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Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve
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Autumn
The lower slopes take on autumnal hues with the oranges of the extensive blaeberry, grasses and sedges contrasting with associated lichens and occasional clumps of startlingly red cowberries. Early frost may produce stunning colours on the hillside, just as it can with broadleaved trees. The calls of skeins of geese high above herald the incoming migrants; redwings and fieldfares descend on the abundant berries on regenerating habitats around the Nature Trail. The throaty croak of the ever-present raven often accompanies displays of aerial acrobatics in the autumn winds. Red deer are rutting and you may hear the roaring of the stags echoing around the hillsides as they protect their harems of hinds. Cloud inversions, frequent at this time of year, often hide excellent walking conditions on the ridges and summits. Indeed, autumn can offer some of the finest days to be on the hill, and perhaps some of the worst.
Winter
The white-coated hills of the traditional Scottish winter are sadly becoming a short-lived and unreliable sight in these days of climate change. When these conditions do occur, even for a few days, they still provide the most alien and exhilarating environment for walking, sometimes with the clearest of views. But they also pose a higher threat to your safety. Navigating safely through these hazards requires additional skills and equipment: required reading could begin with the British Mountaineering Council’s Safety on Mountains, accessible here. Much of the wildlife is away or at a standstill in the cold season, but not all. The raven is still present, tidying up carrion and thus benefiting from the death of other animals. Grouse, ptarmigan and mountain hares sustain themselves on a herbivorous diet, as do small rodents such as voles immersed in the vegetation, in turn sustaining predators such as foxes and owls. Flocks of snow buntings may also provide moments of excitement.
Spring
The first sign of new life after winter on Ben Lawers is the flowering of the purple saxifrage, from March or April at lower altitudes. It inhabits lime-rich rock outcrops, and a large cliff draped in purple is one of the most memorable sights here. Frogs soon emerge to resume activity; their enthralling but quiet song from the spawning pools is, sadly, missed by most visitors. It is not until May that new growth in the grass turns the hillsides green, and the summer migrant birds are by now in full song and exploiting the revived insect life,
With the joyful overhead songs of the skylark and the willow warbler most melodious in our regenerating woodland.
Butterflies and moths are emerging, and bumblebees already busy with their job of pollinating flowers. An increasing number of spring flowers form splashes of colour, especially on the Nature Trail where they are protected from grazing: wood anemone, primrose and blaeberry to mention a few. Moss campion, an arctic-alpine species, forms isolated pink cushions on the lower slopes, but is common in cushion grassland high on the mountain. With all species, the flowering season begins at the bottom of the hill and progresses upwards with time.
Summer
The full palette of natural colours unfolds on the hillside with successive flowering of a range of plants over June, July and August. With dwarf plants such as heath bedstraw, tormentil, heath speedwell and milkwort, which are common over the whole hillside, to tall plants such as water avens, globeflower, wood cranesbill, goldenrod and angelica, which can only thrive if protected from grazing, the Nature Trail has been described as a ‘Garden of Eden’. Nesting and fledgling birds enjoy the abundant insect life, as do naturalists who may visit to see, perhaps, the mountain ringlet butterfly or some of the many moths. Numerous spectacular caterpillars and sawfly larvae are conspicuously feeding in the regenerating woodland. The most common is the hairy northern eggar, while the adult moths are consumed by the stonechats now breeding around the Nature Trail. Late summer brings the heather into flower, the additional colour of their tiny pink flowers suffused with their compact foliage to create the overall impression of purple on a landscape scale. The regenerating plants on the Nature Trail stand out in contrast to their background of grey Cladonia lichens, also benefiting from the protective fence.
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