Our garden and paddocks are usually full of wildlife. Commonly we have pheasants, red squirrels, roe deer, (with their fawns), rabbits and sometimes more rare visitors such as a pine marten.

There are of course lots of birds, Red Kites being here more or less permanently along with a Barn Owl, other owls, with even an escaped Snowy Owl last year.

On the left above is the said Snowy Owl , (a relation of Harry Potter’s Hedwig), dropping in on a flying visit from .... Iceland? No, it escaped from the Black Isle Wildlife Park up the road.

Meanwhile, a mummy Roe Deer shows her young the pleasure on offer in chewing the leaves on one of our Willows.

The beautiful little native Red Squirrels are very rare in the UK now-a-days. They have been killed off in most parts of the country by their imported rat like cousins who carry a disease which is fatal to reds. There are a significant number of Red Squirrels at Drynie, becoming more and more tame as they come to the windows and feed from feeders around the grounds.