Posts for April, 2025

Come and meet the Gruffalo at Landmark Forest Adventure Park and prepare for a magical weekend of enchantment.

The Gruffalo will step out from the pages of your favourite storybook and into the heart of the park. Join us on Saturday, June 21st and Sunday, June 22nd for an unforgettable adventure filled with laughter, excitement and family fun.

Whether you’re a fan of the book or discovering it for the first time, this meet-and-greet event promises an experience you won’t forget.

The Gruffalo will be in our Dinosaur Kingdom at intervals throughout both days and available for photos, so visitors are encouraged to take along cameras to capture meeting this lovable character.

Harry has been a professional entertainer for over 20 years and plays the guitar, mandolin, and the bagpipes. His main repertoire consists of Scottish and Irish favourites along with numerous ditties and medleys. He can also fit in a few favourites from the 50’s and 60’s as well as the occasional country song too

Chris White & The Organic Jukebox….where YOU choose the songs!! Chris is a full-time musician from Crieff, and brings a great singalong energy to any evening. His song list is extensive, lots of well-known hits you can choose from, a great mixture of mellow and high energy so there’s something for everyone! It’s over to YOU!!

Welcome to the Deeside Nature Festival 2025, a wonderful amalgamation of local individuals, organisations and businesses drawn together to celebrate the natural heritage of Deeside in the Eastern Cairngorms, and coordinated by us, Wild Discovery.

We are thrilled that our small festival in 2024 is growing arms and legs and the overwhelming positive feedback for an event in 2025 has been very uplifting.

The Deeside Nature Festival is a celebration of nature and an opportunity to connect as many people with the natural world as possible. Those connections may present themselves in a variety of forms from direct observation of wildlife right through to the expression of nature through the arts. We have endeavoured to bring together as large a spectrum of events as possible over the long weekend and hopefully something for everyone.

Our goals are simple:
To connect people with nature
To promote the natural heritage of Deeside
To support rural livelihoods and green initiatives
Dan and Rachael of Wild Discovery with guests
The whole festival is organised in a voluntary capacity and while there may be charges to some of the events hopefully you will agree that this only reflects the value of the expertise and experience you have attended, and knowing that a fundamental aim of the festival is to promote rural livelihoods and green initiatives.

The 2025 festival is coming together nicely and we will be adding more events as they are confirmed. Keep checking back to make sure you don’t miss out!

Image credit www.wild-discovery.com

Soak in the delights of the dawn chorus around the River Dee in Ballater with Dan and Rachael from Wild Discovery. Over the course of the morning we will listen for as many species as possible getting to know the commoner species and understanding a little more about how to identify different bird calls and songs. We will be able to hear and discuss the differences between birds that sing in woodlands and those in more open habitats and with luck our encounters could include Tree Pipit, Redstart, Sedge Warbler, Common Sandpiper and Dipper. Profits from this event will be donated to a relevant conservation charity.

This will be followed by the ‘Magic Moths of Deeside’ at Ballater Green.

Part of Deeside Nature Festival 2025
Our evening will start by looking at the marvellous moths that have been caught in the light traps from the previous evening. We will then go on a short walk to explore the clear, evening sounds of the glen. As dusk falls hone your senses to experience this slightly different take on the wildlife of the area. Profits from this event will be donated to a relevant conservation charity. Run by Wild Discovery.

Part of the Deeside Nature Festival 2025.
Wild Discovery’s Dan and Rachael will lead a walk at Keiloch, Invercauld in search of open pine forest birds, such as Crossbills, and other wildlife. We will enjoy a round-walk from Keiloch car park of approximately 4km. We will search for Crossbills and other woodland birds, birds of prey, butterflies and plants along this scenic route with views across Craig Leek and down to the River Dee. Profits from this walk will be donated to a relevant conservation charity.

Part of the Deeside Nature Festival 2025.
We will gather on the green in Ballater to look through the moth traps that will have been set the previous night. You will be introduced to a wide variety of beautiful and intricately patterned moths. This fun, hands on event will get you up close and personal to these wonderful creatures and is suitable for the whole family.

Run by Wild Discovery.

Part of the Deeside Nature Festival 2025
Join Dan and Rachael from Wild Discovery for a guided walk at Glenshee looking for Mountain Hares, Ptarmigan and birds of prey. We will enjoy a walk up the Cairnwell and surrounds in search for Red Grouse, Mountain Hare, Ring Ouzel, Golden Eagle and a number of Arctic-alpine plants. If conditions are suitable we will endeavour to reach an area where Ptarmigan can be found. It may be possible to take the Cairnwell chairlift to this area if it is operating (at your own cost). Profits from this walk will be donated to a relevant conservation charity.

Run by Wild Discovery

Experience the Speyside Way Ultras: two races, two epic adventures! Choose between a 50km run from Tamdhu Distillery to Buckie or a challenging 100km route starting in Aviemore and finishing in Buckie too. Immerse yourself in the enchanting beauty of pine forests, serene riverbanks, and rolling hills while passing historic distilleries that craft the world’s finest whisky!