5
Migratory Meet-up
This was my first visit to this beautiful nature reserve and it was made even more special as this was my first face-to-face Euan’s Guide meet-up since lock-down; it was well worth the trip down the road from Inverness. The reserve is located on the edge of Loch Leven; the island where Mary Queen of Scots was held captive (Castle Island) is visible from here.
We were greeted by a very welcoming member of staff who gave us some info about the efforts made to make the reserve accessible, in particular, the Changing Places accessible toilets and the paths themselves. We were then met by her colleague who answered our ‘bird’ questions and both members of staff gave us general info about the paths, the history of the area, the reserve and how to get about.
The path we followed was part of the Loch Leven Heritage Trail and I found the path quite accessible in my powerchair although other members of our party felt a couple of parts were a bit more awkward and bumpy. The path is lined by beautiful hawthorn and hazel hedgerows; there is also lots of wild flora all around, not to mention the birds themselves. Some of our party were lucky enough to see swallows, a tree sparrow, swans and geese; we also had a very close encounter with a large bird which was possibly a female pheasant but even if you didn’t see any birds, it’s still a lovely walk. The centre has also beautiful wrought-iron gates which have a specially designed V shaped gap to ensure that the swallows can always access their nests in the courtyard even when the gates are closed. We were very impressed to hear that the gates to the paths and trails are left open after hours so that people can still access the walks in the evening or early morning.
As there’s so much to see, the traffic noise from the road didn’t detract from the experience. It might be an idea to warn cyclists on the paths to slow down as we narrowly avoided a collision on a corner with three cyclists who, to be fair to them, didn’t expect to see us there and came flying around the corner where the path was narrower.
We then went to the cafe accessed via a long ramp and ‘press- to- open’ automatic doors. There was room to manoeuvre in my power chair and we had an amazing unobscured wheelchair-height view from the window which gave a great panoramic view down onto the reserve and Loch Leven. I also felt Covid safe as the windows were open and hand-sanitiser was available at the entrance.
Later, I went up to the picnic area which was accessible for me and we had a lovely view; I also started to follow the ‘Sleeping Giants’ path from here which is pretty steep and a bit gravelly, probably inaccessible to wheelchairs really, so I just turned back and although the part I did access also had a brilliant view, I wouldn’t advise anyone in a wheelchair or powerchair to attempt it.
This was my first visit to this beautiful nature reserve and it was made even more special as this was my first face-to-face Euan’s Guide meet-up since lock-down; it was well worth the trip down the road from Inverness. The reserve is located on the edge of Loch Leven; the island where Mary Queen of Scots was held captive (Castle Island) is visible from here.
We were greeted by a very welcoming member of staff who gave us some info about the efforts made to make the reserve accessible, in particular, the Changing Places accessible toilets and the paths themselves. We were then met by her colleague who answered our ‘bird’ questions and both members of staff gave us general info about the paths, the history of the area, the reserve and how to get about.
The path we followed was part of the Loch Leven Heritage Trail and I found the path quite accessible in my powerchair although other members of our party felt a couple of parts were a bit more awkward and bumpy. The path is lined by beautiful hawthorn and hazel hedgerows; there is also lots of wild flora all around, not to mention the birds themselves. Some of our party were lucky enough to see swallows, a tree sparrow, swans and geese; we also had a very close encounter with a large bird which was possibly a female pheasant but even if you didn’t see any birds, it’s still a lovely walk. The centre has also beautiful wrought-iron gates which have a specially designed V shaped gap to ensure that the swallows can always access their nests in the courtyard even when the gates are closed. We were very impressed to hear that the gates to the paths and trails are left open after hours so that people can still access the walks in the evening or early morning.
As there’s so much to see, the traffic noise from the road didn’t detract from the experience. It might be an idea to warn cyclists on the paths to slow down as we narrowly avoided a collision on a corner with three cyclists who, to be fair to them, didn’t expect to see us there and came flying around the corner where the path was narrower.
We then went to the cafe accessed via a long ramp and ‘press- to- open’ automatic doors. There was room to manoeuvre in my power chair and we had an amazing unobscured wheelchair-height view from the window which gave a great panoramic view down onto the reserve and Loch Leven. I also felt Covid safe as the windows were open and hand-sanitiser was available at the entrance.
Later, I went up to the picnic area which was accessible for me and we had a lovely view; I also started to follow the ‘Sleeping Giants’ path from here which is pretty steep and a bit gravelly, probably inaccessible to wheelchairs really, so I just turned back and although the part I did access also had a brilliant view, I wouldn’t advise anyone in a wheelchair or powerchair to attempt it.
