meadows host Small White, Greater and Lesser Butterflies, Northern Marsh and Heath Fragrant Orchids and we’ll search for Lesser Twayblade.

On slopes dotted with Rockrose, we’ll hunt for Northern Brown Argus in its full Scottish form. Large Heath and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary are on the wing and we’ll also run a moth trap whenever we can.

The forests provide the chance of Red Squirrel, Crested Tit and Scottish Crossbill. We’ll also make an evening hide visit, where close up views of Badgers are almost guaranteed but we also have fingers crossed for Pine Martens that sometimes appear.

The Findhorn Valley provides a chance of Golden Eagle and Mountain Hare, plus Red Deer, Dipper and Peregrine. Mountain Pansy, Stagshorn Clubmoss, Alpine Bistort and Bearberry are likely as we cross the moorland to Loch Ruthven, the stronghold of beautiful Slavonian Grebe, here in colourful breeding plumage. There is always a chance of fishing Osprey and we may find Water Lobelia.

We’ll spend a whole day walking in beautiful Glen Affric, following a trail that will lead us to a lily-studded lochan where Downy Emerald, Golden-ringed Dragonfly and White-faced Darter can be found, along with some of the more common damselflies. Our walk includes some steeper sections, but we can take it slowly - and one section of wide track holds Common Hawker and sometimes the ‘holy grail’ of northern dragonflies - Azure Hawker - with slim chances of Highland Darter and Dark-green Fritillary too.

Our route up into the alpine world of the Cairngorm Corries is not too steep and we can stop for rests to enjoy the flowers on the way. We can compare up to six berry-bearing bushes as we walk, including Bog Bilberry, Crowberry, Bearberry and Cloudberry. The beautiful alpine flowers include Starry Saxifrage, Dwarf Cornel, Globe Flower and Trailing Azalea as we gain height.