The Amazing Animals of Argyll

Nestled on the edge of the Argyll Forest Park, overlooking beautiful Loch Long, our Argyll Cabins tick all the boxes. Whether you fancy mountain biking, climbing, bagging a Munro or two, or a spot of water sports, this location has it all. But if that sounds a little too much like hard work, a hefty dose of adrenaline can also come in the form of spotting the amazing animals of Argyll...

The last week of February turned out to be great for wildlife spotting, particularly for one group of guests who enjoyed more excitement than they could ever have dreamed of!

Peeking out of their bedroom window at dusk on the Friday, they noticed two four-legged creatures gracefully prancing outside, heads held high as they trotted along in unison. They had spotted a mother and daughter (pictured) who regularly frequent our site. Rather pleased with their luck, our guests retired to bed.

During breakfast the following morning, one particularly sharp-eyed guest became aware of a dark grey head bobbing around in the loch just in front of their cabin. They all dashed out onto the decking, binoculars in hand, to discover the head belonged to a seal!

That afternoon, believing they’d enjoyed more than their fair share of wildlife, the guests were ambling along the shoreline enjoying the magnificent views of the loch against the backdrop of mountains. All of a sudden, their attention was grabbed by a high-pitched squealing sound. Glancing to the north of the loch, they spotted a pair of otters merely yards away, who were delighting themselves (hence the squeals of joy) smashing open mussels using rocks against their bellies.

Delighted with their fantastic introduction to the wonderful Argyll wildlife, the guests decided to spend Sunday afternoon in their hot tub, in the hope that they might see the seal again. Basking in the bubbles, glorious sunshine overhead, they were truly overwhelmed when they spotted a pair of porpoise! The fabulous weather must have tricked the porpoise into thinking that summer had already arrived and they had prematurely headed up the loch in search of a shoal of mackerel. But we’re not complaining about their early appearance, and neither were our guests!

February in the Forest

As winter quickly marches into spring, the rangers at Keldy continue their work of helping out the birdlife that populate the local woods and gardens, especially the Blue and Great Tits, who find Keldy an extremely pleasant habitat. This month I’ve asked Ranger Chris to give us a bird’s eye view into how they look after these common but beautiful birds – and how you can help too...



“Having to cope with a harsh winter like the one we’ve just had, it is easy to forget our feathered friends. Putting out food and providing nesting sites for the birds that populate our sites, and indeed your gardens at home, will go a long way to ensuring the survival of these species. Even the hardiest of Robins won’t turn his beak up at an easy snack and Blue Tits and Great Tits are likely visitors to most gardens. So, as they soon be looking for nesting sites, ready to lay eggs in April/May, now is a good time to give them a helping hand.

As a company, Forest Holidays endeavours to provide a sense of the natural environment we are surrounded by, so it seemed a good idea to get the kids who come to stay involved in building bird boxes and teaching them something about the types of birds they could expect to inhabit them. Building and siting a bird box is not as straightforward as you might expect. The position should be about 1.5-2m up with clear access and sight from a good tree, with small branches for the young to flit about on. The hole should be between 25-32mm to prevent predators stealing their eggs, and drainage holes should be drilled in the bottom.



Not only does this give the kids a sense of achievement and a memento of their stay, but also an education into the wider natural world around them. Keeping activities seasonal with a natural twist is something we strive to achieve here, and using the debris that the forest throws up is a great way for the kids to explore, not to mention a brilliant way of recycling.

Now, what to do in our glorious Spring? Bird feeders anyone? Blooming marvellous idea.”

Early morning sunshine at Deerpark

Martin, ranger at beautiful Deerpark in Cornwall, took this amazing photo early in the morning. In the forefront of the picture is his dog Zak, a much-loved staff member of Deerpark! Below, Martin talks about the photo and the other wildlife he’s spotted in the last couple of days…



“When I took the shelters down this morning, low winter sunrays split between our 100 foot plus Douglas firs, making a wonderful vista. At the time of this photo, a jay, which is a member of the crow family, was calling in the treetops. Recently we saw roe deer on a night vision walk here. Yesterday an egret was perched in the oaks by the bottom pond – that’s a brilliant white heron usually seen at the coastal estuaries. Soon the salmon will start to run our small stream. There may not be many but their 8 pound size is impressive.”

To find out more about staying at Deerpark, click here.

A spicy September

As late summer rollerskates into early autumn, our mild September is, so far, a distinct improvement on August’s endless drizzle. But there is a definite autumnal feeling hanging in the air. The trees are starting to part grudgingly with the first of their leaves. And, just in time for the new school term, smooth, brown conkers are lining the floor under chestnut trees, ready to be stashed away by zealous would-be champs.

