Cottage Diary - Aspenwood self catering luxury Holiday Cottage overlooking Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Aspenwood pine marten

Guests who stayed at Aspenwood Cottage recently took this video of a pine marten at one of the peanut feeders on the fence outside the lounge window......so many thanks to Tom and Mary from USA for sending this video to us. These native pine martens live in Farigaig Forest surrounding the cottage so future guests may be fortunate enough to view these elusive creatures at such close range.....keep a look out !

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posted by Lyn @ 4:24 PM 0 comments

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Bookmark a squirrel.

Thanks to the kind generosity of all the guests who 'Bookmarked a Squirrel' there is now enough in the Nut Fund to purchase a 18kg sack of nuts. This will help to keep the squirrels well fed throughout the winter months. Unlike the grey squirrels - which fortunately do not inhabit this far north - the red squirrels do not hibernate in winter so we have to keep all the nut feeders stocked up. We have seen them burying nuts lately in the grassy bank behind the cottage to dig up and eat in the future - possibly when there is less cover of leaves on the trees and they are easier prey for the pine martens.

They are also partial to anything left out for the birds,maybe we spoil them.

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posted by Lyn @ 8:35 AM 0 comments

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Wildlife at Aspenwood.

It's a wonder we got any work done at the cottage on Saturday as every time we looked out of the lounge window more squirrels appeared. Managed to get this photo of three of them before they chased each other along the fence and up the aspen tree. As we went out of the back door we noticed a deer standing by the garden furniture munching away and quite unfazed by our presence.
Our American guests staying at the cottage came down to see us on Friday afternoon for a chat and showed us a video they had taken of a pine marten running along the fence at Aspenwood the day before and eating ferociously from one of the nut feeders. Needless to say the squirrels were nowhere to be seen as they are the pine martens favourite food. Our American guests are on an extended holiday in the UK so I will post the video here when I receive it as promised.
We checked the nut feeders on Saturday and found one of them needed extensive repair work as the wire had been crushed by the pine martens very sharp teeth in his effort to extract the peanuts. So now we supply peanuts to birds, squirrels and pine martens - costing us a fortune!!

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posted by Lyn @ 8:43 AM 0 comments

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Pine martens in the Loch Ness area.

It is not unusual to see Pine martens in the area quite near to the cottage. The family staying at Aspenwood Cottage over New Year were out for a walk and were thrilled to see one climbing up a tree in Farigaig Forest. A neighbour saw 3 recently running down the lane towards Lower Foyers. We are lucky enough to see them quite regularly so watch the video and see them in action near to the cottage.

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posted by Lyn @ 1:10 PM 0 comments

Monday, July 24, 2006

Pine marten update

Our friend phoned down to say that the entire pine marten family [ mum, dad and 3 young] had been playing about in the water bowls at 4 in the morning in the daylight.Their boisterous antics woke them up with all their squeaking and splashing and as she watched they were playing about just like kittens. Hopefully one day I will capture this magic on camera.

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posted by Lyn @ 11:18 AM 3 comments

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Local pine marten

Went to a friends house near Aspenwood to see the pine martens that regularly come to visit. Their house backs on to part of Farigaig forest and the native pine martens come to their back door every morning and evening to be fed, often by hand. We were hoping to see the 3 young appear but, possibly because we were watching them and they did not know us, only the mother appeared for food. She took raw chicken wings back to the rest of the family who we could hear squeaking in the shrubbery a few metres away. She then got more confident and curious and came very close to me and seemed to enjoy having her photo taken. Although they are normally nocturnal creatures these photos were taken at 6.30.p.m. in July and the bright sunlight brought out the light apricot colouring on their chests very vividly. We also got her on video and soon we hope to have a Video Page on the website.

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posted by Lyn @ 11:23 AM 0 comments

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Pine Marten spotted.

Coming back from Inverness we were lucky enough to see a young pine marten run across the road at the bottom of the hill leading up to Inverfarigaig village and Aspenwood cottage. This was at 2 p.m. which was unusual as they are nocturnal creatures. Possibly been down for a refreshing drink in Loch Ness and back home for tea and the afternoon World Cup match. To see photos of the local pine martens and much more of the wildlife around the area take a look at Creatures great and small around Loch Ness.

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posted by Lyn @ 12:23 PM 0 comments

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