SPEYSIDE HIGHLANDS BIRDING SPECIAL! BORDERS SCOTLAND’S HIDDEN GEM Eagles, sharks, wildcats and whales – why you’d be mad to ignore Ardnamurchan. By Steve Newman rdnamurchan is one of the hidden can go birding from four in the morning KEY SITES 4 Adelights of birdwatching in Scotland. until 10 at night, but whatever time of year 5 For many years, it has been in the shadow you visit you should see a tremendous 1 Ardnamurchan of nearby Mull, and there’s a ferry amount. The main species birders come to Lighthouse 6 connecting the two, so if you do visit, a day see are White-tailed Eagle, , 1 trip to Mull is easily on the cards. Hen Harrier, Peregrine and Corn Crake 2 RSPB 7 Birdwatchers have tended to ignore this (the latter around the area). I saw 3 staggeringly beautiful part of the country, three White-tailed Eagles in 10 minutes at with the result that it is seriously the car park beneath Ben Hiant, where 4 Sanna Beach underwatched. Fresh seafood, excellent Golden Eagles have also been spotted. 5 Moss SSSI birdwatching plus some of the best holiday I’d suggest you start your visit by calling in accommodation around makes this a place at the Nadurra Visitor Centre, which offers 6 Archaracle you will remember. Seals, eagles, dolphins, a natural history of the peninsula. They 7 Basking Sharks, whales, Otters, wildcats and have truly outstanding displays and a magnificent Red Deer can all be seen here. walk-through exhibition of the wildlife to 8 Nadurra 8 In summer it hardly gets dark, and you give you an excellent start. There is also a Visitor Centre 2 3

David Robertson (Alamy)

34 Bird Watching 2013 birdwatching.co.uk 35 SPEYSIDE SCOTLAND HIGHLANDS BIRDING ARDNAMURCHAN SPECIAL! BORDERS camera bang in the middle of the heronry Brian andSophiaFuller(Alamy) out the back, with the webcam rotating and Set up your scope WHERE TO STAY zooming in and out. The nest-building, Eagle Hotspot There is a tremendous range of The main consensus of opinion says and search for a courtship and breeding take place at different accommodation on the peninsula, that the car park/picnic area below Ben White-tailed Eagle times with different pairs, so there can be from bunkhouses, campsites and Hiant on the A861 is the place to be. something worth watching throughout the top class hotels to self catering You’ll find it on the B8007 two miles breeding season – it is quite simply cottages and B&Bs. However this west of the Nadurra Nature Centre, fascinating. would not be Ardnamurchan if there immediately after a wind vane. We There’s a café with a sightings board where wasn’t something extra in the wind. certainly saw three White-tailed Eagles you can see what’s been about for the past Some self catering cottages are there in a very short time. It’s clearly few days – Twite, Storm and Leach’s Petrel, ecologically special, having been marked on the OS map at grid ref: Raven, Hen Harrier and both eagles are seen built of recycled materials with a NM 563 615. here, plus Pine Marten and Long-eared Bats grass roof so that they blend in with But it’s also a case of keeping your that nest inside the centre buildings! the scenery, while you can even stay eyes open, as we also saw one on the As well as boat trips to take you out to the on your own private 600-acre island road to on the north-west coast, to see Puffins and other with your own small boat to explore flying along the shore.

