Highs and Lowes: How charity’s waters saved ailing wildlife from extinction

When I was eight years old, I was sent to boarding school near Dunkeld from my home in Ardnamurchan.

My parents were separating and clearly thought it would be a good idea if I wasn’t around. Though the school was set in a glorious spot, high among rich ancient oak woods, I suffered acutely from homesickness.

Abundant wildlife proved my salvation. I made dens from which I could watch birds, fallow deer and red squirrels – there were only red deer and a few roe in Ardnamurchan, and no red squirrels. These enchantments kept me from thinking of home and doubtlessly played into what became part of my way of life, and my career.

There were some extraordinary lochs close by – Butterstone, Craiglush and Loch of the Lowes. On days out we watched greylag geese flying into their roost on the water. I remember the dramatic spectacle as their noisy calls echoed through the sky, pink fading light tingeing the misted landscape and the sound of dozens of splash landings.

On one particular evening the air filled with distant bugle calls, as a flock of whooper swans appeared – spectres from the far north, truly wild swans.

In 1969, the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) purchased Loch of the Lowes. It has since become their flagship reserve, and as fine an example of conservation work to be found anywhere.

The extremely rare slender naiad, a mostly unknown aquatic plant, is just one of many reasons for its high conservation status.

Around 50 years ago, ospreys were dangerously close to extinction. After the loch was safely in the hands of the trust, there was great excitement when a pair turned up. Clearly, like the trust, they recognised the unique habitat provided by Tayside’s largest body of mesotrophic water. And it was here on a school outing that I saw them for the first time from a wobbling hide built on stilts.

This inaugural encounter with one of Scotland’s most dramatic birds left its mark, but so too did Loch of the Lowes itself.

There was plenty of other wildlife to watch – elfin red squirrels that ignored the greater spotted woodpeckers competing for peanuts. The small birds were tamely relaxed and came to feed from our hands; coal tits, blue tits, chaffinches and robins, swans with their grey cygnets riding on their backs. In spring, the surrounding woodland was a carpet of snowy wood anemones and wood sorrel, primroses, and violets, amid a pungent aroma of wild garlic from roadside verges.

Some 20,000 visitors come to Loch of the Lowes every year, while others feel they know it intimately from afar. The astonishing 24-year breeding cycle of one bird, Lady, was shared via remote cameras to a global audience.

When Lady reached the end of her long, fruitful life, a new female quickly replaced her, and the osprey breeding sagas continue to be watched live every season. One of Lady’s fans felt so passionate about her that the osprey is now tattooed on his arm. Loch of the Lowes and its wild encounters are capable of life-changing moments.

In the half-century of the SWT’s ownership, 82 ospreys have successfully fledged. As with all wild breeding events, there have been highs and lows. Human egg thieves are a constant threat, though happily, this insidious practice seems to be on the wane. One season when the danger seemed particularly high, the 92nd Gordon Highlanders volunteered for night watch duties.

The reserve has been expanded and a neighbouring area of oak wood added. It’s an essential area for summer migrants including the cuckoo, blackcap, willow warbler, and wood warbler. The trust also looks after Craiglush loch. Now, instead of that early precarious hide on stilts, there is a two-storey hide with one of the most exceptional views of an osprey nest to be found anywhere – a beautiful spot to sit and inhale the entire scene.

Close by, set out into the loch, there is a crannog hide where you are really among the wildlife. The fallow deer come down to the water’s edge to pick at lush water plants or to cool off on a hot day. Mallard hide rafts of ducklings the colour of bumblebees in among the beds of tall phragmites, while in spring the displays of goldeneye duck, the drakes dapper in pied breeding splendour, are akin to a sophisticated Highland reel.

Since the 1850s, this loch has been a favoured haunt for another master of avian ceremonies. If you are lucky, you might witness the great crested grebes’ extraordinary and passionate spring water ballet.

Sadly, this migrant is now rare. Like the osprey, it was pushed to near extinction by human whims. In the grebe’s case, it was for its glorious feathers used to decorate exotic hats for Victorian dignitaries. Thankfully, we have learned these resplendent plumes are so much better suited to a grebe than a milliner’s fashion fad. Little grebe, also known as dabchick, are present year-round and, though perhaps a little less exotic than their more substantial relations, a close study through the hide’s telescopes reveals a pretty smart little bird, too.

Red squirrels remain one of the top attractions. Nuthatches have started to come to the feeders. There are otters and pine martens, and 2012 brought the first glimpse of a beaver, a year later, the exciting appearance of two kits.

Since then the beavers have found Loch of the Lowes to their liking and visitors can come for beaver watches though, like all wildlife viewing, there are no guarantees. However, dawn and dusk almost always bring action, often aerial combat between crows and ospreys guarding their patch.

It is poignant this oasis is now a stronghold for species once lost or almost lost. The reserve’s rangers and volunteers were amused when the beavers felled a tree opposite the hides on the very day the Scottish Government announced they could stay.

Today, though the worry of egg thieving is dwindling, new threats remain – photographers with drones are of particular concern and dogs off-lead can cause disturbance.

Canoeists are another worry. When hot, visitors were seen from the hide cooling off and drifting on a lilo on the loch’s far side, but a polite word from the rangers informing them that the water was also home to vast pike with sharp teeth saw them flee in a hurry.

The excellent visitor centre remains unobtrusive and refreshingly uncommercialised. Friendly staff are always available to share their extensive knowledge and dedicated passion, and it is this devotion which has helped the wildlife thrive and made Loch of the Lowes one of Scotland’s finest small reserves.