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Glen Tanar Estate lies in the heart of Royal Deeside
in Scotland which covers 25,000 acres. This
stunning wilderness location has everything a nature lover could want - mountains,
rivers and lots of Caledonian pine forest. | | Glen
Tanar - prime pine forest. |
Spectacular
birds
 The
forest boasts some of the most spectacular and specialised creatures to be found
anywhere in the UK including the highly secretive Capercaillie.
This turkey
sized bird is dependent on the Caledonian Pine Forest for its very survival. The
Capercaillie is a big bird that can't be missed - they crash their way through
the woods at 40mph. The bird is a super-sized member of the grouse family,
but it's also a bird that's under a lot of pressure and overall numbers are still
low. The Blaeberry - known in England as the Bilberry - is the key to the
Capercaillie's survival. It acts as a host for caterpillars and other insect
life which in turn are food for the Capercaillie's chicks. The plant is
susceptible to being crowded out by heather and bracken, but at Glen Tamar those
plants are controlled. Where the Blaeberry thrives, it is hoped that the
Capercaillie will do well too. Woodland
Pines  The
Scots Pine, the dominant tree of the first wild wood to appear after the ice age
ended.
Only a few remnants remain and this estate contains one of them. The
reason why these trees are so important is that a whole range of creatures depend
on it today for its survival - including one bird that can be found in Scotland
and nowhere else in the world. Crossbills are almost totally dependent on
Scots Pines for their feeding. The bird's bill has an adaptation for twisting
open the scales of the pine cones to get at the seeds inside. Naturalists
used to think all the Crossbills in the UK were one species - in fact it's now
been nailed down that the Scottish variety is a distinct species of its own. Salmon
supreme  There's
another specialist of the Scottish Highlands that can be found on the estate -
the Salmon.
The Dee is one of our best British salmon rivers - and in autumn
the Glen Tanar estate is one of the best places to see them spawn. Spawning
on the Dee takes place between October and November when the female fish lay their
eggs. Spawning sites are used year after year with the Salmon returning
to the same places they lived. The male fish fertilises the females eggs,
then the female covers the eggs by moving gravel over the completed nest. The
result is one of the richest Salmon rivers in the British Isles.
Photo
credits Salmon photograph copyright of
PA Images. Crossbill image courtesy of Michael
and David Callan. Capercaillie courtesy of RSPB Images and Desmond Duggan. | 
