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WILDLIFE ON THE WILDCAT TRAIL NOTE: your chances
of seeing wildlife are greatly increased if you are not accompanied by a dog
, if you wear camouflage type , non-rustling clothing and are patient! Perfume and strong-scented detergents are
great deterrents to all wildlife.
Use good binoculars rather than
trying to approach the creature you are interested in. Despite the
name, you are not likely to encounter
a wildcat along the Trail. They are wild and will keep away from
well-used paths. They do,
however, breed in the area. More likely to be
seen are Frogs, mountain hare and
ordinary rabbits, red squirrel, otters, roe deer, stoats,
toads, water voles, weasels, red deer (on the moorland section) and mountain goats
( on Creag Dhubh) dippers, herons,
goosanders, mallard, mergansers,
swans, waders, geese, oyster catchers, curlews, magpies, ringed plover, peewits ,
siskins, wagtail, pheasant, grouse, red grouse and
buzzards brown trout, salmon, caddis
fly, dragonflies WILDFLOWERS ON THE WILDCAT TRAIL The Speybanks
section of the Wildcat Trail passes through the River-Spey-Insh Marshes SSSI
(site of special scientific interest).
Due to the dynamic nature of the river, the meadows alongside it have a large and rare concentration of
native orchids and other wild flowering plants. The following
flowers were identified on the morning of
Blaeberrry,
crowberry, bog myrtle and juniper can
also be seen. FUNGI ON THE WILDCAT TRAIL Depending on the
season, the moorland area of the
Craggan, Strone and Allt Laraidh sections of the Trail are rich in fungi –
puffballs, common field mushrooms,
chanterelles. |
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