The Wild About Lochaber Blog
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Post date: Saturday 26th November 2016
Since the launch of the Wild About Lochaber website, way back in 2012, we have used a wee photo of a devil's-bit scabious flower as our logo, identifier or avatar providing a consistent presence across our publications and social media platforms. It has served us well, providing a welcome reminder of late summer and the wildernesses across Lochaber in which it blooms so sublimely. We have recently been thinking about how to better define what Wild About Lochaber is all about. With this in... more
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Post date: Friday 20th November 2015
Lochaber is a wonderful destination for a walking holiday, with so many diverse short and long distance walks to choose from. The Wild About Lochaber website focuses on the shorter to medium distance walks highlighting the wildlife appeal, as well as providing links to other walking resources. Here are the top five walks on Wild About Lochaber, as determined by page views so far for 2015. Number One - Kentra Bay and The Singing Sands An enjoyable walk to the beautiful Singing Sands at... more
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Post date: Tuesday 16th December 2014Scottish wildcats have been making the news on the BBC over the past week with an announcement of a grant of almost £1million pounds to Wildcat Action, a collaborative project involving more than 30 organisations. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) are taking the lead and recently issued a news release giving further details of the project. Jenny Bryce from SNH gave an interesting summary of the project this morning on Farming Today (Podcast available until 12-Jan-2015) highlighting the dramatic... more
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Post date: Monday 18th August 2014
Every year around one hundred thousand pairs of Manx Shearwaters descend upon the Cuillins of Rum to nest and breed. Around a third of the world's population of this specialist seabird travel from the coast of South America, arriving on The Rum Cuillins around March, re-uniting with long-term mates to find and spring clean their nesting burrows. Not surprisingly, since Shearwaters spend so much time at sea they are not so well adapted to land and are vulnerable to attack, so only dare... more
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Post date: Sunday 13th April 2014
A couple of weeks ago we set off to the most westerly point on the British mainland in search of the Belted beauty moth (Lycia zonaria). The females of this species are wingless and rather striking in appearance being black and yellow. They have a restricted distribution being found on machair in the Western Isles and in scattered locations in North Wales and Ireland. They have also been recorded on the dunes behind Sanna Bay and we had seen them at Bay MacNeil a couple of years ago... more
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Post date: Friday 21st March 2014
A walk along the beaches at Camusdarach just north of Arisaig off the B8008 rarely disappoints in terms of wildlife. Great northern divers are regularly seen just out to sea together with a good range of other coastal birds. The dunes behind the beach provide a great habitat for a range of wildflowers and the dense gorse fringing provides both colour and shelter for a wide range of birds. Made famous as Ben's beach in the film Local Hero, the expansive white sands are never busy, even... more
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Post date: Friday 13th September 2013
As part of the Year of Natural Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage have teamed up with Wild Scotland to celebrate the wildlife and nature of Scotland with local tourism operators. Familiarisation trips are being run in Lochaber, Argyll, Skye and Royal Deeside this September with the intention of promoting sustainable and wildlife focused tourism. The Wild About Lochaber Team were fortunate enough to join in with the familiarisation day in Lochaber this week. A group of tourism operators... more
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Post date: Tuesday 25th June 2013
Following on from our expedition in search of Wandering Water Voles earlier this year in Upper Glen Nevis we set out again, this time looking for signs of water voles in the Lower Glen in one of the series of wildlife events being held by The Friends of Nevis over the summer. In the first event in May we learnt how to identify signs of water voles in known locations to gain some basic field craft experience. Above all, we had a great day out learning about the natural history of Wild... more
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Post date: Wednesday 12th June 2013
Unless you are looking for The Chequered Skipper Pub, Lochaber and North Argyll is the only place in the UK to see The Chequered Skipper, a butterfly with a surprisingly limited distribution. What is so special about Lochaber, and just what is so special about this little butterfly? Luckily, The Friends of Nevis have been holding a series of events promoting awareness of the wildlife and butterflies in and around Glen Nevis this summer, so we had an ideal opportunity to find out more. We... more
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Post date: Wednesday 22nd May 2013
We have always associated water voles with rivers and canals and were slightly surprised when The Friends of Nevis announced a series of events to identify and survey water voles in Glen Nevis. The first event was held on Monday 20th May as part of The Wild Lochaber Festival and we signed up, eager to learn more about this endearing little (or not so little) rodent. The Nevis Gorge and An Steall waterfall is a very popular walk and the car park is often very busy. The group met up at the... more
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Post date: Sunday 21st April 2013
We're Wild About Lochaber and are always looking for innovative ways of sharing enthusiasm for the wildlife and wild places of Lochaber. We recently discovered Instagram and immediately recognised the power of connecting to this new community. A photo speaks a thousand words so why not share your perspective and photos of the wildlife and wild places of Lochaber though Instagram by tagging your photos with the hashtag #wildlochaber. Our photo gallery on Wild About Lochaber shows the latest... more
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Post date: Tuesday 16th April 2013In celebration of Spring we have given the Wild About Lochaber website a little Spring clean. We have added some new walks and created a map showing the start point of all the walks. We now list over 70 walks, all written by wildlife enthusiats for wildlife enthusiasts. We hope to continue adding walks as we further indulge our passion for wildlife and walking in Wild Lochaber. We are keenly awaiting Spring and Summer to discover and share more wildlife experiences. We aim to explore the... more
