Day 4 - Uath Lochans Trail and Highlands Animal Park
Today was the first day proper of our holiday. To get things of to a good start we got up early (the body is still firmly on working time zone) and went to the Scottish Highland Wildlife Park for when it opened at 10am.
I had some granola and strawberries for breakfast, and watching the birds feeding on the balcony.
We arrived at about 10:30am, and despite a light drizzling of rain, we headed straight to the shop to book our place onto one of the tours of the park. This worked out pretty well for us because the tour guide was very entertaining and as it was raining we kept dry inside the bus.
Once we were finished on the tour, we went about the walking section of the park. First of all was the red pandas, but we didn't see anything so we thought we'd come back later. It then started raining so we headed back to the cafe for a drink.
We were lucky that the snow monkeys were about to be fed, so there was a short talk about them to keep us entertained whilst we waited for the rain to stop.
After a bit, we decided it was just worth going out in the rain. It was worth it because we saw a red squirrel as we looked around the woodland section. I know it is sort of cheating because it was on a bird feeder at the time, but I managed to get a photo which gives the impression we just stumbled upon it in the wild! So far I have to say on this holiday, after just 2 days it seems to be turning into a bird watching feast (please note, we don't own binoculars or hiking boots, or waterproof clothing....yet). In amongst the grass we also spotted a red-legged partridge.
We went back to the red panda who obliged us with a hello.
After this we drove around the nature reserve by ourselves this time. I managed to get a snap of the lapwings which were all over the place, so many!
By the time we left it was approaching 2pm. We were both hungry so we drove to nearby Newtonmore for lunch. We found a
We then made a short drive around the Loch Insh and into the Inshriach Forest. Then we went to a nearby Forestry Commission area at the Uath Lochans Trail.
The walk began through the forest as we walked away from the car park. There was quite a step cliff amongst the trues which was astonishing when combined with some very old, and very tall trees!
We then took a turn and walked into a sort of marsh/heath-land. There was
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| View and weather this morning, still cloudy |
I had some granola and strawberries for breakfast, and watching the birds feeding on the balcony.
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| Breakfast |
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| Siskin |
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| Crested Tit |
We arrived at about 10:30am, and despite a light drizzling of rain, we headed straight to the shop to book our place onto one of the tours of the park. This worked out pretty well for us because the tour guide was very entertaining and as it was raining we kept dry inside the bus.
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| Tour bus by shop |
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| View from back of bus |
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| The epitome of Scottish sight-seeing |
Once we were finished on the tour, we went about the walking section of the park. First of all was the red pandas, but we didn't see anything so we thought we'd come back later. It then started raining so we headed back to the cafe for a drink.
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| Visiting the red panda enclosure |
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| Cafe at Highland Wildlife Park |
We were lucky that the snow monkeys were about to be fed, so there was a short talk about them to keep us entertained whilst we waited for the rain to stop.
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| Snow Monkey feeding time |
After a bit, we decided it was just worth going out in the rain. It was worth it because we saw a red squirrel as we looked around the woodland section. I know it is sort of cheating because it was on a bird feeder at the time, but I managed to get a photo which gives the impression we just stumbled upon it in the wild! So far I have to say on this holiday, after just 2 days it seems to be turning into a bird watching feast (please note, we don't own binoculars or hiking boots, or waterproof clothing....yet). In amongst the grass we also spotted a red-legged partridge.
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| Red Squirell |
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| Can't remember what this is |
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| Or these. |
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| Red legged Partridge (not an official exhibit!) |
We went back to the red panda who obliged us with a hello.
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| Red Panda |
After this we drove around the nature reserve by ourselves this time. I managed to get a snap of the lapwings which were all over the place, so many!
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| Lapwing |
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| Lunch |
We then made a short drive around the Loch Insh and into the Inshriach Forest. Then we went to a nearby Forestry Commission area at the Uath Lochans Trail.
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| Map of forest park |
The walk began through the forest as we walked away from the car park. There was quite a step cliff amongst the trues which was astonishing when combined with some very old, and very tall trees!
We then took a turn and walked into a sort of marsh/heath-land. There was
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| Spotted Flycatcher (we think!) |
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| Marsh |
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| Boardwalk through marshes |
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| Dumbledore beetle |
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