Wildcats and Eagle Owls - my summer holiday

I can't believe I haven't blogged since the 1st June - the downside of working as a gardener! Because I can't leave my clients' gardens for too long in summer I was only able to get away for a week with the caravan at the end of June but I managed to spin it out to 9 nights. I spent the first two at Invernahavon and managed to up my score of wildcats to 30 - only 100 to go! I then towed up to Brora, hoping for a day on the beach but the weather did not cooperate so I went to see the falconry display at Dunrobin Castle instead. I can thoroughly recommend it - the falconer obviously knows his stuff and is very entertaining. The birds are magnificent. I only wish I had a camera to do them justice!

My favourite is the eagle owl - absolutely beautiful. It's not cheap getting in to the castle so, unless you are into old buildings, make sure you time your visit to coincide with the falconry. The gardens were a bit of a disappointment with not much colour - I expected better at that time of year.

From Brora I headed up to John O' Groats and a pitch on my cousin's farm. Unlike Brora site she now has broadband and wifi so I can keep up to date when visiting. The downside is that I need to think of a new excuse to visit Flavours ice cream shop down at Groats (as the locals call it). Their ice cream is wonderful and the service is friendly. I wasn't so impressed with the Natural Retreats cafe at Groats - the wifi was down and the service a bit indifferent. I can also make better carrot cake myself! However it does offer nice views of Orkney.

I stayed at Brora again on the way home and again the weather was not really beach weather. Having done Dunrobin, there wasn't much else to do in the area. I'm not sure I'll go to Brora next year - the wardens are nice and so is the site but it's always full in summer and I felt a bit claustrophobic in the first pitch I chose - surrounded by a sea of caravans. Being woken up at 8.30am by the neighbour's telly did not help. (Note to caravanners with awnings - they are not soundproof.)

It was a long day towing home from Brora so, next year, I think I'll go back to using Culloden as a convenient stopover, despite its lack of wifi.

Eagles and Partridges but no Wild Cats

I didn't spot any more wildcats on my recent trip to Invernahavon site near Newtonmore - instead, thanks to wifi on the site and twitter, I discovered that there were a number of free events running that weekend in the Cairngorms National Park and so I went to two of them. The first was a guided walk through Glenmore forest by Trees for Life. The guides were very knowledgeable and the forecast rain did not materialise so it was very enjoyable. The second event was a talk on raptors by Roy Dennis - an expert who has spent years studying raptors and following their movements via satellite tagging. The talk was excellent with a good question and answer session afterwards but was very poorly attended. It was a held on a nice Sunday afternoon which may not have helped. It finished just in time for me to drive to Inshriach Nursery for a cup of tea and scrumptious cake followed by a wander round the gardens.

The caravan site is very pleasant, although the sound of traffic on the nearby A9 was intrusive at times. The toilet block is good and there is a mix of hard standings and grass pitches with a few seasonal caravans scattered around. It has changed ownership recently and, according to some regulars I spoke to, has not changed although there is some concern that it might in the future. My main concern is that there is no warden on site overnight or for parts of the day and tents are allowed to pitch where they like, not just in the designated tent area. My peaceful grass pitch at the far end of the site was spoilt on the last night by a family pitching a tent right behind it "because they always pitch there" even although the tent area was empty. In the end I moved the caravan rather than put up with their noise.

I always like to take some books to read when I go away in the caravan and, this time, I had a copy of The Eagle's Way by Jim Crumley which I had won in a facebook competition run by the RSPB. I thoroughly enjoyed it - Crumley's descriptions of eagle-watching in the Scottish hills are poetic and also give an insight into the life of a dedicated naturalist. He also has some thoughful observations on the re-introduction of the Sea Eagle to Scotland and, in particular, whether the east coast birds will stay in the east or migrate west, as some have already done, notably Sula who is currently starring in the BBC's Springwatch. I'd definitely recommend the book to all wildlife fans.

Talking of wildlife, I got a superb view of a red-legged partridge sitting on a stone wall not a stone's throw from the caravan at Invernahavon and also spotted thrushes and meadow pipits in the grass. I could faintly hear a cuckoo calling - my first for 2014. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos - the partridge made like a road-runner as soon as I got the camera out and I didn't take it on the forest walk because I was expecting rain! Inshriach Nursery tea-room is a great place to watch red squirrels which come to the feeders just outside the window, along with a variety of birds. I definitely recommend it!

