Here are a few photos of the two lochs from the start of the week. Loch Dochart is the smaller loch, to the west of Loch Iubhair.
Thursday 28 August 2008
Re-structured
This conifer plantation has been re-structured, leaving this odd-shaped retention on the shoulder of the hill.
Wednesday 27 August 2008
Tuesday 26 August 2008
The "Hole in the Wall" waterfall
Here is a series of photos from the Cononish yesterday. It was extremely wet & windy, and the photographs reflect that.
This waterfall is called the "Hole in the Wall".
Out of the corrie........
This is the Allt Coire Ghaothaich coming out of a corrie on Ben Lui (Laoigh)
Waterfall on the Allt Eas Anie
Just a few hours later, there was less than half this amount of water coming down.
Video- The Hole in the Wall Waterfall
This is one of the more spectacular falls we have seen yet on our survey travels, helped of course by having a lot of water in the river. At the end of this video, the camera swings away and up to Ben Lui, where the source of the Tay is.
Waterfall on the Allt Eas Anie
You can see here now that the water is a lot less than just a few hours previously........
Monday 25 August 2008
Video- How windy is this?
This waterfall is the limit of fish accessibility on the Cononish, and hence the tay system. See how windy it was today!! At least the rain has stopped for a while.
Video- High Water in the Cononish
This was the Cononish this morning. I spent an hour walking in to this driving wind and rain. It had been raining all night, the river was high, and all the little side tributaries were running white of the hills. In the end, I could not get to where I wanted to go as the upper burns were up, and it was too dangerous to cross.
Limit of Accessibility
This waterfall, high up on the river Cononish, below Ben Lui (pictured), is the furthest point that salmon would be able to access in the Tay river system. And a very spectacular spot it is too. More photos from here tomorrow.
Where is the source of the Tay?
It is widely acknowledged that the source of the Tay river system is high up in a corrie on Ben Lui, at the top of the Cononish. But where exactly? There seem to be two watercourses competing, with a spectacular if less likely third option as well.
This is the Allt Coire Laoigh (Lui), the most dominant watercourse at the top of the Cononish, and logically, the source will be at the top of this.
However, there is another claim, see below........
The Allt na Rund
The book Tales of the Tay suggests that the tay starts of as the Allt na Rund, pictured here, which starts as a small lochan, and is the furthest west of the options.
The Allt Coire Ghaothaich
This is the most spectacular although probably least likely option. This watercourse appears to arise from a spring in the highest corrie on Ben Lui.
I am away to make a few enquiries. It is important to get this right!!
Saturday 23 August 2008
The Long and Winding Road
Since starting this project in July 2007, we have covered over 800 miles of tributaries and rivers. Up to this point, we have been counting the miles walked & surveyed. Now we are counting the miles to go, and suddenly, the end seems to be within sight, and we will be putting in a big push this next few weeks.
This project has indeed been a long and winding road, with lots of highs and a few lows, and physically and mentally very, very tiring. However, the dynamic it has created has been very positive and we look forward to building on this first survey phase.
The road here is following the Cononish up to Ben Lui, the very source of the River Tay. We should have photos from there in due course.
There are about 80 photos and videos in this section. Do have a good look through them, imcluding those put up yesterday, to get a feel for a typical survey day in Strathfillan.
For more background information on our survey work, please link to Tay Western Catchments Project.
The Mountain Ringlet
For the first part of my walk today, up through the Coire Choille Chuilc pinewood, I had these little butterflies flying all around me. I must have seen 60-80 in total.
The Mountain Ringlet is our only true montane species and is found on mountains above 350m in the Scottish Highlands and the English Lake District.
The adults are highly active only in bright sunshine but can be disturbed from the ground even in quite dull weather. They keep low to the ground in short flights, pausing regularly to bask amongst grass tussocks or feed on the yellow flowers of Tormentil.
The butterfly's status is difficult to assess due to the remoteness and unpredictable weather of its mountain habitats, but its range appears stable.
Conservation status
UK BAP status: Priority Species
Butterfly Conservation priority: high
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