But a word of warning: these polished beauties are not the solid, soon-to-be-triumphant gems they might seem. A spokesman for The Campaign for Real Conkers has said that our wet August has made conkers fall before they’re fully ripened. Apparently, the ones that have already fallen are too soft for battle and a well-timed whack from a rival will result in their fragmentation. For any serious conker aficionados hoping to compete in the World Conker Championships on October 10th in Ashton, Northamptonshire, the experts advise using prized conkers from last year or foraging for a champion treasure in Wales or the south west of England, where the weather was better.

But the wet August wasn’t all bad for autumnal crops. If you haven’t already, it’s time to veer away from the the likes of New Zealand braeburns with their astronomic carbon footprint and resolutely choose British. Our combination of chilly winter, sunny spring and early summer has resulted in what is being hailed as the tastiest crop in years, even if they are a little smaller than usual. Try your local farmers' market and see what you can find.

If you grow your own tomatoes and are now left with a glut just as the salad season draws to a close, here’s an easy solution: tomato chilli jam. There’s no exact science to this recipe but mix a kilo or so of tomatoes, a few cloves of garlic and a couple of onions (all roughly chopped) with a substantial glug of cider vinegar, a squeeze of lime juice, a couple of finely chopped super spicy scotch bonnet chillies (remove the seeds if you don’t like too much heat) and a smorgasbord of warming herbs such as cumin, coriander, cloves and cinnamon and bring to the boil. After half an hour or so of intermittent stirring, add 100g of demerara sugar. Stir regularly for another 45 minutes and place in warmed, sterilized jars. Once it has cooled, put in the fridge where it will keep for a month or so. Delicious with cheese and the perfect alternative to a bottle of wine if you’re heading to friends for dinner.

Summer lingers longer in the forest

There’s good news and bad news – it’s started raining. That should come as no surprise for two reasons: believe it or not August is statistically one of the four wettest months of the year and, let’s be honest, this is Britain and it simply can’t stay that dry for that long!

Rain might be bad news if you’re planning a holiday day in the open air. Then again the forest isn’t exactly ‘open air’, there is stacks of shelter and you can find heaps to do without getting too wet. Actually being in the forest in the rain is rather wonderful. The rattle of rain in the leaves high above you followed by the gentle drip and soft thud of fat drops onto pine-needles is a glorious sound. Better still on these warm summer days a gentle mist floats above the forest floor off to the sides of the pathways and tracks. Best of all, because rain always comes to an end, you get that moment when the sun breaks through the cloud and lights up a forest glade. It’s all very magical and, if a shower or two is inevitable, I’d much rather be in amongst the trees than out on the beach!

The good news is that this steady rain will mean summer lingers longer in the woodlands. Big and tough old trees don’t mind it dry so much, they have deep roots and can drink from a long way below the surface. But dry spells stress out smaller plants and flowers which quickly flower and go to seed to preserve continuity of their next generation. After that they wither and die and the forest floor can look rather sad and sorry. But not this year.

The recent rains over these past couple of weeks have freshened up everything – we even have green grass again! Leaves that were decidedly thinking about changing colour have decided to hang on tightly to their branches for a little while longer. And the blackberries have plumped-up and hang fat, sweet and juicy on the briars – good for the birds and bees, and I always harvest my share too for making bramble jelly or blackberry jam. I made 4 pounds this weekend with a recipe made much more simple by the discovery of special jam sugar with added pectin on the supermarket shelf. Add about 250mls of water to 3 pounds of blackberries and gently simmer for about 10 minutes. Slowly stir in a whole bag of jam sugar and bring to a gently rolling boil for about 20 minutes, stirring regularly so it doesn’t catch. Allow to cool for a bit then pour into sterilised jam jars (you’ll need four). If you want to check that it’s setting put a teaspoon sized dollop on a plate you’ve cooled in the fridge. Leave it for one minute then push the edge with the spoon – it should start to crease.

With a stock of preserves in the larder all I need to do now is wait for the nights to draw in so I can sit next to the log burner in my cabin and enjoy toast and jam and tea! It looks like being a glorious autumn and there is no finer way to celebrate.

Forest Holidays sites are open all year round and there is still some availability for early autumn. As you can see above it looks like being an especially fine year to come and visit.

Mother Nature’s Glorious Coalition

The two goslings shown in the photograph were born on Election Day. Naturally one was named David and the other Nick. They’re being ‘shadowed’ by head goose Victor and a couple of senior matron geese. In general geese are a pretty tight bunch and look after each other. When you see skeins of them flying in a ‘V’ formation overhead what you might not realise is that they take it in turns at the front to set the pace for the others. All the honking is to let the leader know that the guys on his wing are still in touch. They’d make the perfect political party!

