Land of brown heath and shaggy wood.
Land of the mountain and the flood
(Sir Walter Scott)
What can I say … Abernethy is brilliant … the end. But somehow I think that doesn’t quite constitute a blog. But if you have been here (that’s Abernethy National Nature Reserve – approximately 10 miles north of Aviemore, 5 miles south of Granton on Spey) then you know that one can easily run out of superlatives that describe the place. The picture by the way, is looking south toward Cairngorm and Bynack More – just two of the four Munros on the reserve. Abernethy also claims the summit of Ben Macdui. The gully between these two mountains you can see is Strath Nethy – the origin of the River Nethy which runs out of Loch Avon and joins the Spey just north of Nethy Bridge. Loch Avon is one of the wildest, quietest and most spiritual places I have ever been to in Scotland, and there are several such spots on this gob smackingly gorgeous reserve. Place yourself in this picture and you are standing on the forest edge, a key location for forest expansion. You see, as trees don’t grow fast, Abernethy has this 200 year vision to double the size of the forest as it currently stands (from 4.2 thousand hectares to 9 thousand). This is brave and ambitious but by 2210 there will be a wooded landscape from Loch Avon to Loch Garten, contiguous with Glen Feshie and the Deeside Glens. This will help replace some of 1.5 million hectares of ancient caledonian pine woods we have lost over the intervening 5000 years. Is this blog turning into a safe haven for statistics? Well if so, sorry but here’s another. Now only 1% of this once massive northern boreal forest remains – most of it at Abernethy. Standing in Abernethy forest is to stand in a vanishing habitat. This ancient ‘shaggy wood’ once upon a time stretched from Perth to Sutherland and as far east and west as the land would allow. No wonder some of Abernethy’s pine woodland species are scarce, rare or new to science. I have been helping to ensure this valuable habitat has a viable future by burning away the heather and moss at the forest edge to create seed beds in burnt areas for granny pines and deciduous trees to regenerate.
Black grouse also love these burnt patches so its helping this vulnerable species to increase its population too. All this work at helping forest expansion is useless if newly seeded trees aren’t protected from marauding browsing deer. Methods for keeping this under control require a keen eye and a steady hand (care of Abernethy wardens).
Talking of ‘targets’ – scarce species (this is not what you think its going to be!) are helped through ‘forest re-structuring’ (i.e. pulling down, killing off, decapitating trees) and hits (geddit?) many of Abernethy’s management objectives; increasing light levels will assist capercaillie’s favourite food (blaeberry) to flourish, it will create lots of dead wood – vital for supporting invertebrate and nesting bird populations, as well as provide lots of space for twisted granny pines to extend lower branches for capercaillie roosts.
There’s so much to say about Abernethy (as its not just about forests) I dont know what to leave out! But I think I’m suppose to be talking about community engagement? Right?
Well, there’s plenty of scope for this too. I am tasked with ensuring the good people of Nethy Bridge and Boat of Garten understand the vision for Abernethy and the reason why the RSPB do what they do – even if this raises an eyebrow or two in the telling! I have been involved in very grown up stuff …. Highland Council and Cairngorm National Park Authority surveys, Community Council and Highland Games Committee meetings (no photos of these I’m pleased to say!), writing news letters for local communities, giving illustrated talks and helping grow a local day volunteers group for Abernethy.
There’s been lots of fun along the way too with wee people; making a monster dragon fly at Insh Marshes fun day was terrific! AND THEY CALL THIS WORK?!
For visitors coming further afield I have been; running the Wednesday guided walks around Loch Garten, giving formal presentations that show case the reserve and helping dedicated and hard pressed staff inspire visitors with the antics of the fish-eating-feathery-super-stars of Loch Garten Osprey Centre. I have been organising and running stalls for events (Spring Festival, Abernethy Highland Games, Celebrating Pinewood Forests) and had amazing experiences with the hard working and incredibly skilled Field Teachers. Children can be terrifying don’t you know! And very recently, Hayley Wiswell (Natural Talent Apprentice for Pine Woodland Invertebrates) and I hosted a ‘Bug-Tastic’ family event which boosted my skills with a bug ‘pooter’ no end.
Oh and just to round it all back up to Abernethy’s biodiversity roots …. as Hayley and I were seeking out beasties for the pit fall traps for our event, we found a fungi …. NEW TO ABERNETHY!! – a jelly tongue (Pseudohydnum gelatinosum). I’m blushing ….
So seven months in and I’m just scraped the top off this iceberg. I still have so much to do! As I keep telling them up here – the potential for community engagement at Abernethy is enormous! The only frustration I have is that I cant get to do all I want … to engage a community … in a year. Have I mentioned the fantastic training opportunities I’ve gobbled up? I am fired to tell any given audience that will yield to my rantings about; bats, moths, lichens, mushrooms, bryophytes and wood ants! I haven’t spoken about my two potential projects yet – introducing a Walking to Health programme and renovating an old croft. Neither have I mentioned the fun I’ve just had with my own community (BTCV) at Caerlaverock Castle (Dumfries and Galloway) – gawd that was smelly, mucky and wet!
But I think I better leave these yarns for another time as my next task is to find out how to insert photos. If they are sitting resplendent in this blog as you read … then you know I have yet another string to my bow. Blogging makes me feel a tad self indulgent so thanks for reading all about me. Hope you enjoyed it.