A Team Trip to Glen Falloch and Ben Lawers
Earlier this month, we traded the rolling fields of Mid Devon for the dramatic peaks and glens of Glen Falloch in the South West Highlands. It was a week of connection, discovery, creativity and conservation - and a fair bit of tick-wrangling.
Glen Falloch is also part of our restoration work. In collaboration with Glen Falloch Estate and Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, we’re pioneering innovative approaches to restoring biodiversity, reviving ecologically functional grasslands and reconnecting fragmented patches of ancient upland forest.
Set against a backdrop of misty hills, cascading waterfalls and tumbling burns, Glen Falloch gave us all the chance to slow down and reconnect. We covered miles on foot, ate well, gathered around the fire in the evenings, sipping more than our fair share of whisky and tea. Toby landed a trout so big it now has mythical status, and the air was filled with laughter, good conversation (and midges).
One of the most memorable moments for the team? Painting sessions on the hillside. Inspired by the landscape around us - its shifting light, textures and silence - we spent hours in the evening after work painting en plein air. It was grounding, creative and meditative. That is, until we realised we were sitting on top of Tick Mountain. Nature giveth and nature taketh away.
A highlight of our trip was our guided tour of Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve with the brilliant Helen Cole, Property Manager for the National Trust for Scotland. Her passion for the land is infectious, and the work her team is doing, alongside local farmers Maj and Peter McDiarmid, is both innovative and inspiring. Nestled above Loch Tay, this National Reserve is home to one of the UK’s rarest alpine and arctic flora, many of which we were lucky enough to see up close.
We spotted alpine saw-wort (Saussurea nuda), with its soft purple blooms, and the delicate Purple mountain saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia), clinging to rocky outcrops like living jewels. Dwarf willow (Salix herbacea) and woolly willow (Salix lanata), both scarce and slow-growing, peeked through the grass and scree. Helen Cole, our guide for the day, helped us identify these resilient plants and explained the delicate balance they depend on - a balance now being actively restored by the reintroduction of cattle.
It wasn’t just the plants that impressed us. The hillside echoed with the calls of red grouse, and we caught glimpses of garden warblers (Sylvia borin), willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus) and managed to film a small-pearl bordered fritillary (Boloria selene).
Small-Pearl Bordered Fritillary
