Highland Landscapes with Jonathan Willet
The Highlands boasts some of the United Kingdom’s most diverse habitats and Aigas is situated in the perfect location to explore a wide range of environments. This programme will delve into a different habitat each day to revel in ancient pine forest, sandy beaches, dramatic mountains and sprawling moorland. During this week you will be looking at these the landscape scale, how it has come to look this way and how it will change in the future, discussing everything from historical context and contemporary land uses right through to rewildling.
Your guide for this week is Jonathan Willet, a former Aigas ranger and now a guide and conservationist in charge of the Cairngorm National Park Authority’s beaver reintroduction project. With over 30 years’ experience guiding in the Highlands, Jonathan is the true expert at talking guests through the landscapes of the area and answering almost all of the questions you may have on a wide range of topics
Example day 1: The East Coast
A visit to our own ‘big sky country’, the Moray Firth Coast, where rolling hills meet coastal dunes. Loch Fleet NNR is a wonderful place to see osprey, seals, otters, a plethora of sea birds as well as a variety of coastal habitats such as intertidal mudflats, flower and insect-rich sand dunes, heathland and forest.
Example day 2: The Highland Glen
A day in a local glen, where red deer dominate the land and golden eagles dominate the sky. Patches of ancient Caledonian forest cling to the edges of a hillside and a blanket of heather moorland stretches for as far as the eye can see.
