A fauna of the Moray basin . m the neighbourhood of Eskadale downwards there is noland of any height, it is mostly grouse moor. Besides the largearea under wood there is a great amount of cultivation inter-spersed, both crofts and large farms; much of the low-lying landbelow Beaufort suffered from the heavy floods of January 1892,large quantities of good land being washed away or coveredwith stones and sand. But the wooded area, all or nearly all,with the exception of the patches of birch and alder, planted byman, is the most striking sight, stretching as it does from Farleyin the north, past
A fauna of the Moray basin . m the neighbourhood of Eskadale downwards there is noland of any height, it is mostly grouse moor. Besides the largearea under wood there is a great amount of cultivation inter-spersed, both crofts and large farms; much of the low-lying landbelow Beaufort suffered from the heavy floods of January 1892,large quantities of good land being washed away or coveredwith stones and sand. But the wooded area, all or nearly all,with the exception of the patches of birch and alder, planted byman, is the most striking sight, stretching as it does from Farleyin the north, past Belladrum to Glen Convinth in the south, andfrom Eskadale eastward to the Beauly Firth. Such an extent ofwood must materially affect the climate and bird-life. A verylarge amount of this planting was done between the years 1830-50. To our minds the most beautiful part of the whole strath is thatpart from Aigas, where the valley narrows, to the old Beauly bridge,where the main north road crosses the river. Beautiful by nature. PHYSICAL FEATURES. 59 and improved by man, almost every sort of tree that will grow inthe north is to be found here, mixed with bushes, long heather,and other herbage. Bird-life is abundant here, and we have nodoubt that some discoveries may yet be made amongst the smallerspecies. The whole district has a well-kept look about it, and thecottages have nearly all a well-stocked flower-garden, bright withcolour. Before leaving the Beauly we may refer our readers to anexcellent paper by *Mr. Wallace on * The Basin of the Beauly,which he read before the British Association at Aberdeen inSeptember 1885. From this paper it would appear that, beforethe river cut its present course through the Druim, in geologicalages past, it must have formed an expansive lake above the narrowgorge, discharging its surplus waters through the hollow knownby the name of Fanellan, finally emerging at Groam of Annat,near Beauly Bridge. Moniack Moss was at one time a lake andthe old be
Size: 1206px × 2071px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1895
