Cairngorms

FORESTS, MOUNTAINS, PEATLANDS, LOCHS, WATERWAYS There’s No Place Like Our Wild Isles

The Cairngorms National Park is one of the most spectacular habitats in the UK, recently celebrated in the BBC’s Wild Isles series. It's beautiful to behold - but you only need to take a tiny peak further to appreciate the complex, vibrant and dynamic ecosystems within it - and understand why the National Park is home to a quarter of the UK’s rare and endangered species.

Unique Pine Woodland

Some of the most important woodlands in Britain grow here. Did you know that native tree species comprise a whopping 79 per cent of the National Park’s woodlands. This is a quarter of the entire Scottish native woodland, and more than half of the surviving Ancient Caledonian forest?!

Rare Peatlands

Peatlands are the most carbon rich ecosystems on earth and the Cairngorms National Park has spectacular peatlands. The warmer weather of Spring brings a burst of activity as the delicate wetland flowers fight up through the moss, tadpoles zoom around in the pools and wetland birds come in to nest in the grasses and heather. Carbon rich and thriving with life.

Lochs & Waterways

The peat-laden water of the National Park filters slowly through the glens, eventually making its way into babbling burns, turning the water the colour of whisky. There are three magnificent rivers famous for their quality of salmon fishing - The Spey, The Don and The Dee, and over 60 lochs and many more lochans and burns.

Regeneration

While exploring these wilder parts of the Cairngorms you may stumble across hillsides where young Scots pine trees are establishing themselves. Riversides are being replanted and the rivers restored with dead wood to create pools for breeding fish. Peatlands are being recovered and the tiny worlds occupied by rare mosses and invertebrates (creatures without spines - from bees to beetles, and spiders to snails!) are being studied and protected.

This regeneration will help to allow the National Park to remain home to some of the most endangered species in the UK such capercaillie, pine marten, osprey, Scottish wildcat, golden eagle, red squirrel, snow bunting, lapwing, crested tit, dotterel and black grouse, as well as the many invertebrates who just love to live here!

Get Spotting - From A Distance!

‘Delve deeper still into the scene and you find the micro-worlds. The intricately beautiful and surprisingly colourful flora, fungi and tiny creatures found only when we take a moment to stop and look closely.’ - Annie from Wild Braemar.

Spotting wildlife and recognising habitats is one of the great joys of visiting the Cairngorms, it can be as simple as a walk on the Speyside Way paying that bit more attention, and of course being super mindful not to disturb the habitats these special creatures call home.

If you would like to delve a bit deeper there are lots of fabulous people who can guide you through the magic of the National Park, check out Wild Braemar, Speyside Wildlife and Wild Discovery to name but a few.

Top

Tips to ensure that you enjoy the wonder of the Cairngorms National Park without disturbing the wildlife that call it home…

• Tread lightly and stick to the path

• Keep your four legged friends on a lead, especially during nesting season (March to August). Our ground nesting birds are really sensitive to disruption www.visitcairngorms.com/things-to-do/nature-wildlife

• If you spot something special, enjoy it from afar and quietly move on - we love to see them but they do not want to see you!

It will be a team effort to ensure these rare and endangered species stick around and we LOVE having them in the Cairngorms National Park - let's help them to thrive together!