Balmacara Estate

01/08/2024

Kirkton meadow in bloom and full of wildflowers, including creeping thistle, bird's foot trefoil, tufted vetch, Lady's bedstraw and common daisies

25/07/2024

Open now until 3rd of August at The Steadings Gallery, Balmacara Square
Marianne Worthy, Kirsty Ritchie & Madeline Osborn
A wide selection of paintings and hand woven rugs
Open 10am to 5pm

23/07/2024

The Creeping Lady's Tresses are blooming on our Lochalsh Woodland walks!

This small orchid is restricted to Scots pine forests and is one of the few British orchids that are almost exclusive to Scotland.

21/07/2024

‘We care for 17 miles / 27 km of paths across the Balmacara Estate, these range from coastal routes to woodland walks. We recently carried out some step repairs in the popular Lochalsh Woodland Walks. Last year we worked with Kintail & West Affric NTS to remove invasive Sitka spruce from Glen Shiel. We were able to repurpose this timber to edge and stabilise the steps at Balmacara

19/07/2024

16/07/2024

A great day out for the family and visitors to the area. Come along and join in the fun while supporting the Balmacara Community Trust. It’s for you!

13/07/2024

The exhibition "Land, Sea and Skye" by Gail McGregor and Don Mason is open from today at The Steadings Gallery.
Landscape photography and mixed media artwork inspired by the mountains and coastline of Skye.
Open 10.30am - 4.30pm until 20th July

06/07/2024

Since April, we have been monitoring our badger sets with Skye & Lochalsh Environment Forum. We were very excited to find our 2 main sets active this year. We are hoping to catch some cubs soon too. We'll keep you posted!

*Even got a good shot of a Jay posing in front of our camera traps!

04/07/2024

Our NTS Rangers across Balmacara, Kintail and Torridon are giving guided walks throughout the summer. If you fancy a leisurely walk through Torridon, a day walking across the Five Sisters of Kintail, or a walk through Balmacara's Crofts and Coast or Atlantic Rainforest please get in touch.

For Torridon NTS : email [email protected]
For Kintail & West Affric NTS : email [email protected] or call 01599 511231 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/kintail-amp-morvich-33806094679?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR10bko4WddzsT1fDBR2HMDiee_8DIOuu3REEeigQb6DvFJtJ2sjibEC3rE_aem_0VGkM2PHfChGNEa8UOFmSQ
For Balmacara: email [email protected] or call 01599 566325 or book at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/balmacara-estate-33769127709

01/07/2024

The exhibition 'Paintings & Textiles by Meg Miller & Peta Grounds' opens in The Steadings Gallery today.
"A mother-daughter duo collaborates to present a vibrant collection of paintings, quilts, and charming gift items inspired by bees, flora, and fauna."

Stop in between 10am and 5pm. Runs until Sunday the 7th July

27/06/2024

A brilliant day in the Coille Mhor with pupils from Carbost primary school! They learnt more about woodland habitat, Atlantic rainforests, wildlife, plant ID and their medicinal use. Thanks to the teacher, Rosie for getting in touch!

26/06/2024

Have you seen any slow worms lately? Please let Slow Worm Scotland know if you have
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2774261986054951/

24/06/2024

While figuring out routes for our guided walks around the estate, we bumped into this rare plant, a Bird's-nest Orchid.

This leafless flower relies on one specific kind of fungus called mycorrhizal to access nutrients from tree roots, usually Beech trees. This makes this plant quite rare and vulnerable.

21/06/2024

We are looking at the population level of red squirrels on the estate after their introduction in the area in 2016. And we need your help!

Have you seen me? report me here: https://scottishsquirrels.org.uk/squirrel-sightings/?ssrs_sighting_add=1
You'll find the QR code on most of our paths.

14/06/2024

Over the winter period we had a lot of heavy rainfall, which resulted in several of our paths becoming washed out and eroded – the stone bridge on the Balmacara to Kyle path was one area affected. Using stones we found on site, we reconstructed the bridge to ensure it is safe for walkers and mountain bikers. Thanks to Rule from Kintail & West Affric NTS for his help with the repair work 😊

12/06/2024

Thank you for all the hard work everyone. Very well done 👏👏

A huge thank you to everyone that has helped with the Lochalsh shore clean up so far, a huge amount of litter has been collected. 👏👏👏 Well Done!

