Wildlife photographed around Kirnan

Kirnan is a haven for wildlife watching. Buzzard are a daily sight - they are usually sitting on a post as you enter the driveway - and we also have a nesting pair of heron just below the house. Smaller birds of prey such as peregrine falcon are also regularly spotted, and we have the extreme good fortune to have a pair of osprey which take fish from our four mile stretch of the River Add, where salmon leap in the pools.

Our six hundred acre forest at Kirnan is full of deer - sika, red and roe. The best time to see them is either at dusk during the winter, when they come down to the lawns to feed, and early in the morning in spring and summer. Any walk through the forest will reveal fresh deer tracks, and we can arrange for a ghillie to take you on early morning or dusk 'deer-spotting' walks throughout the year, rain or shine. It is also possible to arrange stalking on Kirnan, but this is at extra charge and must be discussed beforehand as conservation and protecting our wildlife is of paramount importance at Kirnan.

Also within the forest are red squirrels and pine marten, and we have a family of extremely rare wild cats which live further down the glen, and can often be seen crossing the quiet glen road. Otters live in the burn at the bottom of our land, and we have been fortunate enough to see them playing in our pond right by the house! The forest also has a very healthy population of woodcock and pheasant, and from next year we will be running a small and friendly shoot if the numbers are sufficiently healthy.

Further afield, this area of mid Argyll offers a number of exciting wildlife-spotting sea trips. Companies such as 'Sealife Adventures' from Easdale near Oban will take you minke whale spotting, and you can expect to see porpoise, dolphins, grey and harbour seals on almost every trip. You are also likely to see golden eagles ( we sometimes see them high above Kirnan), white-tailed sea eagles, puffins, guillemot, gannets, mank shearwater and shags. The coastline is alive with a wide variety of seabirds. Trips to the islands also offer a wealth of wildlife - there is a particularly good 'Wildlife Safari' on Mull which runs throughout the year. We can supply you with all the details if you wish to book any of these trips in advance of your stay. A visit to Kirnan takes you right away from the pressures of modern life, and it is a chance to experience nature and the wildlife of Argyll, with the comfort of a roaring log fire and restorative whisky at the end of the day!

Photographs taken by one of our guests - Karl Mercer