The Sunday Times June 5, 2022 15
Beavers were
released in
2009 — the first in
Britain for over
400 years
Left:
Tobermory,
Mull’s
photogenic
capital. Right:
the red deer
is Britain’s
largest land
mammal.
Below: nesting
golden eagles
CATHERINE CLARK, CAVAN IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES; JOHN CAMERON, NPL/ALAMY
Moray Firth
Aberdeen
Cairngorms
Queen Elizabeth
Forest Park
Knapdale
Forest
Edinburgh
North
Berwick
Isle of May
Loch
of the
Isle of Lowes
Mull
Ardnamurchan
peninsula
SCOTLAND
50 miles ENGLAND
Best time to come April to October.
Make a weekend of it Linndhu House is
an elegant Victorian dower house five
minutes’ drive from Tobermory. B&B
doubles from £310 for a minimum
two-night stay (linndhuhouse.com)
COO OVER DOLPHINS IN MORAY FIRTH
Best place to see the biggest bottlenose
dolphins on the planet? Not Baja
California or Maui but the Moray Firth —
and you don’t need a boat to see them.
Measuring up to 13ft in length, the Moray
Firth’s 200 resident dolphins are a
common sight right from Chanonry Point,
drawn to the salmon that channel through
the narrows an hour after low tide (check
tides.willyweather.co.uk). Further down
the firth, a pod of eight killer whales
(the UK’s only residents) were regularly
spotted last month off Fraserburgh.
Best time to come Resident year-round,
but most active in summer.
Make a weekend of it You can spot
dolphins from the sea-view rooms at
Tigh Na Mara guesthouse, where tide
times are listed on a chalkboard.
Room-only doubles from £90
(tighnamararosemarkie.co.uk)
OGLE OSPREYS IN PERTHSHIRE
Hunted to extinction in Britain by 1916,
ospreys are now a common but
exhilarating sight in Scotland, with
nearly 300 pairs returning to the UK
from west Africa each spring to breed.
One of the best places to see them is
Loch of the Lowes, two miles from
Dunkeld, where pairs have nested almost
continuously since ospreys recolonised
Scotland in 1954. The visitor centre has
an HD webcam streaming from the nest
across the loch, home to three chicks
born only a couple of weeks ago. Come
at dusk or dawn for red squirrels, fallow
deer and beavers (adult £4.50, child free;
scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk).
Best time to come Adults are busy
fishing until chicks fledge in August.
Make a weekend of it The Taybank in
Dunkeld is a fab five-bedroom boutique
hotel with great food and a buzzing beer
garden on the banks of the Tay. B&B
doubles from £170 (thetaybank.co.uk)
BEAUTIFUL BEAVERS IN
ARGYLL & BUTE
Knapdale Forest is a magical stretch
of lochs and larch, ponds and pines one
hour’s drive south of Oban. Here 11
Norwegian beavers were released in
2009 — the first in Britain for more
than 400 years. Today that 11 have
become more than 1,000, found as
far as 100 miles away in Dundee.
Knapdale is still the best place for
them, though, especially on the three-
mile loop round Loch Coilie-Bhar,
where you’ll see dams and chiselled
trees, and maybe even Bjornar and
Millie, two of the original settlers
(free; argyllbeavercentre.co.uk).
Best time to come Dawn and dusk,
April to September.
Make a weekend of it Dusk vigils are
a chilly business, so book yourself
somewhere special, such as Kilmartin
Castle, a beautifully refurbished 16th-
century pile in a glen chock-full of
neolithic remains. B&B doubles from
£220 (kilmartincastle.com)
SEE PARADING PINE MARTENS IN
LOCH LOMOND AND THE TROSSACHS
There are nearly 4,000 adult pine
martens in Scotland, but they’re pretty
elusive and hard to spot in the wild
without help. And by help, we mean
peanuts. In the Queen Elizabeth Forest
Park above Aberfoyle, the peanut feeders
at the wildlife hide by the visitor centre
are meant for red squirrels and birds,
but also regularly draw pine martens,
especially if you’re here about 7am
(before the nearby Go Ape gets going).
Even if you don’t see them, the hide sits at
the start of a network of beautiful forest
trails, and is only a short walk from the
dramatic Little Fawn waterfall.
Best time to come Spring and summer,
when adults have extra mouths to feed.
Make a weekend of it Four miles
from Aberfoyle, high in the Menteith
Hills, Nether Glenny Farm is a magical
spot with red squirrels, black grouse
and cosy cottages sleeping two to
four. B&B doubles from £90
(netherglenny.com)
HEAR THE ROAR OF RED DEER
IN LOCHABER
Nothing says autumn in the Highlands
like a stag’s roar in a misty glen. On the
Ardnamurchan peninsula west of Fort
William, you can go — sans guns — on a
photo-stalking hike with the wildlife
manager Niall Rowantree. You’ll need to
be fit, as you’ll be yomping and crawling
commando-style for up to four hours, but
it’s worth every drop of sweat once you’re
hunkered in the heather 50 yards from
Britain’s largest land mammal (£350 per
couple; wildhighlandtours.co.uk).
Best time to come End of September
to November.
Make a weekend of it Rowantree’s
eight-bedroom bunkhouse stands in a
forest clearing above Loch Sunart.
Room-only doubles from £70
(theardnamurchanbunkhouse.co.uk)
SPIRIT-SOARING GOLDEN EAGLES
IN THE CAIRNGORMS
Britain’s second-largest eagle ranges
widely over the Cairngorms, which makes
an e-bike tour one of your best bets of
spotting one — even a half-day tour covers
up to 20 miles of the eastern Cairngorms.
Led by the naturalists Dan and Rachael
Brown, the e-bike safaris regularly
encounter golden eagles and goshawks,
black grouse and ptarmigans, as well as
red and roe deer plus the Scottish
crossbill, Britain’s only endemic bird (half-
day tours for two from £185pp, including
equipment; wild-discovery.com).
Best time to come April to July for
eagles, January to June for crossbills.
Make a weekend of it The Fife Arms is
worth the splurge for its incredible art,
including work by Freud and Picasso. B&B
doubles from £210 (thefifearms.com)
From top left: the reopened
Marine North Berwick is a
great base for trips to the Bass
Rock; a bottlenose dolphin
leaps in the Moray Firth; see
puffins up close on the Isle of
May; look for the elusive pine
marten near Loch Lomond
LD