seabirds, inland boat trips are available on Steve Newman the nooks and crannies of Loch Loch Shiel, one of the longest freshwater Sunart. lochs, where you can watch White-tailed Eagles wafting by, plus Osprey and Black- ■ We stayed at Laga with throated Divers. Ardnarmurchan Charters in a lodge You can follow this up with a visit to a that overlooked . You different kind of bird nearby, the Blue Parrot. also get your own rib so you can This little café is in the community building potter around the shoreline and in Archaracle, which also houses the Post view birds from the water and Office, and as the name suggests the owner is seawatching trips to the outer always being given artistic representations of islands can be arranged. If you want parrots. It has some of the best value for to be really close to nature you can money local food you will find – everything stay on your own private 600-acre is baked on the premises, which have internet island with your own rib. access and wi-fi. There’s a large viewing www.west-scotland-marine.com window overlooking Loch Shiel and the mountains, plus a sightings board, and Hen ■ Salen Hose B&B – situated Harriers quite often come and frighten all halfway along the peninsula on the the woodland species on the bird tables shoreline and only 200 yards from outside the window. the hotel which is also the pub. Just north of Archaralce is the road leading www.salenhouse.co.uk to Castle Tioran. It runs beside the River Shiel, and I managed to see Red-breasted ■ Steading Holidays have a range of Nigel Blake Merganser, Goosander, Little Grebe and Alan WIlliams selfcatering cottages based around Goldeneye as I drove slowly along. You can watch Little Grebe from Listen for Corn Crake Kilchoan a short drive from the light Archnamurdan is most famous for its large your car alongside the Shiel around Kilchoan house. extent of ancient oak forest, remnant of a www.steading.co.uk woodland which once stretched from Portugal to the Arctic. It runs along the ■ Garmoran Square has four luxury southern coast of the peninsula and the road self catering apartments at Mingarry hugs it closely, with the sea on the other – www.garmoransquare.com sides, giving you the best of both worlds. Eclogical five-star self-catering at Juvenile Hen Harrier and a family of five Jays Glen More. sitting beside the road were among my www.holidayardnamurchan.co.uk sightings. Remote yet easily accessible, Ardnamurchan GETTING THERE measures just 25 by 40 miles but contains all There is a car and foot ferry from of Scotland’s scenic variations. Mountains, Tobermory and from also Corran on moors, huge white sandy beaches, forests of the A82 just south of Fort William, ancient oaks and woodland reserves. There’s you can also watch the Black even such specialities as Kentra Moss SSSI, a Guillemots here. Buses run from Fort fine example of a blanket bog, noted for its William on a daily basis and more sightings of Buzzard and Short-eared Owl. information is available on the Sanna Beach is often quoted as possibly the ardnarmurchan.com website. finest in the world, when you see it you’ll Other sites of interest: understand why, and attracts many waders. www.nadurracentre.co.uk The drive across the ancient volcanic crater www.ardnamurchanlighthouse.com to get there is fabulous in itself. Ardnamurcahn also includes the areas of

36 Bird Watching 2013 birdwatching.co.uk 37 SPEYSIDE SCOTLAND HIGHLANDS BIRDING ARDNAMURCHAN SPECIAL! BORDERS Eirik Gronningsaetar (Alamy) A bit of seawatching could reward you with views of Pomarine Skua Stephen Emerson (Alamy) Sunart and , and it is Sunart which strolled by. This reserve is noted for its Ardnamurchan has the largest section of oak forest, Bullfinches and I also got a Raven on my Lighthouse including a superb hide which overlooks the visit, as far as other corvids go Hooded coast at Garbh Eilean. The hide is open at the Crows are definitely not an endangered back and sides, so you can scan the water and species on Ardnamurchan. shore of Loch Sunart for Ringed Plover, Whatever you do you have to go to the Curlew and Red-throated Diver, or just turn lighthouse which stands on the UK round and scan for the Great Spotted mainland’s most westerly point. I managed Woodpeckers which can be found here. to get a Great Northern Diver offshore as Other excellent walks in the oak woodland well as Manx Shearwaters, Rock Pipits, are found at the ‘Bay of the Flies’ to the south Fulmars and Gannets. There is a shelter with of Archaracle, and to the east of is glass surround here, so if the weather is bad the Ariundle Oakwood NNR, where you can take cover, but the old foghorn Long-tailed Tits and Buzzards can be seen all platform is well worth setting your scope up year round. In summer it plays host to on. Wheatears, Great, Arctic and Pomarine Redstarts, Wood and Willow Warblers, and Skuas are seen here as well as all the common and it in this are as well that Golden Eagles auks, Eiders and Black Guillemots. are spotted. Be careful in Ardnamurchan, though, as the Glenborrodale, the RSPB’s most westerly roads are nearly all single track, and there are mainland reserve, is also found on the passing places almost every 100 yards. It is southern coast road eight miles west of the the law that you should pull over into one of Salen turn-off. There is a car park on the these if a local is behind you, as they know road and the reserve has a rugged way- the roads and travel a bit faster than us marked trail but parts of it are muddy all visitors. It’s nice when you’re sitting in the year round and it is steep and uneven in pub at night and a total stranger comes up to places. However half way up the hill on the you and says “thanks for pulling over and right is dead tree which was occupied by a letting me pass this morning”. It just adds to Tawny Owl just watching cautiously as I the charm of the place.

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