Pinky and the Pine Martens
by Lucy Smith – After a busy first couple of weeks on my placement at Aigas, going on days out along the West Coast spotting White-tailed eagles and looking after the wildcats, I was excited for my first hide visit.…
Category Aigas Wildlife
Keep up to date on the latest wildlife sightings
March at Riverview
by Calum Urquhart – Winter always lingers on late into the year in the Highlands; gladly some preliminary vernal signs have started to make themselves clear over the last week or so. At Riverview we’ve seen the first Lesser Celandines…
February at Riverview
It’s been a month of extreme weather here at Aigas. We’ve had snow and temperatures down to a biting -14⁰C, followed by a relative heatwave with the snow melting even up on the hills! Fortunately, a lot of the hardy…
Busy as a Beaver
It has been a beautiful first December and January for me here at Aigas, with more snow than I have ever experienced. Just after Christmas we had our first proper snowfall of the year, which revealed all the comings and…
An Aigas Season in Moths
This season has been an odd one for us humans at Aigas, but for our wildlife it has been business as usual. We have been running weekly moth traps for the Garden Moth Scheme since March, and we have seen…
All the Leaves are Brown
The word decomposition may have rather unattractive connotations – perhaps those of dying and death – but this is a vital process that is never more evident than in Autumn, when a walk in a deciduous woodland is framed perfectly…
A Leap of Faith
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of accompanying professional photographer Laurie Campbell on Aigas’ Nature Photography Masterclass. Not owning a camera any bigger than my pocket I felt somewhat inadequate amongst their foot-long lenses, but sometimes it’s the…
A Morning Otter Watching
I have my binoculars firmly focussed on a cut of silver in the still water which is moving down the firth. The head of a one year old dog otter (Lutra lutra) appears, then turns on its back and proceeds…
A Scottish Wildlife Safari
Many a night I have been out and about and seen animals that I was not expecting to see. Going out looking for pine martens and badgers is always a treat as many of you know from your visits to…
Wildlife on the Job
It was dark today. The kind of dark that makes you want to snuggle back into bed clutching a hot water bottle closely to your chest and drift back to sleep. It felt like a cold winter’s night, but it…
The Feeding of the Five Thousand
It was a rather grey afternoon on the Aigas estate, but myself and the other two academic placement students had been tasked with an exciting challenge – to design and build our own bird feeding station. With winter in full…
Hoorah for Hedgehogs!
The hedgehog is a well-recognised spiny mammal, native to the UK. Most people are familiar with or have had a close interaction with these loveable little mammals. Be it a glimpse of a pointed face through fallen autumn leaves, hearing…
Searching for Roosting Treecreepers
When all had gone quiet on the Aigas estate, I decided to have a wander round our five giant sequoia trees (Sequoiadendron giganteum) that we have on site, originally planted by the Gordon-Oswalds who built the Victorian part of the…
The Life of an Atlantic Salmon
As we approach November the spawning season for Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) begins. Spawning occurs throughout November and December; in larger rivers this may begin and finish a month early or later. Salmon are anadromous spending 2 to 3 years…
Goodbye Ospreys – See you in the Spring!
Autumn in the Highlands. Crisp frosty mornings, mist rolling in low waves over the valley, the cacophony of pink footed geese filling the skies – this season is undeniably beautiful. However, it heralds the departure of one of my favourite…
The Fabulous Flow Country
After completing my first week as an Academic Placement student at Aigas, I wanted to make the most of my first day off and explore more of the area I am lucky enough to be spending the next year living…
Unexpected Beauty
Too often when looking at the natural world, people overlook insects in favour of birds, mammals, plants and other organisms that are typically thought to be bigger, brighter, or (wrongly in my opinion!) more interesting. Even within the insects, butterflies,…
Orchid Fever
Orchids have captured people’s imagination for generations. Many have unusual flowers that look like tiny men, ladies in dresses or monkeys (giving rise to the English names Man, Lady and Monkey Orchids). Others mimic bees, wasps or flies to trick…
Having a Whale of a Time!
Since coming up to the Highlands I have had great fortune with bottlenose dolphin, harbour porpoise, grey seal, common seal and otter sightings. I have decided to put this to good use and completed training enabling me to survey and…
Beautiful Views and Ptarmigan Sightings from the West Coast
We have had some beautiful weather over the last few weeks in the Highlands, which was perfect for the many walks we did with a residential school group staying at the Field Centre. One of my favourite days was going…
A Richness of Pine Martens
Before coming to Aigas I had never seen a pine marten. On arriving in February for the start of ranger training it was one of the species I was most keen to see, and at the earliest opportunity I took…
How to see the Aurora Borealis in the UK
While visitors from all over the world flock towards the north pole in an effort to witness the aurora borealis, to see an it in the UK on a clear night is a relatively rare occurrence. Our Field Officer details…
Four Seasons in One Day
There’s a saying in Scotland that goes something like this: if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes. We experienced this first hand on a recent visit to a local strath, where the changing elements made us feel…
Three Fascinating Fauna of Scotland
Chosen at random, these are three fascinating fauna commonly seen on an Aigas Wildlife week. Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) In Scotland fulmars were known as mallemuck – a corruption of dutch words malle (foolish) and mok (gull) which refers to the…
Aigas Rangers Survey Local Community Woodland
Over the last 3 months, Aigas’ three Academic Placements along with Staff Naturalist, Ben, and Field Officer, Pete, have been surveying the neighbouring Aigas Community Forest (see more about the forest in this previous blog). The main aims of these…
Early Morning Nature Drives at Aigas
It was still dark as we gathered at the front of the house, wrapped up in hats, scarves, gloves and thermals, clutching our coffee filled thermoses. Few words were uttered as we loaded into the minibus and took our seats;…
