Book Now Wildlife in a Highland Landscape

Focusing on mammals, we explore the habitats of the Highlands.

AVAILABILITY: 2 Places Available

Summary

Join us for an exciting wildlife experience packed with opportunities to view and learn about many of the iconic and charismatic animals which make the Highlands unique. This itinerary is a blend of fact finding and wildlife watching with experienced field naturalists.

Based on the Aigas estate the focus of the course is to spend time tracking and observing animals in their environment. We will learn about the history, ecology, biology and conservation of many stars of the Highlands such as red and roe deer, pine martens, red squirrels, otters, badgers, foxes, dolphins and seals.

We will discuss mammal re-introductions as we walk around our unique European beaver habitat and spend time in the hides in the evenings interpreting their behaviour.

This week long programme will also include expeditions to some of our most beautiful and scenic landscapes. The field programme will be supported by illustrated talks, guest lecturers, and morning and evening mammal watches.

Dr David Dixon

Your programme will be led by long standing Aigas leader and expert in his field, Dr David Dixon. David has been conducting private research on the badgers, pine martens and red deer of Aigas for a number of years and is uniquely positioned to explain their life cycle and behaviour in fascinating detail.

Your itinerary will include:

• A guided tour of the Aigas Estate which will help you to make the most of your stay with us.

• The Moray Firth to search for bottlenose dolphins as well as grey and common seals hauled out on the sand banks.
• Glen Strathfarrar – after a morning briefing on Red Deer to enlighten us about its natural and unnatural history we visit one of the most spectacular of Highland glens with its remnant Caledonian pine forest and its high peaks as we look out for red deer on the hills and golden eagles soaring over the ridges. We will discuss deer stalking and Highland land use as we explore the glen.
• Early morning otter watch we will visit some local otter territories in the hope of seeing
  these elusive mammals in the wild.
• Practical mammal workshop – Time will be spent identifying mammals in the field. This will
  include analysing tracks and signs around the estate as well as setting small mammal traps and hair traps to cover the harder to see animals. We will go to local otter and badger habitat to discuss their daily routines and see where they live. We will also use our motion triggered video surveillance cameras to see the wildlife that comes after dark.
• Bird Workshop - Time spent concentrating on the avian fauna of the Highlands as we search for golden eagles, osprey, peregrine falcons and red kites and anything else we see on the way.
• Beavers - After an illustrated talk on the European beaver we will walk around our beaver habitat discussing their ecology and biology and the impacts that they have on the environment.
• Pine martens and bats -  There will be an opportunity to watch pine martens and
  possibly badgers in the wild at our famous comfortable hide before an evening bat search with bat detectors. If you fancy a practical wildlife experience with a bit more
  bite then this is the one for you.

All Inclusive

Aigas based holidays are all inclusive and no single supplement is charged. Read more here.

Testimonial

"Aigas is unique - the only place in the UK where you can see badgers, pine martens, ospreys, peregrines, capercaillie, beavers and much more all on one site - it is a matchless experience!”

Dr David Dixon, group leader. More testimonials here.