Programmes By Date - Aigas Field Centre

This was my second visit to the Aigas Field Centre. I attended Aigas Wildlife in June 2015, and although the weather wasn't the best I had a wonderful week and fell in love with the location and people. As a keen photographer I returned in July 2016 to participate in the Photography Masterclass with Scottish nature photographer Laurie Campbell. The Field Centre itself is gorgeous. Guests stay in log cabins, all with ensuite shower (some with baths), each cabin also has a communal living area. They are pretty basic, but warm and very comfortable and to be honest, you won't spend a whole lot of time there! Meals are served in the main house, in the vaulted dining room. The moto is "nothing's too much trouble" and Lady Lucy Lister-Kaye will amend the menus to suit any diet. The food was delicious. Porridge for breakfast, lunch generally in the field, afternoon tea and a three course dinner. The grounds include a wonderful small loch in which live a few beavers (not easy to see though), there are pine martens, local ospreys, badgers, birds and insects. Guests can spend time in the Campbell Hide watching the pine martens or in the beaver hide which overlooks the loch so there's the chance to see any of the animals who use it. I'd highly recommend rising early to experience the sunrise over the loch - it's stunning. All trips are conducted in comfortable minibuses with a knowledgeable ranger armed with a scope on hand to point out significant wildlife and much more. On both my visits we went to a number of gorgeous local glens, and on Aigas Wildlife there's a visit to the West Coast and to the Cromarty for the Ecoventures dolphin trip (also highly recommended). For those interested in photographing wildlife, the masterclass was inspiring. Laurie Campbell is a great teacher, and leads by example - he never stops looking for the perfect photograph. We had the chance to photograph mountain hares, red deer, pine martens, dolphins, otters, common toads, insects and fauna. It was a small group so there was plenty of one-to-one time. In summary it is a superb way to spend a week - you'll learn loads from the rangers, meet some lovely people and experience the most beautiful scenery.
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kfjmiller71

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kfjmiller71

This was my second visit to the Aigas Field Centre. I attended Aigas Wildlife in June 2015, and although the weather wasn't the best I had a wonderful week and fell in love with the location and people. As a keen photographer I returned in July 2016 to participate in the Photography Masterclass with Scottish nature photographer Laurie Campbell. The Field Centre itself is gorgeous. Guests stay in log cabins, all with ensuite shower (some with baths), each cabin also has a communal living area. They are pretty basic, but warm and very comfortable and to be honest, you won't spend a whole lot of time there! Meals are served in the main house, in the vaulted dining room. The moto is "nothing's too much trouble" and Lady Lucy Lister-Kaye will amend the menus to suit any diet. The food was delicious. Porridge for breakfast, lunch generally in the field, afternoon tea and a three course dinner. The grounds include a wonderful small loch in which live a few beavers (not easy to see though), there are pine martens, local ospreys, badgers, birds and insects. Guests can spend time in the Campbell Hide watching the pine martens or in the beaver hide which overlooks the loch so there's the chance to see any of the animals who use it. I'd highly recommend rising early to experience the sunrise over the loch - it's stunning. All trips are conducted in comfortable minibuses with a knowledgeable ranger armed with a scope on hand to point out significant wildlife and much more. On both my visits we went to a number of gorgeous local glens, and on Aigas Wildlife there's a visit to the West Coast and to the Cromarty for the Ecoventures dolphin trip (also highly recommended). For those interested in photographing wildlife, the masterclass was inspiring. Laurie Campbell is a great teacher, and leads by example - he never stops looking for the perfect photograph. We had the chance to photograph mountain hares, red deer, pine martens, dolphins, otters, common toads, insects and fauna. It was a small group so there was plenty of one-to-one time. In summary it is a superb way to spend a week - you'll learn loads from the rangers, meet some lovely people and experience the most beautiful scenery.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the Wildlife programme we'd booked on - the weather didn't look good and much of the wildlife we wanted to see was known to be elusive at the best of times. But thanks to the expertise, diligence and sheer overwhelming enthusiasm of the rangers - and I'd pick out Imogen and George as the ones who found us otters, sea eagles, golden eagles and a merlin - we saw everything we hoped for and more. The trips out to the west coast, Easter Ross, the Black Isle and up a number of the straths all bought new sightings but also new insights as the wildlife and flora were pointed out and explained. We rode next to leaping dolphins and diving sdeabirds in the Cromarty Firth. And there was no pretending to know things they didn't - if they didn't know they looked it up and told us later. From the hides at Aigas we saw pine marten, badger and beavers, as well as woodpeckers, owls, voles and many other species. But Aigas isn't just about the wildlife - it's about the hospitality in the comfortable lodges and then the house, with its stunning dining room and food that matches the surroundings. We didn't have a disappointing meal, Lucy provided great buffet lunches and superb dinners, from which I'd pick out the home-made soups as just outstanding, especially the spinach and lemon. To add to it all we have a great introductory talk by John Lister-Kaye, studded with jewels of poetry and prose to explain his love of nature and why he started Aigas. Even better was the finale on Friday night, when he read to the groups from his own and others' writings on the natural world - a great speaker and reader who imbues each word with meaning and feeling. If there is a criticism it is that there is a lot to do and perhaps too little time to explore the grounds at Aigas - but everything we did was worth doing. If you like your hide visits to be quiet and studious, as do I, perhaps you might want to check to see that you are there when there isn't a large American group around. They were lovely people but apt to talk constantly in the hides.. But this did not detract seriously from a fantastic week, though.
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Keith S

