Wildlife at Ormidale
The flora and fauna are both fantastically diverse at Ormidale. Argyll is famous for its gardens, many open to the public. Ours is not at that level but was designed by the famous Victorian landscape artist Sir Thomas Mawson of Kendal at the same time as Robert Adam redesigned the house itself. While the tallest tree in Britain is just down the road in Glendaruel, we have what is by repute the tallest Grecian Fir in the UK in our grounds it has a distinctive and very attractive blue green fir, and enormous pine cones. The gardens are home to an abundance of interesting plants including some brilliant giant rhubarb that go with the giant Christmas trees!
The woods are an absolute pleasure to explore; unlike so much of Scotland, there is a genuine diversity of species represented, with dappled glades of elm and beech and birch interspersed with denser plantations of fir. There’s almost as many types of tree as at Kilmun arboretum, near our other holiday property, Old Kilmun House.
We have an abundance of moving wildlife at Ormidale, too – not just the midges that plague any still summer evenings! A colony of deer live and breed in the woods and can often be seen crossing the lawn. Red squirrels – while obviously endangered and threatened here, as everywhere, by their grey cousins - are also regular visitors to our tables. We have a huge variety of birds as well, largely because we keep feeding them! Barn owls, cuckoos and woodpeckers add to the twitter and tweeter of the smaller birds. You’ll see kestrels, eagles, and other hawks on a regular basis on the estate and just around.
Our Lochan is host to the occasional fishable trout and we have played host otters in our own stream. Rabbits are usually bouncing around the fields and gardens.
Raymond and Jane, our resident house-keepers and caretakers, don’t count as wild-life and nor do their dogs. (They are not free range, living in the cottage’s private garden.) They keep chickens as well, and your children are welcome to come and see the chickens and to look for a breakfast egg… under adult supervision, obviously, and with Jane and Ray’s permission.
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