ACTIVE OUTDOORS: Boat of Garten is a haven for wildlife on walk in the woods

By John Davidson

Published: 18:30, 19 February 2024

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Boat of Garten may be known as the osprey village thanks to the return of these magnificent birds to the village in the 1950s, but this walk focuses on a creature that’s a little more down to earth.

A red squirrel feeding station marks the culmination of this lovely circuit through woodland that is accessed from immediately behind the modern community hall.

As well as squirrels, you might see crested tits and other birdlife in the forest around the village, while at nearby Milton Loch, Slavonian Grebes sometimes breed. It really is a bit of a haven for wildlife, and a great place to visit for an active outing – possibly followed by a refreshment in a local café or a trip on the Strathspey Railway steam train.

We heard plenty of birds in the trees on our visit but our wildlife spotting was a little less successful – possibly in part due to a certain six-year-old’s enthusiasm!

Matthew enjoys climbing on the rocks in the wood.

Starting at the community hall, the route follows the path behind the building, where a wooden board displays a map of the various routes you can follow. Our plan was to roughly follow the Red Squirrel Trail, but instead of going along Kinchurdy Road we would follow the path over the Fairy Hill so we would stay in the woods.

Once past the map board, turn left onto the path and follow it, ignoring a number of smaller trails leading off here and there, to reach a fenced-off area. This is the fantastic Woodland Wheels Pump Track – a free-to-use facility for all wheeled sports including biking and skateboarding.

There was nobody using the track on this chilly February morning, so the children enjoyed having a run around the massive bermed corners on the asphalt surface before we finally dragged them away to continue the walk.

Follow the path up past the western edge of the pump track and then ignore a small wooden arrow pointing right further on – instead continuing straight on up the hill ahead. Matthew was running ahead now, chasing the birds away no doubt, but loving being out in the woods.

As the path gets higher, look out for a narrower route to the right that aims towards the top of the hill where there is a fairly large cairn and a bench. Creag Bheag – the small hill – is known locally as the Fairy Hill. The sun was shining through the trunks of the pines as we made our way to the cairn and enjoyed this peaceful spot above the village.

Sign back to Creag Bheag, the Gaelic name for the Fairy Hill.

Aiming diagonally down, we continued to a spot just above the backs of the houses on Kinchurdy Road, where we aimed right to stay high. Above a little crag, there’s another bench with a nice viewpoint through a gap in the trees to the distant snow-capped mountains.

The little path behind the houses continues to weave in between the pine trees, with plenty of little dens built in the woods for the children to play in and explore. Eventually it emerges at a track junction, where there’s a sign back to Creag Bheag via the Red Squirrel Trail.

Turn right here to follow the track, which soon reaches a big crossroads of tracks in the middle of the forest, with a sign pointing right back to the community hall.

We followed that, avoiding the remaining patches of ice before the recent thaw – or in Matthew and Jennifer’s case, aiming for them and sliding along!

The long track does go directly back to the hall, but our route forks left at a Red Squirrel Trail marker post, to follow a nice path that meanders a little through the woods to emerge beside the road into the village at a small parking area.

Matthew at the cairn on top of the Fairy Hill.

A short detour left from here, along a path tucked away from the road, leads to the feeding station. Matthew ran ahead so if there was any wildlife to see, it was gone by the time we caught up. He had his binoculars with him, but the squirrels were hidden away today, so we started to make our way back, following the roadside path then the pavement for the last stretch until you turn into Craigie Avenue to reach the community hall.

There was one squirrel to be seen here – the Boat of Garten squirrel from the 2019 Go Nuts Art Trail in support of the Highland Hospice. A plaque explains that the artwork it is a celebration of some of the things that make this village unique.

It certainly is a special place, and one which offers a range of activities from art and a heritage railway to mountain biking, wildlife watching and walking.