Ospreys and red kites can be watched, just by sitting looking out of the windows of your caravan. In fact, as I write I can see an osprey wheeling over the river. Heron and oyster catchers are often seen over the river too, just in front of Druimorrin. We sometimes get other birds of prey, like kestrels and buzzards, but they don’t seem to be scaring off the rabbits, which happily play on the grass and among the bushes and trees at Druimorrin. We do occasionally see grouse and partridges, more in the Autumn than the Summer, and umpteen little birds, including sparrows, robins, tits, wagtails, finches, thrushes and blackbirds. Red deer have been seen at Druimorrin, but only rarely. However, they are more frequently seen across the bridge where there is a track down the other side of the Orrin which takes you along the wooded banks to where the Orrin and the Conon meet. The fields on the other side of the track are full of geese in Winter, but in Summer you are more likely to see hares speeding across there.

A short drive away is Munlochy Bay, a well-known twitchers’ rendezvous. There is a car park and picnic spot just off the main road there overlooking the bay and a hide. The bay is protected as one of Scotland’s important bird sanctuaries.

To see dolphins, seals, whales or other sealife you have to take a drive into Inverness or over to the Black Isle, about 30 minutes or less on the road. Dolphin Trips Avoch also runs boat trips when you can lower pots to catch langoustine (big prawns like crayfish) on your way out and lift them on the way back in. You get to keep what you catch.

A little further along the Black Isle coast is Chanory Point where there is a stony beach, a good vantage point from which to see the dolphins play. This is the spot where Bill Oddie and his camera crew failed to see a single dolphin, but did encounter an otter feeding on the beach.  The trick is to time your visit to co-incide with the changing tide. 

There is another company which runs sealife boat trips right at the further end of the Black Isle, in Cromarty.