Archives: Programmes

Each week will be based at Aigas and will spend six full days (7 nights) exploring the stunning hills, glens, forests, coasts and marshes of the Highlands producing breathtaking encounters with eagles, pine martens, otters, black throated divers, deer, crossbills, badgers and much more. Programmes shift with the turning season, specialising on whatever aspect of wildlife is current. Our highly trained and qualified rangers will escort you in small groups to share the wonders of the wild Highlands. All Aigas Wildlife guests will enjoy an optimal number of eight guests to one ranger both in the field and on the road. Highlights include (with seasonal variation): Evening pine marten and badger watches in our own hides. Caledonian pine forest – black grouse, crossbills, crested tits, brilliant wildflowers
Continue Reading...

[envira-gallery id="3858"] After listening to many of our guest's suggestions, we have created Aigas Retreat - a week-long programme for those who would just like to chill out at Aigas, enjoy the nature trails, wildlife hides and gardens on the estate. There will be several ranger-led outings to local sites such as the our local village, Beauly, the historic Erchless Motte and Glen Strathfarrar. Our rangers will be available to lead walks on the estate, set up moth traps and host hide visits. If you have a specific interest or request, please let us know about it!

 More and more of our guests express the desire for longer walks in the stunning surrounding scenery. We are now offering more walking programmes than ever before. Striding out on long but low level walks, we will explore coastlines and rivers, through glens and around lochs. We will avoid all but gentle and short inclines. Destinations may include the remarkable spit of Chanonry Point where bottlenose dolphins are often seen, the shores of Loch Fleet or the remnant ancient Caledonian pine forest in Glen Affric National Nature Reserve, averaging five miles per day. Each day is led by an Aigas ranger. With such a variety of habitats covered, the species list will be rich and varied, from waders and sea ducks, seals dolphins and otters to golden
Continue Reading...

Fungi are fascinating - by turns they are colourful, deadly, delicious, predatory, vital to ecosystems, luminous, rare, ubiquitous and laden with folklore associations. Their life-cycles are varied and extraordinary and we are only just beginning to understand the importance of mycorrhizal associations (symbiosis between plants and fungi) in the creation and maintenance of our treasured eco-systems. Join Liz Holden, one of Scotland’s leading fungus experts, on a week of discovery of the superb array of fungi of the Scottish Highlands with well over 150 species discovered in the Aigas area. Some of these were extremely rare - one only recorded in Scotland six times previously! [envira-gallery id="3203"] Highlights Include: Field discovery of fungi in a range of Highland habitats including Caledonian pine forest and broad-leaf woodland. Guidance
Continue Reading...

[envira-gallery id="1376"] Specially designed by garden lover Lucy Lister-Kaye, this programme visits some of our most spectacular local homes, both open to the public and private, with nearby gardens. This new programme will be led jointly by guest leader Sue Pomeroy and Lady Lister-Kaye. Highlights include: A train journey to Attadale Gardens on the west coast, enjoying wonderful panoramic views along the way, disembarking at the Attadale's private platform where owners Mr Macpherson and his daughter Joanna will meet guests and give a tour of the gardens, followed by tea and coffee. Visits to Brodie and Cawdor castles. A visit to two very different private gardens on the Black Isle, where the owners will lead a tour. A day spent at Aigas, with a garden tour led
Continue Reading...

June is upon us and rhododendron is all around us in the Highlands. This exciting programme combines our stunning wildflowers, found in equally stunning locations, and the Highland's unique and varied gardens. We will explore the east coast at Loch Fleet for costal dune flowers, such as wild pansies and twin flower, the open moorland for asphodel and heathers and the grasslands of Glen Cannich for a suite of wild orchids. [envira-gallery id="1421"] We will visit private gardens on the nearby Black Isle - Old Allangrange and The Lookout - and travel to the west coast to visit Attadale, Dundonnell and Inverewe gardens.  

Perfect for the all-rounder, this programme combines some of our finest wildlife spectacles with the Highlands’ most important historical sites. [envira-gallery id="1437"] In the evenings, after dinner in the Baronial hall, there will be options to attend a reading by John Lister-Kaye, listen to a local ceilidh band (with optional crowd participation), talks or visit one of the on-site wildlife hide. Highlights include: An introductory exploration of archaeology, history and wildlife on our private trails, which wind through the gardens and 19th century arboretum, around the loch and up onto the moorland where Iron and Bronze Age sites can be seen. Bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth, Fortrose Cathedral and a private tea at Foulis Castle, seat of the chiefs of Clan Munro. Walks through the ancient
Continue Reading...

[envira-gallery id="843"] Now limited to only ten participants, this course is suitable for everyone from very proficient photographers to relative beginners in the dSLR world. This year the workshops are in spring and autumn - timed to coincide with the most productive times of year to be out photographing landscapes and natural history subjects in the Scottish Highlands. The range of possible wildlife subjects is extensive and will also include a well balanced mixture of opportunities to photograph fungi and landscape subjects too. Images from Aigas Part One from Laurie Campbell on Vimeo.

For many the red deer and golden eagles are icons of the Scottish Highlands. Red deer are the UK’s largest land mammal and thrive in some of our isle’s most inhospitable and remote parts. From mid September male red deer, known as stags, prepare for the ‘rut’, one of Europe’s most spectacular wildlife phenomenons. During the 4-5 weeks of the rut, stags may lose as much as a fifth of their body weight as they vie for control of their harem of hinds (female deer). The straths and glens of the Highlands reverberate with the sounds of roaring stags and clashes of antlers are common, as newcomers challenge master stags for the attention of the females. [envira-gallery id="1136"] Join Aigas group leader, Jonathan Willet, on Monarchs of
Continue Reading...

Led by our experienced wildlife guide and whisky aficionado - Martyn Jamieson - this is a wildlife week with a strong whisky theme running through it. We will explore the hills and glens for their wonderful wildlife and will stop to enjoy distillery tours and even a little ‘sampling’ along the way! Presentations and an entertaining whisky tasting will round off your knowledge of the most iconic of Scottish exports - the water of life. [envira-gallery id="3859"] Highlights include: Wildlife days out amongst the wild Highland landscapes in which Scottish whisky had its genesis. We’ll look for black throated divers, red and roe deer, golden and sea eagles, red kites, merlins and more. A day on the Black Isle includes a two hour boat ride in search
Continue Reading...