Highland Highlights

Here at Aigas we specialise in designing programmes to meet the needs of our guests. Over 30 years we have built up expertise over a wide range of subjects. Typically, we cover the history of the land, its structure and scenery, its wildlife and wilderness, conservation and land use, its archaeology, castles and gardens, and the complicated and turbulent history of the Highlanders themselves. We cover the whole of the Highlands of Scotland, including the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, and the Isle of Skye.

But we also pride ourselves on our flexibility. Each year we develop new areas and respond to the changing interests of those who join us here. More recently we have added nature writing, interpretative art for schools, marine biology and environmental politics.

Of course, we also run the popular generalized weeks for those who like a bit of everything.

To help you think about what you might see when at Aigas we have provided some information below on Highland Habitats (including mountains, moorland, Caledonian pinewoods and lochs and glens) and Specialist Subjects (such as archaeology, history, land use and wildlife).

Highland Habitats

The Highland landscape is vital; it elegantly echoes the demands of a rich diversity of wildlife that depends for its survival on a kaleidoscopic range of habitats.

MOUNTAINS

The Highlands and Islands of Scotland is an area of 689 400 hectares of which 70% is over 1200 feet above sea level. This landscape is dominated by mountains, a substantial number of which are over 3000 feet (Munros). This striking, rugged, mountainous landscape attracts an ever increasing number of walkers, climbers and mountaineers to their summits and crags. Although these mountains are not lofty on a world scale they include some of the oldest rocks and landforms in the world.

Superficially these mountains appear to exhibit barren habitats that aren't able to support much in the way of flora and fauna. However their oceanic setting allows for a wealth of species, some of which are extremely rare, such as the delicate twin flower (Linnaea borealis), the alpine azalea (Loiseleuria procumbens) and one flower wintergreen (Moneses uniflora), which only occurs beneath ancient pines. The mountains themselves are of varying character, from the sharp Gabbro peaks and ridges of Skye and Wester Ross to the high arctic plateau of the Cairngorms.

MOORLAND

The open, rolling heather-clad moorland of the Scottish Highlands attracts visitors from far and wide. Here at Aigas we are surrounded by heather moors which turn bright purple in high summer.

Moorlands are important habitats for a distinctive range of wildlife where you can hear the plaintive calling of a golden plover or the bubbling curlew. Or you can search through the bushy heather to find a miniature world of colourful flowers, like sundew, milkwort and tormentil, to name a few. It is also the home of the red grouse which, together with red deer and salmon, were the basis of the Victorian sporting tradition for which the Highlands became world famous.

CALEDONIAN PINEWOOD

8000 years ago woodland covered an extensive area in Scotland and consisted of a variety of major woodland types sessile oak in the west, Caledonian pine and birch woods, each of which would have contained subsidiary trees and tall shrubs such as rowan, willow, ash, hawthorn, holly, juniper and bird cherry. The Caledonian pinewood extended over the vast majority of the Highlands. The dominant tree was the Scots Pine with a mosaic of birch. Other trees would include alder and willow in the wetter areas and aspen on drier ground.

The Scots pine is the most widely spread conifer in Europe. Here in Scotland it is at its most westerly margin. The structure of the tree is very distinctive with its salmon pink, papery bark and its open canopy. This creates a unique habitat which supports fauna such as pine marten, the endemic scottish crossbill, and crested tit.

In the past centuries the extent of the pinewood has declined due to exploitation by man, overgrazing and climatic deterioration. Now there is less that 1% of the former extend of native pinewood left. Here at Aigas we are lucky to have two fine, important examples of remnant pinewoods – now National Nature Reserves – in our neighbouring glens.

LOCHS AND GLENS

Deep fresh and salt-water lochs and the narrow troughs of steep sided glens lie at the heart of our unique Highland scenery. This landscape was formed by the grinding action of huge glaciers which gouged out the glens and scoured the ancient rocks during the last era of glaciation (the Loch Lomond re-advance) which ended 12,000 years ago. The lochs include huge bodies of water, like Loch Ness, to small, remote lochans high up in mountain corries. They are a vital component in Scotland’s unique natural heritage, providing important wildlife habitats, which support the rare black-throated diver and slavonian grebe. The narrow glens can be haunting and evocative, often suggesting a turbulent past when each glen was inhabited by a different clan, the ruins of cleared settlements still starkly visible. Here at Aigas we visit some of the most beautiful Highland glens such as Glen Affric, which supports one of the largest and healthiest remnants of the ancient Caledonian pinewood and a hydro-electricity scheme.

