Christine's walking & birds blog

Little Wyvis

Garbat Forest rang with the songs of willow warblers and wrens as we made our way up the familiar rocky path alongside the Allt a' Bhealaich Mhoir. A cuckoo was vocal but unseen. Just after we crossed the stream and were negotiating the boggy hillside, a red grouse was heard in the heather - but again, not seen. A golden eagle flew right over us, high and heading north.


A tiny lilac flower with kidney-shaped leaves was, I think, a marsh violet. Well, it was certainly growing in a marsh, anyway!

The walking on the ridge was dry and enjoyable, and having gained the first top we were soon at the summit. Ben Wyvis is in the background.


After lunch we retraced our steps. A fine female wheatear was seen on crags; but she was wary, and flew off strongly up the hill.


Before dropping back down the flank of the hill, we carried on to take in the northern top of Tom na Caillich (An Cabar in the background). Greger waited by the cairn.....


.....while I walked a bit further down to snap our walk so far - Little Wyvis (764m on far left) and the unnamed top above the col.


It was great to be wandering again across montane heath, where the moss really did feel like a deep-pile carpet. All too soon we had to leave the ridge and drop down into wetter areas - but there were compensations. Later: I thought this low, sprawling shrub was dwarf birch but now not so sure.


A sedge resembling common cottongrass (bog cotton) could be hare's tail cottongrass. Bog cotton grows in a more scattered fashion, rather than in a clump.


Looking north-west, with Loch Glascarnoch in the distance to the left....


As we drew near the stream-crossing, a cuckoo flew in front of us into the plantation pursued by a meadow pipit. Dropping back down through the Garbat Forest we looked across to Carn na Dubh Choille (the notched bump on the skyline), a small hill with a trig point that we walked up in October 2016.


The walk was about 11 kilometres. I was disappointed not to see a dotterel, but you can't be too downhearted when a golden eagle has crossed your path.