Some Glencoldon Cottage Plans for 2020
Perhaps not the fast start to our 2020s blogging as we had planned!! But, we’ve been busy sorting out a few things for the year ahead. Now that we’ve started, there should be regular updates here (every 2-3 weeks?) about exciting things going on around Strathspey, the National Park and Boat of Garten; and interesting news from some of our friends, partner businesses, local community groups and wildlife initiatives.
One exciting development this month is that we’ve become an official fund raiser for the Cairngorms Trust. The charity is helping the Cairngorms area by funding environmental, cultural, heritage and infrastructure (path, bridge maintenance etc.) projects (#lovethecairngorms).
Although the Cairngorms Trust is set up to provide benefit all across the Cairngorms National Park, for Glencoldon Cottage, and our visitors, it is especially relevant at the moment because any funds raised are being funnelled towards the audacious attempt to entice a passing Osprey (or pair even better!) to become resident in Boat of Garten! There are hundreds of good reasons for the village to already be known as the “Osprey Village” (many possibly in flight, as I blog, somewhere between Africa and Scotland! I think I’m right in saying all UK Ospreys [more than 250 pairs] are descendants of the original pair at Loch Garten [1959]!). However, it would obviously be fantastic if the village again actually had some resident Ospreys down at Milton Loch!
BoGWiG
That’s the plan anyway! All pulled together by the enthusiastic and innovative Boat of Garten Wildlife Group (BoGWiG), and Community Company. So, any donations our guests make will be going towards this inspiring community project (and we’ll match fund all the kind donations made, to help get this off the ground as soon as possible!). We’ll certainly need to post some photos of that on here when the funds are raised, and the nest is lifted into the trees some time in the next few months!
Go Wild!
However, photography is definitely not something we’re claiming any prowess in (as you can perhaps tell from some of the shots on here!). But, we are getting inspired to improve after starting to host a couple of wildlife photography courses at the cottage. Andrew Marshall, author of Photographing Wildlife in the UK, contracted contributor to the RSPB image library, and owner of Go Wild, has been running a couple of courses annually in the snowbound Cairngorms for a few years now. Check out (here) some of the amazing wildlife photos taken not just in the snowy Cairngorms but all over the world!
After being forced to find a new base for his courses in the Highlands, we’re so pleased to have been able to provide Andrew with what he and his guests (the budding nature photographers!) were looking for – a base immersed in the wild Strathspey landscape with a wild garden to help inspire the flow of creative juices! We hope this is a long fruitful relationship with a few top local wildlife photos to view, and hopefully share, now and again!