Gulls fly south - I head north in search of wildcats

My first caravan trip of this year seems like a fading memory now, however I am planning the next one! Everything went well last month, unlike my first trip last year which was beset by problems, including a dead battery and a seized mover - the hazards of not using the van over the winter. I had an uneventful drive up to Bunree site near Fort William where I stayed for six nights. The weather could have been better (it was very windy) but I did get some sunshine and an afternoon skiing at Glencoe.
I also did some bird watching and was fascinated to observe that, in the late afternoon, all the gulls seemed to be flying SW down Loch Linnhe. None went in the opposite direction. I watched for quite a while as groups of gulls appeared from behind the headland to the north and headed south. If anyone has an explanation for this behaviour I'd be really interested to hear it!

I'm now turning my attention to future trips and have booked a weekend at Invernahavon near Newtonmore in the not too distant future. I have not been to this site before so am looking forward to seeing what it is like. It is in a good location for hillwalking but, if the weather is bad, I can also do some research on my family tree as one of my grandfathers came from that area. I may also see if I can find more of the Newtonmore wildcats - I've found a few already but there are lots more to get! I've managed to book time off work so that I can stay 3 nights and make the most of the trip. If I like the site, I may well use it as a stopping point for my summer holiday, when I head further north for a week. The joys of planning! I can't wait to get away again!

Down with pop-tops

I hate pop-tops - you know - the modern equivalents of the VW caravanette without the character. I never pitch next to one if I can possibly help it and I get a sinking feeling when I see one coming towards the vacant pitch next door. I think there should be a separate area on site for these tents-on-wheels. Caravans don't have much sound-proofing but these campervans have none, plus, they are fitted with car stereos - not a good combination. I very rarely have to ask the neighbours to turn it down but, recently, I had to do so twice with the owner of a campervan who liked to listen to the radio and assumed that all her neighbours did too - at 10.30pm. Also, the sliding side doors, which most campervans seem to have, make a hell of a racket when the occupants decide to visit the toilet block in the wee small hours of the morning. Give me a caravan with proper on-board facilities for weak bladders any night of the week. Campervans are ideal for wild caravanning, where they can park up in a remote layby and not bother anybody, indeed I sometimes wish I had one myself for that very purpose. They are not good neighbours on caravan sites and so, if you, dear reader, happen to own one of these blots on the landscape, please do not park it next to my beautiful Bailey. Go off and find a layby somewhere, far from human habitation. Or buy a caravan.

Caravan Companions

When I first started caravanning I was amazed at the number of caravanners with dogs. And not just one dog - I have seen as many as four dogs in one caravan. I shouldn't really have been surprised - not all guesthouses or holiday homes allow pets and so caravanning is the obvious choice if you don't want to be separated from your pet. It saves the hassle and expense of pet-sitters or kennels. I had a guinea pig when I bought the Bailey but never took her away with me - she could be quite vocal when she wanted fed and she also had an annoying habit of rattling her cage bars with her teeth. Fortunately I had a friend who was happy to look after her, in return for my doing some budgie-sitting.

When the guinea pig died I decided to be pet-free but, after a few months, I was asked to rehome a male guinea pig whose family were emigrating. Tom has turned out to be much quieter than either of the two females I have previously owned and so I took him away one weekend to see how we got on. He sits quite happily in his cage on one of the seats and goes in his travel box in the toilet overnight. He seems to cope with the car travel and is an ideal caravan companion, apart from the hay and sawdust all over the floor.

Recently I offered to take a dog whose elderly owner had died. He was a lovely old boy and I was looking forward to taking him caravanning, thinking of all the walks we would do. Unfortunately Pip turned out to be extremely active for his 14 years and would not settle if I was in the room. He was even worse when I took him up to the caravan at the storage yard - he was just not happy in the van and also had trouble negotiating the steps into it. I have very reluctantly decided that he is not the dog for me, because all my holidays plus some weekends are spent in the caravan and I don't see the point of having a dog if I can't take him on holiday with me. Now I am surprised again that so many people have dogs in caravans since not all dogs take to it and not all dogs travel well - Pip didn't, in spite of my buying a cage for him to travel in.

I will probably be looking enviously at dog-owners on my next caravan trip and wishing I could have taken Pip with me, however he has gone to a good home - one without a car or caravan.