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Keith S

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the Wildlife programme we'd booked on - the weather didn't look good and much of the wildlife we wanted to see was known to be elusive at the best of times. But thanks to the expertise, diligence and sheer overwhelming enthusiasm of the rangers - and I'd pick out Imogen and George as the ones who found us otters, sea eagles, golden eagles and a merlin - we saw everything we hoped for and more. The trips out to the west coast, Easter Ross, the Black Isle and up a number of the straths all bought new sightings but also new insights as the wildlife and flora were pointed out and explained. We rode next to leaping dolphins and diving sdeabirds in the Cromarty Firth. And there was no pretending to know things they didn't - if they didn't know they looked it up and told us later. From the hides at Aigas we saw pine marten, badger and beavers, as well as woodpeckers, owls, voles and many other species. But Aigas isn't just about the wildlife - it's about the hospitality in the comfortable lodges and then the house, with its stunning dining room and food that matches the surroundings. We didn't have a disappointing meal, Lucy provided great buffet lunches and superb dinners, from which I'd pick out the home-made soups as just outstanding, especially the spinach and lemon. To add to it all we have a great introductory talk by John Lister-Kaye, studded with jewels of poetry and prose to explain his love of nature and why he started Aigas. Even better was the finale on Friday night, when he read to the groups from his own and others' writings on the natural world - a great speaker and reader who imbues each word with meaning and feeling. If there is a criticism it is that there is a lot to do and perhaps too little time to explore the grounds at Aigas - but everything we did was worth doing. If you like your hide visits to be quiet and studious, as do I, perhaps you might want to check to see that you are there when there isn't a large American group around. They were lovely people but apt to talk constantly in the hides.. But this did not detract seriously from a fantastic week, though.
I’ve just been watching pine martens in the Aigas hide. I don’t think we truly appreciate nature unless we witness it, feel it, smell it and touch it for ourselves, an awareness fixed by a skipped heartbeat, a drawn breath or a dropped jaw. Aigas has some of the most exciting fauna our isles have to offer and, in a stunning setting, gives people this intensity of experience thousands of times a year.
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Chris Packham, Wildlife Presenter and Author

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Chris Packham, Wildlife Presenter and Author

I’ve just been watching pine martens in the Aigas hide. I don’t think we truly appreciate nature unless we witness it, feel it, smell it and touch it for ourselves, an awareness fixed by a skipped heartbeat, a drawn breath or a dropped jaw. Aigas has some of the most exciting fauna our isles have to offer and, in a stunning setting, gives people this intensity of experience thousands of times a year.