Posted by I found this amongst things of Rosemary Sutcliff’s as I cleared up my house for a move to the country from Leicester city. She was a great lover of nature and wildlife.
Abernethy Forest is a coniferous forest stretching from the Braes of Abernethy in the east to the River Spey in the west, and from the valley of the River Spey south into the Cairngorm Mountains. Apparently at Loch Garten there is an osprey nesting site managed by the RSPB. A bit of internet sleuthing tells me : “The area is also important for its invertebrate fauna which includes 350 species of beetle, 11 species of dragonfly and over 280 species of moths and butterflies.”
Hi Anthony. I stumbled across your entry during a completely unrelated web search about Abernethy. I am currently the manager of RSPB’s Abernethy Nature Reserve, so was delighted to see this lovely find. It is indeed a spectacular place – a home to crested tits, ospreys (as Jane says), but also eagles, capercaillie, wildcats and 4,800 species of plants and animals. None of it would be in RSPB’s care were it not for the visionary people like Rosemary, who donated to that original purchase.
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How very fitting that Sutcliff would donate to a land preservation fund like this. Her love of the English landscape resonates in many novels. I especially recall it from the novels with the dolphin seal ring. FR Leavis would have gladly called Rosemary Sutcliff ” a novelist of the English landscape.”
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Not up on my FRL, but he would have been right.
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re your gravatar….antelopes?
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also see in past on Twitter with #rosemarysutcliffdiary many little bits of evidence of her love if nature and landscape
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My best friend in Scotland visited Loch Garten yesterday and yes, there is an osprey nesting site there. Speyside is also the only UK location for the crested tit (on the certificate).
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