Today, while at Balmacara Bay, it was realised that the rubbish problem is worse than it looks. There is still a huge amount of plastic, pipes, milk bottles, boxes, buckets, plastic bags/wrappers, barrels, plant pots etc. That has been blown up the shore into the grass/gorse line.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we will be at Reraig Shore Clean (Across from Spar) 11am-1pm.
Wear appropriate footwear.

11/06/2024

Our 2024 butterfly survey have started! It covers various habitats including meadows, woodlands and heathland across the estate. So far, we have recorded green-veined whites, orange tips, peacock, small tortoiseshells, speckled wood, small heath and green hairstreak (photo).

And there will be more to come as we will do recordings again in July and August. We are particularly interested in finding out whether or not marsh and pearl-bordered fritillaries are present on the estate. The survey will also be used as a baseline for the impact of our 6 Shetland cows at the Gunsite.

07/06/2024

Lochalsh Photography Group - Through the Lens

Open now at The Steadings Gallery, Balmacara Square

Friday 7th - Sunday 9th, 11am - 6pm

Come along, meet the members, and discover what the group do!

05/06/2024

This week marks 40 years of Volunteers' Week. NTS works with volunteers around the country to preserve Scotland’s nature, beauty and heritage, and we are extremely thankful for their dedication and are honoured to have them as part of our team.

At Balmacara we are particularly grateful for the work our volunteers do, whether its livestock checking, wildlife survey or caring for the nature around them. We would not be able to do nearly as much without their support.

https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/celebrating-volunteers-week-2024

04/06/2024

We have now started our invasive species control. You might see us working at the pond as we will be pulling out monkey flowers over the next few months. Monkey flowers are native of North America and grow along streams and ditches. They can spread quickly and compete with native plants.

29/05/2024

Join our National Trust for Scotland Ranger on a guided walk through our beautiful coast and croftlands or the breathtaking Atlantic Rainforest. Dates available June to August. Book through the link below

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/balmacara-estate-33769127709

Please note: Some parts of these walks are difficult and require a good level of fitness. Please read all information before booking.

29/05/2024

16/05/2024

A spectacular morning for a breeding bird survey on the croft land at Duirinish and Drumbuie today. We had 29 species in total with a new species for this year, the Whitethroat pictured here. He was displaying wonderfully. We also had Cuckoo, House Martin, Twite, Linnet, Lesser Redpoll and loads of Skylarks and Willow Warbler (also pictured here).

It has been a great spring for bluebells, as can be seen in a couple of these shots, and the globeflower is also in full bloom at Drumbuie.

13/05/2024

We had a good few days helping to build stone steps at The Plock. Why not pop along for a look and also take part in the "Crofting Games" Day, being held this Sat 18th May 🙂🐄🐏🚜

09/05/2024

Thanks to the Volunteer Livestock Checkers, who did a great job creating a series of drinking pools for our Shetland Cattle today. With the drier weather approaching, we need to ensure our girls have enough water to drink over the summer, so we created a few dams to 'slow the flow' of water in the burn 🐄💧😊👍

22/04/2024

Unfortunately there have been several reports of dead guillemots, found on the shores of Balmacara Bay and Loch Duich this week. It is possibly a result of Bird flu, which is having a devastating impact on our wild birds.

The advice is to please avoid touching any sick or dead birds that could have the disease and to report it online at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/report-dead-wild-birds

You can find out more information on the impact bird flu is having on many wild bird species here: https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/the-impact-of-avian-flu

11/04/2024

Our Conservation Grazing project started properly today with the move of the six Shetland cows up to the pasture at the gunsite between Balmacara Square and Reraig. This site has not been grazed for c. 30 years and is in very poor condition. The NoFence collars allow us to put the cattle into the field without the expense of new fencing, and also allow us to adapt the boundaries very easily if we want to focus grazing on a particular area, or exclude the animals from parts.

The aim of the project is to build the floristic diversity of the grassland by grazing back the rank old thatch and rushes, allowing other suppressed species to flourish. We will be closely monitoring progress as our six ladies do their work over the summer months.

On arrival the cows set off around their summer home to investigate, and by mid-afternoon they had thoroughly checked it out and returned to the bottom of the field to eat some silage we had laid out for them from Kirkton. They look really happy, and the certainly have an excellent view over Loch Alsh to Skye.

Thanks to Alex Townend for his help moving the cows.

03/04/2024

03/04/2024

A massive thanks to Caleb and all the volunteers who have helped bring the Mill Pond back to life. It is an important feature for the Balmacara Square community and will be a valuable habitat for our local wildlife. Thanks again to everyone involved 😊👍🐸🦇