Cawdor Castle

Today's set of photographs are from Cawdor Castle; outside shots since photography inside is not allowe)and shots in the walled garden.






















William Shakespeare has made this castle famous as a result of Macbeth, the play, however it seems that the real Macbeth was possibly a totally different character.

Culbin Forest

Culbin Forest, Stretching for 14 Kilometres along the south shore of the Moray Firth, was originally planted by the Forestry Commission between 1922 and 1931 in order to stabilise the sand dunes there. It was mainly Scots and Corsican Pines, but as the felling and replanting takes place, a more diverse forest is being created.

Although there are some areas of dense forest, a large proportion has been thinned out giving the kind of area you see above with wild flowers etc being encouraged to grow. There are also wet areas and ponds to help encourge a wide diversity of animal and insect species.

One of the stabilised sand dunes found in the forest, the Lady Culbin, reaches 29 metres in height whilst the Parabolic Dunes of Maviston reach 15 metres, but have flanks up to 400 metres long making them amongst the largest of their kind in Europe.