Walks – Page 2 – Glengorm Castle

Where the Wild Things Are

Posted on 15th December 2015 by glengorm2020

Following something of an Indian Autumn, Mull is now back to its default Winter weather setting: horrid.

Torrential rain, cyclonic wind and dour sky aside, I did manage to escape the office for a paltry hour and a half of fresh air.

It’s been a pretty difficult year on the island. As a community, it seems that everyone has been touched by loss and sadness. Sitting cross-legged above a blustery cliff face, my gaze wandered out to sea and I allowed myself time to reflect.

George, who is always annoyed when we sit down during a walk, harrumphed and stomped about in protest. In his opinion walks are strictly for walking.

Across the Sound, the Westward finger of Ardnamurchan was banded in gold. I let my eyes trail over the familiar profile; drinking in the spent bracken, which had now transcended the beauty of its living form.

Movement caught my eye. Raising my binoculars, I found a skein of Whooper swans flying near to where the lighthouse lies. There were fourteen of them.

Whoopers are my joint favourite Big White Bird – the other being the Gannet. I like the strange juxtaposition of these two: one carries summer, the other marks the onset of winter.

The swans travelled further out to sea than I expected. For a few moments, they appeared to skim over the hills of Coll as they made their way south. Their loveliness was like a sip of cool water.

George, finally, was still. I sighed and dropped my binoculars to my chest. Noting his pricked ears and intent expression, I followed his gaze to the shore below. He was watching two otters rolling about in the weed.

I grinned and wondered what he made of them.

Sometimes, being a person is tough. Life simply gets us down. When misfortune strikes, I turn to the wild things for solace.

Watching those birds, at least a few of my cares left upon their downy backs.

A wonderful festive season to you all,

Stephanie Cope

Aspen on the Edge

Posted on 20th October 2015 by glengorm2020

You might recall my previous post regarding the presence of Juniper on Glengorm. Following the visit by Matt Parratt last week, we are delighted to report that bushes [both male and female] were found, and that sufficient numbers of juniper cones were collected to make his trip worthwhile.

Mr Parratt enjoyed superlative weather, which was fortunate because his designated collection area was none other than the summit and slopes of ‘S Airde Beinn!

Somewhat surprisingly, Mr Parratt also discovered a small group of Eurasian Aspen trees on the craggy western flank of this volcanic feature.

Aspen is a rather beautiful member of the poplar family. It often grows in association with birch species, and is thought to have been one of the first trees to colonise our landscape at the end of the last ice age.

This tree is great at spreading, and though it doesn’t flower and set seed very often, it does have an unusual ace up its silvicultural sleeve.

When you discover a dense stand of aspens, it is quite likely that all of these trunks are part of just one plant. The tree has effectively cloned itself by allowing some of its root suckers to develop into fully fledged replicas. This can lead to something like immortality for the founder individual.

Though aspens are pretty good at sowing their wild oats, the species has the unfortunate handicap of being very tasty. Seedlings and new ramets [clones] are eagerly devoured by almost anything of a vegetarian persuasion.

Once common throughout the UK, our aspen population is now extremely fragmented; being restricted to sites where the trees have avoided the attention of grazers and people.

Linking up isolated populations is key to restoring the full compliment of aspen to our countryside. Though you could probably find aspen in almost any 10Km square of mainland Scotland, tree numbers will be small and groves are likely to be quite isolated from each other.

The paucity of aspen is especially sad because of its importance for our biodiversity. Five UK-BAP species are known to depend on this tree alone. Those five are the aspen bracket fungus, aspen bristle-moss, aspen hoverfly and dark-bordered beauty moth.

Interestingly, aspen is also the preferred food plant for Eurasian Beavers. The population of beavers on Loch ‘S Airde Beinn is currently zero… but never say never!

Though Glengorm has already identified ‘S Airde Beinn as a priority area for conservation [it is a Geological SSSI too] we hope that the presence of juniper and aspen will strengthen our case to fully protect and conserve this site.

Stephanie Cope

Glengorm Wildlife Steward

The view from the Cairn on ‘S Airde Beinn, home to Eurasian Aspen and Common Juniper

Thumb Image: Alan Watson Featherstone – www.treesforlife.org.uk

Juniper Jungle

Posted on 15th October 2015 by glengorm2020

Great news from Glengorm today, as we welcome Matt Parratt from The UK National Tree Seed Project to collect Juniper seeds from our site!

