Wildlife

In Perthshire, going wild comes naturally. The woods and forests of Big Tree Country, the hills, moors and glens, the wealth of northern plant life, lochs, rivers and burns and the astonishingly wide variety of birds and animals whose habitat they are are all around you, within easy reach of the Birchwood.

And your wildlife experience can begin without leaving the Birchwood garden. Red squirrels are frequent visitors, roe deer less frequent. hedgehogs and wild rabbits occasionally drop in and the bird life is prolific, mainly common garden varieties, but sightings of rarer birds like treecreepers, flycatchers and owls are not unusual . Bats are a feature of the long summer evenings. There are 4 Noble firs which it is likely were planted around the time the house was built, the tallest of which is over 45 metres.

Leaving your car in the hotel car park, way-marked walks around Pitlochry lead you through a splendid variety of countryside - wooded river gorge, loch side, woodland, moor, hillside and, for views across much of Perthshire and towards the northern mountains, Ben Vrackie. For the quiet and observant, encounters with nature are frequent and, sometimes surprisingly close up, especially in the early morning or evening. A few miles from Birchwood, the Atholl Estates 58 000 hectares of countryside, which includes way-marked walks and cycle and pony-trecking trails, offers a complete nature experience from river valleys to high moors and mountains.

Possible sightings are red squirrels, black grouse, pine martens and capercaillie in the woods, otter, salmon, dippers and wagtails by the rivers and on the higher ground, red deer, golden eagles, red grouse, ptarmigan and osprey.

The Visitor centres around Perthshire like those of the Scottish National Trust at Killiekrankie and Ben Lawers or the Scottish Wildlife Trust at Loch of the Lowes are mines of knowledge and the key to informed appreciation their natural environment.

For those in a hurry or who simply prefer to be taken where the action is, guided 4X4 safaris can be arranged with Highland Adventure Safaris.

 

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You can explore a wealth of images while browsing the Birchwood Hotel site. When viewing a page, a click on any bold text will connect you to a photo of the item, or you can follow the links below to four themed Picture Galleries:

Birchwood & Pitlochry
The House
Highland Perthshire
Wildlife
New Images 2007/8