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Doug Gilbert
Here is a sika deer female with her fawn. Sika deer are an introduced species from South East Asia, where they live in dense forest habitats. At Dundreggan they are generally restricted to woodland areas where they are often difficult to see. They have a distinctive spotted coat, as can be seen in the photo.
We were able to capture one of Dundreggan’s newest wildlife residents, a feral boar and her stripy piglet. Feral boar are now widespread in Glenmoriston, and have been seen as far as Kiltarlity to the north of Drumnadrochit. Their rooting behaviour is great for getting natural tree regeneration going, but not so well-liked by golf course managers and farmers!
Far up in the remote upper reaches of Dundreggan, we have a couple of areas where signs of water voles have been recorded regularly for the past few years, and here’s proof! The distinctive black coat and large size of Wind in the Willow's “ratty”. These chunky rodents are restricted to the higher ground by the continued presence of mink in the lower parts of Glenmoriston. The picture was taken during a pretty wet spell at Dundreggan and so the camera lens was unfortunately, rather foggy.
With badger setts scattered all around Dundreggan, we were confident we’d get pictures of them and sure enough, here’s a female with two youngsters pictured playing outside their sett entrance. Badgers are omnivorous and, although they often have their setts in woodland, they really love old unimproved pasture where they can slurp up earthworms with ease.
And of course, we were able to capture red deer as well as Sika. Here’s a young stag with his antlers still in velvet. This picture was taken in July while the antlers are still growing. Deer antler is claimed to be the fastest growing tissue in any adult mammals, growing from just a small button in March or April to a full grown head with up to 12 points or more by late August.