Anagach Woods

True Caledonian Forest within easy reach of town

- John Miles

This great piece of old Caledonian Forest was bought from the Seafield Estate in 2002 for the community of Grantown. Being Caledonian Forest, a number of rare Scottish birds benefit from the wood and none more so than the Capercaillie. This is a declining species in the area, with recent counts showing 50% of the birds disappearing. Wet summers are no help when chicks cannot dry themselves in dense vegetation. The woods here have a mixture of habitats, from peat bogs to open glades, offering these birds mixed insect food in their early life. You have to be lucky to find them but a good walk covering many of these areas may well come up trumps.