When we visited Glen Garry up in the Highlands we followed the path that promised waterfalls and were very impressed by those we saw (as you can find out in
this post).
So when we visited Glen Righ, the next day we wondered whether we would find the promised red squirrels just as easily.
We needn't have worried, this little squirrel was the first thing we
saw, behind the squirrel viewing hide just near the car park
Red squirrels are the UKs native squirrel but have been outcompeted by introduced grey squirrels which also carry a pox that the greys are immune to but which can cause disfiguration and death to the reds.
This little squirrel eventually ran away and we followed a path, that like the one in Glen Garry, promised waterfalls. Again we weren't disappointed although there were fewer of them
There are some spectacular views along this walk
and we made friends with this scorpion fly that seemed very interested in Crafty Green Boyfriend's camera
This is also one of the several places where we found small, slow moving streams and small ponds with lots of newts in them. I don't know what species of newt they were and the photos didn't turn out, but it was lovely to see them!
Another lovely walk!
Oh, Juliet, what a wonderfully inspiring part of the world to visit. And how astonishing that the Red Squirrel was 'just there'! We found it pretty hard (apart from at the cottage feeder) to find any in the Kirroughtree Forest Park in Galloway last year. We went to a conservation talk on red squirrels recently at Pensthorpe in Norfolk, and were glad to hear that the leprosy threat (which seemed to get a lot of publicity some years back) was not proving very serious among most Red Squirrel populations - though, as you say, the threat from the Greys is different again... I hate it when one species 'clashes' with another!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely place to walk!
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy seeing the red squirrels and the views along the walk really are spectacular.
Great post.
All the best Jan