The dark, cosy evenings of winter are an invitation to slow down. To pause and reflect as the seasons drift over the snow-capped cairngorms. As we approach 2023, and another year towards our 200-year vision, we asked staff and volunteers across the Cairngorms Connect Partnership to take a moment of reflection and share their highlights from the past year, and their hopes for 2023. 

Nestled deep in Abernethy Forest, the Cairngorms Connect Tree Nursery fulfils an important role. Not just in growing seedlings to bolster a future forest, but as a place to grow community, and for people to connect with nature and each other.

Lynn Cassells is our latest addition to the team, working part-time at the Tree Nursery, alongside owning and running Lynbreck Croft with her partner Sandra. She says “It’s so great to be more directly involved with a much larger ecological restoration project that really compliments the work we do on our small farm."

"For me, growing trees is real bread and butter work that sits at the core of ecological restoration and the tree nursery project is one that really embodies and embraces how people can play such a positive role in nature. I’m looking forward to working with our inspirational group of staff and volunteers throughout 2023 to nurture and plant the next generations of high-altitude woodland.”

Kate Fowler is one of these Tree Nursery volunteers, having previously been involved with the inception of the Nursery through the Friends of Abernethy. She shares that her personal highlight “would have to be taking part in the Willow Walk...a physical and mental journey for all of us carrying the hopes and belief for a healthier landscape for nature and humankind.”

^{Volunteers carrying downy willow saplings down the steep descent into Loch A'an on the 'Willow Walk'.} 

The Willow Walk was an important milestone for many people involved with Cairngorms Connect – carrying over a 1000 downy willow saplings into the Cairngorms is no small feat! Cairngorms Connect Monitoring Officer, Ellie Dimambro-Denson, has been keeping an eye on these saplings as they brave the harsh mountain environment: “It’s always a joy to spend time out at Loch Avon and the willows are generally looking really healthy one year in. We even found a pair of female catkins on one of the natural downy willow plants that had seed germinating inside!”

Looking ahead, Ellie is “looking forwards to completing a fellowship, funded by Treescapes, to work alongside the Norwegian Institute of Nature Research (NINA) on some of their montane willow re-establishment work in Norway. I’ll be learning about mountain woodlands to be able to bring that knowledge back to the montane willow restoration work happening within Cairngorms Connect.”

Not the only woman with altitude amongst the Cairngorms Connect staff, Christina Hunt, RSPB Conservation Scientist, shares that her highlight “has been experiencing the amazing scenery and wildlife of the Cairngorms for the first time. My surveys for birds and moths have taken me to mountains, moorlands and forests, where I have seen species ranging from huge white-tailed eagles to the tiniest micro-moths. Although waking up at 4am to check the moth trap might sound like hard work, it means that you see some amazing sunrises!”

^{Moth-trapping at sunrise. Credit: Christina Hunt}

With a 200-year vision, involving the next generation in Cairngorms Connect is critical. Lotte Stuer is our Community Learning Officer, who works to involve local young people in our habitat restoration vision. Her highlight for 2022 “was the days out on the hill with Grantown Grammar School S3 year group.  Even though it was cold and wet at times on these two days in November, the spirits were high as students hiked up to Ryvoan bothy from Glenmore, returning along a smaller hill track contouring Meall a Bhuachaille.  Any uphill was rewarded with a beautiful view!”

Young people got stuck in in practical habitat restoration work across the landscape, and continuing the good work at Forestry and Land Scotland's Glenmore Forest Park, rangers Maree Morrison and Helen Hill, shared that their highlight was “working with volunteer groups on non-native tree species removal in Glenmore. One group in particular, a Boys Brigade group from Aberdeenshire, said it had been their favourite activity during their week-long stay in the Cairngorms doing a variety of outdoor activities!” (high praise indeed, considering the epic range of outdoor activities available in the National Park!)

^{Grantown Grammar students on a guided walk (or skip!) at Glenmore Forest Park, where they found out more about the ecological restoration work of Cairngorms Connect. Credit: Lotte Stuer}

Chiara Alagia, is the Cairngorms Connect Community Ranger, and has had a busy year running community engagement events across the Partnership area. For her, the “personal highlight from 2022 was the Autumn Yoga and Nature Connection event which took place at Wildland Cairngorms’s HQ, the gorgeous Kinrara House. There was such a supportive, connected feeling amongst the group of participants and facilitators (Ali MacDonnell, Ewan Craig and Jo Armstead), which was heart-warming to observe around the dining table as we finished off the event tucking into delicious Cairngorms Connect Venison chilli, chatting and making new friendships.”

“It was wonderful to hear the ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s of participants as they learnt more about the wildlife and landscape surrounding us on our nature walk. The group were also very kind and supportive towards me personally, with many helping to enthusiastically promote our Hill to Grill event and coming along on the day itself to find me and say hello!”

^{Event participants on a guided nature walk, as part of the Yoga and Mindfulness event at Wildland. Credit: Chiara Alagia}

Zooming in on the nature we’re fighting to save, Ian Sargent, Nature Reserves Manager for NatureScot, shared that his highlight was “was finding two woods ants nests at 590m altitude while taking a group out to see the current upper limit of the forest zone on Invereshie and Inshriach National Nature Reserve.  As their name suggests, wood ants are associated with woodland, and so there can’t be many places in the UK where they occur at that altitude – I have never seen an ant nest that high before.” As the native woodland restores, spreading up the hills of the Cairngorms, who knows what other species we may see at higher altitudes than ever before?

Close-by, on the high-altitude peatland sites of Wildland Cairngorms, over 300 ha of peatland restoration was carried out, led by Thomas Plant of the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s Peatland ACTION team, working with local contractors.

Thomas' highlight was working with a new local contractor, Williamson Groundworks, who stepped in at short noticed to deliver a peatland restoration project at Glenfeshie, to aid bog re-wetting and re-vegetating.

^{Peatland restoration work at Glenfeshie. Credit: Thomas Plant}

As part of this project, the team also ran a couple of small trials of new and innovative techniques for restoring areas of peatland sites that 8 to 14 tonne machines have not typically been able to access. Thomas says “I’m looking forward to seeing how these new techniques can be further refined over time so that hand labour teams can be further supported by a variety of mechanical solutions.”

This snapshot offers just a glimpse into Cairngorms Connect's 2022. And we've still got a long way to go on our 200-year vision, which we'll be continuing to progress in 2023. As Andy Ford, Director of Nature and Climate Change at the Cairngorms National Park Authority, says “Next year will be a big year for the Partnership in light of the new Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. Cairngorms Connect is uniquely placed to demonstrate what that actually looks like on the ground and how it can be a boost to diversifying economies and communities.”