A guest blog, from Stuart Benn, Communications Officer, based at our North Scotland Regional Office in Inverness.
Voting has been in the news rather a lot recently or, rather, the consequences of voting have – it pays to use your vote wisely!
But, at the risk of inducing voter fatigue, there is another poll underway just now, in which you may wish to consider marking your choice - for the Countryfile Magazine Nature Reserve of the Year.
There are five entries in total and they’re all excellent but, for me, the standout is the RSPB Abernethy National Nature Reserve, here in the Scottish Highlands. Starting modestly with the setting up of the famous Osprey Hide at Loch Garten in the 1950’s, in a move that pretty much started nature tourism in the UK, the holding has gradually grown and now runs to 137km2. And, in a time when the talk is of the need for protecting big, landscape-scale areas, they don’t come much bigger than that here in Britain.
Loch Garten (Andy Hay - rspb-images)
The ospreys are still there of course and continue to attract thousands of visitors over the five month season, but Abernethy is now so much more than that! The reserve stretches from the banks of the River Spey at 200m above sea level (masl) to the top of Ben Macdui at (1,309masl) - 1100m higher; an altitudinal range unparalleled in any other nature reserve in Britain. In between, there’s the largest remaining remnant of the ancient Caledonian Pine Forest, which once covered much of Highland Scotland; bog woodland; heather moorland; scrub woodland and, finally, the high plateau of the Cairngorms, a little bit of the arctic left here after the last Ice Age. The pinewoods and high tops have a look and feel, a presence that is so hard to find these days in our busy lives – an absolutely wonderful place to breathe, a wonderful place for people and wildlife. Abernethy has the power to inspire strong emotions in the people who live, work and visit here. It gets under your skin and into your heart.
Faeshellach Burn (Andy Hay rspb-images)
Scots pine and blae'berry (Amy Thompson)
Looking down towards Ryvoan Pass (Amy Thompson)
Loch a Chnuic (Robert Ince)
Crom Allt view (RSPB)
Abernethy is even more beautiful in winter! (RSPB)
Loch A'an - at 725 metres above sea level and three miles long - there could be tents on the sandy foreshore and you wouldn't see them. It's vast!
Spindrift on the high tops (Robert Ince)
Naturally, the roll call of species is impressive too – dotterel, ptarmigan, twinflower, golden eagle, wildcat, capercaillie, narrow headed wood ant, mountain hare – some of Britain’s rarest species. But it’s not all about rarity – add them all up and almost 5,000 species have been recorded on the reserve, making it one of the most biodiverse spots in the UK. And it’s not all about being content with what you have – ambitious plans are well underway to extend the Scots pine woodland away up the hill, to what would be the natural treeline of montane scrub (vote bush!)
This is a long-term vision of delivering a forested landscape for wildlife and people more akin to Norway than our often denuded uplands and a signpost to how we can do things differently, indeed, have to do things differently, if nature is to thrive in our ever-developing landscapes. We won't be here to see it, but maybe our great, great grandchildren will be...now isn't that a thought?
Voting closes on 28 February, so if you can bear casting one more vote then make it this one. Abernethy Reserve is in for the long haul and will still be delivering benefits well after we’re all gone; a vote for Abernethy is a vote for the present and for the future - 400 more years!
Head over to the BBC Countryfile Magazine webpage here to vote.
Site Manager (People), RSPB Abernethy National Nature Reserve