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| Glen of Caenlochan - pastel sketch on paper |
The glens of Angus can be everything to everyone, and therein lies their beauty. The sportsman, farmer, mountaineer, walker or naturalist will each revel in the glories of Angus, and each will call their own tune down from the hill tops in majestic joy. There is a magic in the mixture between man and nature that nourishes a diversity that can benefit all, but too much of one can smother the other.
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| Sketching today |
The high corrie glens of Caenlochan and Canness are unique to Angus and provide a rich haven for some of the rarest plants to be found in Scotland. Nevertheless, this is an area dedicated to the rifle, the stalker and, an essential for the hunting recipe, the Red Deer. The underlying calcareous geology of this area ensures ample nutrition for the extensive grasslands that dominate the landscape, but with that succulent grass comes the grazing deer in their hundreds.
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| Alpine Fox-tail |
In years gone by I have seen these glens literally crawling with thousands of deer, all with their heads down and grazing. In fact, it is a wonder that anything is left to grow here at all. One of the rarest plants in Scotland is sometimes under threat from grazing deer at its precarious, crag ledge location because during bad winters a snow drift builds below the ledge allowing nibbling, hoofed access.
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| Alpine Cat's-tail |
Rare alpine plants share their delicate world next to the deep potholes left by scrambling deer hooves as they travel up and down wet gullies from the mountain plateau to grassland meadow in the glen. Some plants seem to thrive on this churning up of nutrients from water washed gravels at their roots to form profuse growth and specialised grasses in particular seem to love the wet mix of invigorating goo.
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| Alpine saxifrage |
But, too much of a good thing can be bad for the general ecology of the glen, so the sport of deer stalking plays a large part in the population control of the Red Deer here. Most deer estates will support a larger than necessary number of deer in order to achieve a certain number of quality stags for the stalking season. Maintaining a deer population balance that benefits man without being detrimental to their natural habitat, and other creatures, is key to successful management.
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| Alpine Saxifrage |
When that management fails, or is absent, the deer population explodes onto the landscape like a plague of locusts and everything would be fair game for a nibbling deer. The fashionable notions of re-wilding the landscape to suit nature's master would lead to disaster without a natural predation factor, so, in full circle, that becomes man's obligation and right.
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| Alpine Blue Sow-thistle on its deer proof ledge |
The mountain landscape of Caenlochan and Canness is undisputedly the finest treasure to be found in Angus and the view from Monega Hill is utterly breathtaking. Here we find drama between the glacier rounded bellies of the glens and the grassy cliffs where our alpine rarities grow. Dramatic it is but one shape peaks the lot. Truly alpine in stature it lies astride the Dacies waterfalls and Learmour Craig. When sketching this feature I invented the name of Dacies Peak because it has no name on the modern maps.
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| Ragged Robin |
I have to acknowledge John Smellie for finding this feature's original name history. On an old map it is scribed as it would be pronounced in Gaelic, 'Bodenjon' which would be written, 'Bod an Deamhain' translating into Penis of the Demon, or in eloquent parlance Devil's Point. There is a famous Devil's Point in the Northern Cairngorms and, possibly, this at one time shared the original 'risky' title before social embarrassment sought to improve our place names in Scotland.
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| Mountain Pansy |
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| Dwarf Cudweed |
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| Mossy Saxifrage |
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| Starry Saxifrage |
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| Peregrine Falcon adult male |
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| Mountain Hare |
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| Golden Eagle |
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| Red Deer stags |
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| A deer stalker's dream .... estate stalkers having a break |
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| The velvet grasslands of Canness with the peak Bodenjon (centre left) piercing the virgin clouds |
Notes;........article in progress............
All text, photographs and sketches done on the 23 July 2019 and subject to copyright - no reproduction.
Income from book sales will form a donation to CABS (Committee Against Bird Slaughter)
If you are inspired to go out into the hills and glens of Scotland please leave it as you find it, respect the environment, do not litter or discard so called 'biodegradable' fruit and especially if you are a dog walker keep your beast on a lead and do not bag up its waste then chuck it by the wayside. I recently came across one black poo bag neatly hung on a tree branch for someone else to take home and also a bright blue one thrown in the moorland verge....why?
Moorland birds like Golden Plover, Dunlin, Dotterel, Ptarmigan and many raptors nest on the ground, it is advisable to keep dogs at heel or preferably on leads when walking on the high plateaux of the Cairngorms during summer months.
Please be aware that it is illegal to disturb nesting eagles or other raptors and you may do so inadvertently in your journeys into the highlands. Observe protected species at a respectful distance usually from about 1000 metres and for short periods of time only.
No wildlife was unduly or knowingly disturbed by my presence or for the purposes of this web page other than what would be expected on a normal hill walk. Many geographic names and location recognizable photos have been omitted to prevent persecution or ringing-monitoring disturbance to named species.
Canon camera 200D with optical zoom lens EFS 55-250mm used; please note that the zoom range distance if given is calculated by OS map from subject location to camera
