Wild mountain sanctuary (Cairngorms)

The Cairngorms is Britain's largest national park and is home to a quarter of its threatened birds, animals and plants. Graham Holliday reports

Scotland is home to two of Britain's 14 national parks. The Cairngorms National Park, which opened in September 2003, is the newest and the largest. It's twice as big as Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, Scotland's other national park. It's a mountainous area, home to four of Scotland's highest mountains. The Spey, Don and Dee rivers all flow through the vast natural expanse.

The park attracts more than half a million visitors every year and the abundant wildlife is one of the biggest draws.

The internationally renowned Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve at Loch Garten, located in the northern section of the park, is where the Osprey returned to Scotland more than 50 years ago. Between April and August the park's Osprey Centre is at its busiest with bird watchers taking advantage of the binoculars and telescopes and trekking along short loch side trails or longer walks through the Caledonian pine forests.

The pines are home to crossbills, red squirrels and crested tits. RSPB wardens run guided walks through the forest. They will explain everything you want to know about the wildlife and the habitat. The wilder and more forbidding high tops are accessible via established footpaths or, more rapidly, by the funicular railway which opened in 2001. The journey to the top of Cairn Gorm itself, which rises to a height of 4,082 feet, takes just 10 minutes. At the top you'll not only find Britain's highest restaurant and highest post box, but also ptarmigan, moun...

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• By : Graham Holiday
• In : Wildlife
• Issue : 30
• Page : 22
• Words : 755