Mike Dilger’s wildlife watching
In his series of great places to watch wildlife in the UK, the star of BBC One’s The One Show this month takes us up a Scottish mountain to scout out some of Britain’s wildest inhabitants.
Scout out some of Britain’s wildest inhabitants, on the Scottish hills
T he famous naturalist John Muir once declared “the mountains are calling and I must go”. And for any natural historian keen to track down some of Britain’s remotest creatures as they prepare to hunker down for winter, there can be no finer time to head for the hills than November.
If montane wildlife is your quarry of choice, then the only country in the UK able to offer the full complement of species from this select, hardy group is, of course, Scotland. The Scottish Highlands and mountainous islands offer at best a stark and beautiful landscape unparalleled anywhere else in the British Isles – and at worst a forbidding domain just waiting to trip up the unwary. While hardly wishing to discourage any intrepid naturalists, it should be pointed out that ten people lost their lives on Scottish hills during the first three months of 2018 alone. So this is a habitat that must be never taken for granted.
The good news is that the best weather conditions to spot montane wildlife perfectly mirror the times when it is also safest to do so. Certainly, an up-to- date forecast is an essential prerequisite before ascending into our scrap of Arcticlike territory. The Mountain Weather Information Service provides invaluable information on what can frequently be a rapidly changing scenario at high altitudes. In essence, if it’s wet, cloudy and windy in towns such as Aviemore or Grantown-on-Spey, then in the mountains it will be considerably worse. As winter arguably stakes a claim on Scotland’s summits before anywhere else, a major advantage for choosing this time