I know this blog is all about Cairngorms Life, but a little poetic licence must be allowed for this post, as I am travelling about 15 miles South of the Park to The Loch of Lowes. Home of the famous Osprey nest (see the first shot) but also in recent years home of some Beavers. Went there last night in the hope of seeing one , but just in case we went to the Lunan Burn right beside the A 923 Blairgowrie road where we knew there were some Beaver dams just so I could have something to write about. This spot has become so well known that coaches stop on the straight bit of road & show the passengers the dams some 5 yards from the road edge. So the first two Beaver related shots show you how hard the Beavers work to cut down the trees, which just like coppicing by man, will regrow from the stumps. These are then transferred to the dams, which I have tried to illustrate in the next two shots.
We then went on to The Scottish Wildlife Trust sight half a mile back towards Dunkeld to their hides, of which two are left open for the likes of us to visit at dusk to try & see the Beaver. Now if you look at the size of Loch of Lowes (in the next shot) you can see the chances of actually seeing a Beaver are pretty remote.
But what a surprise when my visiting son yelled out “Beaver”, and there 200 yards to our left was the elusive creature, not swimming away, but swimming towards us. The next shot shows it that distance away & the next when it was just 20 yards away from us just casually paddling along passed the hide. What an exciting moment for us all, three of us in that hide & two in the on. Quality of the shots is not great, but it was gone 9pm when we got these.
My first ever wild Beaver, hence the reason I had to share it with you all.t
One of the this years Osprey, fledged but waiting to be fed.