This initiative is overseen by Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, as part of their Millennium Seed Bank.

Juniper (Juniperus communis) is a priority species for conservation. Scottish Natural Heritage, the Forestry Commision and Plantlife are working in partnership to help conserve Scottish plants.

Common juniper has the largest geographic range of any woody plant in the world. It is one of three conifers native to Scotland [the other two being Yew and Scots Pine].

Although individual trees and shrubs can live for more than a century, a lack of regeneration is leading to its downfall.

For example, the absence of grazing by animals such as Highland cattle means that seedlings germinating from these older plants struggle to compete with other vegetation. Worse still, voles and rabbits have a real taste for the young shoots, nibbling them away before they have a chance to grow.

Juniper has now disappeared from more than a third of its original range in the UK.

If you need proof of juniper’s importance to our landscape, the berries are used to flavour that most essential life-giving substance: GIN.

These berries are also commonly used as flavouring for game dishes – think hearty venison, pheasant or grouse.

What’s not to love?

Upon closer inspection, you will find that juniper berries are in fact small cones. The word gin originates from a Dutch term for the plant; “genever” was the traditional Dutch precursor to Britain’s favourite tipple. Sadly, most cones destined for production in the UK are now imported from Hungary.

Historically, Scottish junipers were also prized for their smokeless wood by illicit whisky distillers, as burning it didn’t betray the presence of their illegal stills! So, not only does juniper taste good, but it’s got a hint of rebel spirit about it too.

Hopefully, cones collected from juniper here on Glengorm will help to secure the future of this fascinating and delicious plant for generations to come.

Now, where did I put that tonic and lime…?

Stephanie Cope

Glengorm Wildlife Steward
Gin & Tonic Thumb Image: Alan Watson Featherstone – www.treesforlife.org.uk

Hitting the Bottle

Posted on 5th September 2015 by glengorm2020

There have been times this summer when, braced against horizontal rain and bellowing into the faces of distressed transatlantic tourists, I have had cause to re-evaluate my career choice. Sometimes being a wildlife guide just isn’t that easy.

Worse still, there are occasions when the wildlife is there with bells on… but your clients, dressed in pristine tennis shoes and casting wistful glances back towards the Castle and its Whisky Library, seem immune to its manifold charms.

It was at the end of just such a session when, deflated and frustrated, I returned alone to the rocks to search for Basking sharks. I only get to see these animals maybe once or twice a year; despite my every attempt to persuade the guests in question that they were well worth taking a closer look at, they had absolutely no desire to detour from our main route to see them.

I continued the walk in a state of puzzlement – evidently, I was expected to produce something even more spectacular.

Two cavorting Otters, a leaping pod of Bottlenose Dolphins and a White-tailed Eagle fly-past all failed to arouse so much as a flicker of interest. I was horrified.

When I arrived at the shore some time later, the sharks had long since disappeared. I hunkered down on a cushion of grass, plunking small shells into the water and brooding darkly on my misfortune.

It seemed unjust that these natural history ingrates had been blessed with a silver platter of island wildlife, when other [far more deserving] guests were delighted by the wooden spoon of foul weather and clouds of bloodsucking midges. Mother Nature can be capricious.

I waited hours. My backside transcended “numb” and reached some higher level of discomfort. The Sound was a shark-free zone.

Reluctantly, I slung my binoculars over my shoulder and turned towards home. I had already moved some distance before I turned to see a bright star flash in the water. Several others winked after it in rapid succession. A couple of Shags scuttered over the surface, apparently moving out of the way. The dolphins were back.

Galvanised into action, I all but threw myself over the cliff and down onto the salt splashed rocks. My binoculars and camera swung wildly as I lurched from foothold to foothold. Breathless and more than a little sweaty, I watched.

There has been a lot of research into dolphin cognition. And really, I shudder to contemplate what they must have thought – casually swimming past this quiet stretch of the Mull coast, only to discover a crazed human being, literally bouncing with enthusiasm and grinning like an unhinged lottery-winner. No wonder they came so close; it must have been quite a sight. Two dusky silver calves popped up alongside the adults, and for a moment, I thought I might actually explode with happiness.

It’s days like that when I fall in love with this island all over again.

Stephanie Cope

Glengorm Wildlife Steward

Family Photo: the two adult females and the two calves!