June is the month when everything in the forest coalesces to show nature in all her glory. Even the things that seemed a bit slow of the mark after the snow and frosts of winter seem to make an effort and have now caught up. All is present and correct, buds are full to bursting, dragonflies are buzzing around the waters’ edge (did you know that dragonflies can go both forwards and backwards at around 60 mph?), and as we get towards mid-summer’s day nowhere on earth could be busier.

It’s a time when all the ancient elements – Earth, Air, Fire and Water – make their presence felt in abundance; although I’m glad to say the only fires we see are the many barbeques that take place on the verandas of our fabulous Forest Holidays log cabins. Walk around any of our sites in the evening and the smells are tantalisingly good, so too the sounds of chinking glasses and splashing from the hot tubs. Because we’re naturally some way off the beaten track we take extra care to stock our Forest Lodge on-site shops with local produce for the Barbie and also keep the wine fridge full. (Real ale fans will be delighted to hear we also do a good line in whatever the local brewery has to offer!)

June generally sees a mixture of visitors to our various Forest Holidays sites. It’s not yet high season for summer holidays so we get older folk (often along with their four-legged friends), younger mums and dads with children not yet at school, romantic couples and just teams of friends who come to bike or walk the forest trails. They all have one thing in common – they love the great outdoors.

Whilst we don’t normally talk politics, mention of our Election Day geese brings to mind that soon the real Dave and Nick will be presenting their first budget, and by all accounts it will be a tough one. It’s good to know then that down in the forest you can still afford to escape for a few days far away from the outside world – we always have a few short term bargains on our website so if you want to get away at short notice check our www.forestholidays.com

If you’re a football fan you don’t need to worry about missing the world cup – all our cabins have good sized TV’s so you’ll be able to catch all the games then jump into the hot tub with a beer or two to celebrate (or wash your cares away!)

This month's forest trivia:

The oldest tree in the UK and perhaps in Europe is believed to be the Fortingall Yew near Aberfeldy in Scotland, and is thought to be 5,000 years old.

Orchid seeds are so small that one million of would weigh less than 1 gm.

In a life time, the average person eats eight spiders.

Snug as a bug in a log cabin!

People say nice things about the wooden cabins they stay in when they come on a Forest Holiday. But our log-based hospitality doesn’t extend just to humans (or their dogs) but some of the smaller guests on our woodland sites – the bugs!

The photo above is of a ‘bug hotel’, specially built by our rangers around autumn time for beetles and bugs. During summer they creep and crawl around the forest floor, or hover through the forest canopy. However when it comes to winter a bug’s life is all about finding somewhere nice and cosy to settle into during the cold wet months. The ideal place for our human visitors may be a comfortable log cabin complete with log burning stove and hut tub on the balcony but your average bug’s idea of heaven is a jumbled up pile of wood and stones with lots of cracks and crevices to snuggle into.

This winter our bug hotels have been more needed than ever by our six-legged friends. Even by any bugs’ standard this has been a year for a late lie-in deep in a covering of twigs. Even if they were thinking of venturing out the recent snows and cold spells will keep them snoozing for a few more weeks yet. It’s still a slow old start to spring and we think we’ll be seeing one of those years that, when the warm weather finally comes, will explode into glorious activity all at once.

That’s why so many of our visitors come back two of even three times every year. Well over half the population of the world lives in towns and cities these days and are really rather cut off from the glories of nature and her annual cycles. Come for three or four days now though, then the same again in summer, and in autumn, and you really can see what the seasons mean to us ‘out-of-townies’ (bugs included!) Perhaps that’s why many of our regular visitors like to come back to the same site and even stay in exactly the same cabin. By getting to know the view from their big picture windows they can more easily see how the seasons revolve.

For the next few weeks however nature will keep us guessing about when she plans to spring into life. Suddenly of course we have the added interest of seeing just how the cloud of ash from the volcano with the unpronounceable name in Iceland will affect matters. If there’s one thing you learn as a forest ranger it’s that no two years are ever the same.

Do come and see for yourself. Simply visit our website at www.forestholidays.co.uk. Whatever the weather we promise we’ll keep you as snug as a bug in a log pile!

This week’s forest trivia:

Did you know:

• Slugs have 4 noses
• Oak trees live for around 900 years – 300 growing, 300 in majestic middle age, 300 in graceful decline
• A duck’s quack never echoes (and nobody know why)
• Owls are the only birds that can see blue
• The UK has the largest concentration of ancient trees in Northern Europe