Special Subjects

Aigas is ideally placed for exploring the wealth of archaeological heritage in Scotland. There is evidence of human habitation as early as 8,000 years ago in the Bone Caves at Inchnadamph, and from shell middens on the Isle of Rhum. In 4,000 BC the arrival of Neolithic man from the Iberian Peninsula changed everything. He came to settle and farm the land, effectively ending the nomadic lifestyle of the earlier Mesolithic people.

Evidence of Neolithic people is their huge chambered tombs like Maes Howe in Orkney. The Bronze Age (2,000-500 BC) and Iron Age (500 BC-500 AD) follow. Archaeological evidence of the Bronze Age is characterised by hut circles like those at Aigas. During the Iron Age, conflict appears as a dominant theme and we see the emergence of a number of hill forts, again like the one at Aigas. The next people to emerge were the Picts. The first reference to them appears in 297AD, but their origins and language are shrouded in mystery.

HISTORY

The story of the past is told by different people, from different backgrounds, and always with different perspectives. Scotland has a wealth of history stretching from the Roman occupation through the Middle Ages to the present day. Much of the history is bloody and dynamic and attracts interest from all around the world. An abiding image of Scotland is that of a ruined castle on an isolated promontory. Highland history is known for its turbulence, clan fighting clan, cattle reiving (rustling), the Battle of Culloden and the Clearances.

This legacy is still very apparent in the Highlands and is responsible for creating the landscape the present day visitor will see. In many places in Scotland you feel as if you are stepping back in time, as if you are provided with a window through to the past. History is very much alive in Scotland.

WILDLIFE

Scotland is dominated by a wild and untamed landscape which is home to a dazzling mosaic of wildlife, from the blue hare of the mountaintops to the bottlenose dolphins of the Moray Firth. Some are more elusive, like the sleek otter swimming through seaweed, whilst others, the majestic herds of red deer, are more visible. We have 150 species of birds including red kites, ospreys, goshawks, red and black-throated divers, golden eagles, crossbills, crested tits and siskins.

With a little time and local knowledge, it is possible to discover places off the beaten track, which are ideal for viewing Scottish wildlife. Around the estate we regularly see red deer on the open moor, the more timid roe is not so shy where roses in the garden are concerned! In the early morning brown hares are often on the move around the grounds, and occasionally the sly fox is seen slinking home to his den. A small ripple in the water may reveal an otter benefiting from our stocked loch and the local Pine Marten population checks out the lodges at night hoping to find something to eat. They have a soft spot for jam sandwiches. Our badgers have a secluded hideaway in the woods where our guests enjoy their antics from a comfortable hide.

LAND USE & SCENERY

The landscape of Scotland is a product of its geology, glaciation, climate and man’s use or abuse of the soils and the natural vegetation present when humans colonised some 10,000 years ago.


It is dramatic and varied in structure and appearance. The main bedrock of the Highlands is Lewisian Gneiss, one of the oldest rocks in the world (3000 million years old). The Lewisian part of the name comes from the island of Lewis which is characterised by its undulating gneiss landscape. In the geological time scale other rocks evolved and covered the bedrock, Torridonian sandstone, Moine schist, Old Red Sandstone. All these rocks, mountains and plateaux were then subject to powerful and rapid erosion. Everything was then polished and sculpted by a series of ice ages. When admiring the landscape of Scotland it is worth remembering that whilst the geology is ancient the shape of the landscape is comparatively recent.

Much of the land is hilly and mountainous with acid rocks; because of our latitude winters are long, cold and wet. Consequently soils are often poor, acidic, and waterlogged for much of the year. Where soils are good this is almost always relies upon an underlying geology of sandstone or limestone, and usually occurs in the drier eastern zones. Productive agriculture is limited to these areas.

10,000 years of scraping a living in a harsh climate where natural productivity is slow has meant that man has been disproportionally dependent upon grazing animals, notably cattle and sheep. By the beginning of the 19th century most of the country’s natural vegetation had been either removed or considerably modified by grazing and forest clearance. In the Highlands this was particularly evident. Barren hills, once cloaked in native woodland are the norm. The famous purple moors of bonny Scotland are largely man created in this way.