Great to have TreeSurv back planting a further 4500 montane willows in Coire Sputan Dearg as our efforts to restore montane willow habitat continue. Challenging terrain but hopefully a full of life regenerating downy willow patch in the future topped with a ring ouzel.

In 2023 Steven Falk and Nigel Jones offered to do a day of invertebrate bioblitzing for us. They homed in on flowering willows and amazingly turned up 89 new species for the estate including many new species of fly but also the tree bumble bee, & the broken-belted bumble bee.

The small, shy and beautiful blaeberry flowers which are often overlooked, are out in their hundreds just now. In the fine weather today, the blaeberry patches were alive with pollinators especially bumblebees including of course the orange/red bottomed blaeberry bumble bee.

Waxwings in May! Surprised last week to come across 3 beautiful waxwings enjoying the pinewoods before flying off. This is late for this species, which might have got blown off course on their way back to their breeding haunts in the far north.

Another wee video from the high spot where we captured the ring ouzel footage recently. Turns out this spot is also a favourite scent marking spot for pine marten A wee mouse also present a way up there. Hope it doesn't choose the same time as the pine marten to visit the spot !

Looking for something to do tomorrow? We have some spaces on our tour of Mar Lodge: eventbrite.co.uk/e/mar-lodge-gu…..

Moss ID is a bit intimidating, but there are some mosses which are quite easy to identify and Ostrich-plume feather moss is one of these as it looks like it's name ! This moss is found in the pine and birch woodlands at Mar Lodge so look out for it next time you are visiting.

A fine morning yesterday for our black grouse lek count and great to record an increase in our number of lekking males. This was due to an increase of some of our known leks but also the recent discovery of two new lek sites. Hopefully this upturn occurs elsewhere too.
National Trust for Scotland

One last push for our Open Day tomorrow, 10 till 3. We hope to see you there! Please note that refreshments on sale will be CASH ONLY. Dogs on leads are welcome in the grounds, ballroom and Craggan Room, but aren't permitted in the historic rooms/tour inside the lodge itself.

One minute of Ring Ouzel delightfulness. Lucky enough to capture this male singing his heart out. Our first Ring Ouzel recorded this year at Mar Lodge.
National Trust for Scotland
#mountainbirds

Lovely to come across this black adder on Tuesday. You can see how it has flattened its body to get more warmth from the sun. Melanistic adders like this are fairly common at Mar Lodge - do let us know if you see one in the estate (but don't get too close!)

Interesting to see how the regeneration around isolated pines balloons out on the side of the tree opposite to the prevailing wind. With a prevailing SW wind the regeneration is on the NE side of the tree. Highlights how seed source influences the distribution of regeneration.

Some of our friends & neighbours on Deeside have been very busy pulling this together over recent weeks, and we're delighted to be a part of it. Our two events can be booked on Eventbrite via eventbrite.co.uk/o/mar-lodge-es…

Stunning evening light in Glen Quoich tonight nicely highlighting the advancing natural tree regeneration.
#rewilding
#ecologicalrestoration
SCOTLAND: The Big Picture
National Trust for Scotland

Good to make a visit to our 2022 peatland restoration site today. The work is successfully re-wetting the area, and great to see moss developing in some of the bare peat areas treated with mulch. Highlight of the day was a pair of wigeon hopefully enjoying the improving habitat.

A reminder we will be holding our annual Open Day on Sunday 28th April. 10am till 3pm. All are welcome. See the Eventbrite link for full details: eventbrite.co.uk/e/open-day-mar…