1. Definition: wild camping is the practice of camping in places other than campsites, and where there are no facilities, such as running water and electricity.
Back in June I decided to embark on a grand (if short) adventure with a friend and try wild camping for the first time. No facilities, just us, our tents and the great outdoors. We’d camped together a few times in campsites; down in Northumberland, across in Aberfoyle, and a very memorable time near Hadrian’s wall, where it rained so hard our frying pan filled up with water before we could even start cooking.
Looking for something a little wilder we decided to head up north to the remote Cairngorms National Park to sleep for one night. The Cairngorms is a mountainous region of East Scotland that covers around 4,528 km2, it’s a spectacular area of wilderness and home to many rare plants, birds and animals, including golden eagles, dotterel, ptarmigan, mountain hare’s and the capercaillie.
Scotland is of course the only place in the British Isles where you can legally wild camp, the right to roam means you can pretty much pitch up a tent anywhere (and people seem to do just that at times).
My friend had suggested we head out passed Braemar towards the Mar Lodge Estate and Glen Derry. Glen Derry is about two miles along a dirt track past the Linn of Dee, it’s a beautiful glen nestled among the hills with the Lui water running through it. It was lovely weather that weekend and there were several tents already set up when we arrived, we were a little disappointed to find our quiet retreat busier than we had anticipated. Eventually, after walking up and down the glen for about five miles and crossing the river about three times, we settled for a spot between Bob Scott’s Bothy and Derry Lodge. It was a flat grassy patch among the pines, with the river only a few yards away, and a view across the distant peaks of what we guessed from our map was Sgòr Dubh, Sgòr Mór and Creagan nan Gabhar.
After eating dinner, we sat on a log and reflected on the peace and quiet, despite there being five or six tents pitched around the glen we were barely disturbed by our neighbours, it was quite different to the noise of a campsite. We watched the aerial acrobatics of swallows and swifts, as they dived through the warm evening air, and listened to the gentle rush of the river flowing past our camp.
Around 7pm I decided I would try for a swim; the air was still warm, and the water was crystal clear. It was also absolutely freezing, I managed a few strokes up and down before getting straight back out (I didn’t feel properly warm again until 7am the next morning).
As night gathered, we retreated to our separate tents, and I watched the sun set behind the mountains through my meshed tent window and a cloud of midges. It was beautiful, the sky went from a pale pink, through gentle orange to a deep inky blue. Snuggling down into my sleeping bag I listened to the quiet rustlings and squeaks of the night through the thin canvas of my tent. All I could hear was the sounds of nature, no cars or people.
The snow on the far-off mountain peaks should have been a warning to us, lured into a false sense of security by the warm day I hadn’t brought an extra blanket and the night was pretty cold. I pulled on all my clothes and dozed fitfully until 4am in the morning, after that I had had enough, I needed to get up. Waking up my friend (who had been happily sleeping), we boiled some water for tea and then sat warming our hands on our mugs and listening to the first sound of dawn approaching. The sky was still a deep blue, but a pale light was beginning to creep up from the horizon, birdsong was tentatively starting and from the far-off woods we heard the magical sound of a cuckoo.
We sat for some time listening to the lulling call of the bird, and later when we went on an early morning walk into the glen the sound followed us, but no matter how hard we looked we never saw any sign of the cuckoo.
The cuckoo wasn’t the only wildlife we were lucky enough to hear and see, sitting on our log as the sun rose, we spotted two red squirrels chasing each other up and down the branches of a tall pine tree. Later as we walked deeper into the glen, we surprised a young roe deer grazing in the early morning light, it raised its head in alarm, frozen for a moment, then disappeared up the hillside in a series of leaps and bounds.
Returning from our walk we had breakfast, packed up and headed back down the track to Mar Lodge, it was only 9am by now, but we felt like we’d experienced a whole day already. As we strolled along the track, we met people walking into the glen and wished them a good morning. I wondered if perhaps they were also campers, readying themselves for day in the hills and a night under the stars.
Useful links about Wild Camping
The Cuckoo
After my encounter with the cuckoo, only the third time I’ve heard one, I decided to do a bit of research into the bird and find out why you only heard them so early in the summer and whether they were in danger like so much of our wildlife.
What is a Cuckoo?
Cuckoos are dove sized birds with blueish black feathers across their back and head, with a striped black and white chest. They are famously known as brood parasites, where they lay their eggs in another bird’s nest and leave their young to hatch there.
Most commonly they lay an egg in the nests of meadow pipit’s, dunnocks and reed warblers, the smaller birds are forced to bring up their large adoptive offspring, while their own chicks are pushed out the nest by the young cuckoo.
When can I see or hear a Cuckoo?
Cuckoos arrive in Britain during spring and stay until early summer, the latest I’ve heard Cuckoo’s is June in the Cairngorms. I’ve also heard their distinctive call in April and May down in Dorset on the Southwest coast of England.
Once the adults have laid their eggs in another bird’s nest then they rid themselves of the responsibility of rearing and feeding their own chicks, this allows them to leave for their winter ground in Africa much earlier than many other migrating birds.
Are Cuckoos endangered?
Since the 1980’s we have lost over three quarters of the UK cuckoo population, from my research I discovered there is no clear evidence to point towards what has caused the decline, but there could be several factors contributing to it. A drop in their food source, the hairy moth caterpillar, a change in agricultural land management across the UK, pushing the birds out of farmland, and a change in the breeding season for meadow pipits, dunnocks and reed warblers, making it harder for the cuckoo to find a suitable host nest for its eggs.
Red Squirrels
I love spotting red squirrels racing along branches or peeping out from behind a tree trunk, it’s such a treat to see them. When I was writing this tale of my camping experience, I spent a little time looking into the differences between Britain’s squirrels and why the population of reds is dropping.
What’s the difference between red and grey squirrels?
Red squirrels are smaller than greys, they have reddish brown fur and tufts on their ears. Though grey squirrels can have a reddish-brown tinge to their fur at times they are predominantly grey, their ears have no furry tufts, and they are considerably bigger than the reds.
Why have red squirrel numbers dropped?
In the 1800s Victorians introduced the Grey Squirrel to Britain, the grey is a carrier of Squirrelpox, of which it is immune, but is often fatal to reds.
The grey squirrel can also eat acorns before they ripen, being able to stomach the high tannin levels more than the red, this vastly reduces the red squirrel’s food source.
Over the past 100 years or so the grey squirrel has steadily pushed the red squirrel into small pockets of habitat in Britain.
Where can I see red squirrels?
There are small pockets of red squirrels still found in England and Wales, including their sanctuary on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, but the largest populations are mostly located in Scotland.
You might spot them in Perthshire, Dumfries and areas of Aberdeenshire and the Highlands, I’ve often seen red squirrels in Perthshire, if you find a quiet wood and stand looking up into the trees, you might be lucky.
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