Making Nature More Accessible : Wildlife Walks In And Around Aberdeen

By: A.C.

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I enjoy getting out and about when the weather allows to easily accessible, and preferably flat, woodland, riverside or beach walks.2 Razorbills-03-05-2012-10-19-43

Donmouth Nature Reserve at Aberdeen Beach is quite forgotten in my opinion.  The rough area just off the beach at the north end, is where the beautiful sound of Skylark can be heard, its song quite audible above the traffic. 

I have even seen Skylarks feeding on the embankment just off the top path and managed to get a couple of good pictures.  Seals and dolphins just off the shore, with rafts of eider duck, flocks of Sanderling, Knot, Terns,  Turnstones, Ringed Plovers, Redshank and Greenshank and more besides.   Kestrels hover just above the rough of the golf links, while oystercatchers probe the golf greens or beach.  

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At Dyce, I enjoy the fairly flat walk along the River Don at Riverview Drive.

Depending on the season and one’s luck, Roe Deer can be seen opposite the car park, Otters, Herons, Goosanders, Goldeneye, Little Grebe, Mallards, Mute Swan, Buzzards, Wagtails, Dippers, Red Breasted Merganser, Sandpipers, Moorhens, are all resident or migrant visitors. In the summer the butterflies flock to the “weeds” or wildflowers in the flood meadow. 

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With all the building work going on in Aberdeen, I was alarmed when I saw survey pegs staked out in a very mature Beech wood, on the Stoneywood Estate. This is an area where I have seen Tree Creepers, Woodpeckers, Chaffinches and Long tailed Tits amongst many others, and I was concerned that housing development was reaching this wee corridor and haven of wildlife.

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On making enquiries of the Council, I learned that the survey pegs were part of a European Funded scheme to link Donmouth Nature Reserve at the beach,  as part of the “core path” network through Seaton Park, Tillydrone,  Persley, Bucksburn, Stoneywood, right out to the Parkhill Bridge and the Buchan Way. This will mean that walkers, cyclists, wheelchair and mobility scooter users, will be able will be able to access this path at various points along its route.

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And hopefully enjoy the wildlife along the way.

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You will find the map here.

For those with a car or who live out in the rural areas, Aberdeenshire Council and the Forestry Commission give this guide for access to woodland walks.

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Share your favourite walks and wheelchair accessible areas, wherever that was, with us in the comments below.
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