A LOCAL photographer who has been “hooked” on the flora and fauna of Loch Lomond and the surrounding are has shared just a few of his unbelievable wildlife photos from the area.
James Duncan spent a lot of time out and about in what is now the National Park from an early age, and from the age of 12 has been keeping an eye out for the critters big and small who thrive there before capturing them through his lens.
New photos of rare and elusive animals were caught by James during his time snapping photos both pre-pandemic and during the pandemic, with rare red squirrels and the poisonous adder snake living in the park. A red deer stag was also caught on camera.
A red deer stag - one of Scotland's most iconic wild animals
James said: “Wildlife has always been my passion, from an early age in the 1960s I grew up in the area I still live today and recall the times we all fished the local burns for baggies and trout.
“All the kids in our area did the same. It was carefree – we’d wander anywhere, staying out all day with only hunger telling us to head home.
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Brown hare
“We could wander almost anywhere from our local Balloch Park to Gartocharn, Drymen and round the local area known as the Horseshoe.
“We would follow the seasons and watch the local wildlife in the countryside around us - early signs of crows nesting, birds singing and the returning lapwings, curlew and snipe who came to breed on the farmland.
Loch Lomond is home to a flock of Greenland white-fronted geese every winter
“The changing seasons had all the elements to enjoy our natural history from the wintery landscapes, salmon and trout running up the burns to spawn, bird song filling the air in spring and listening to my first dawn chorus in Balloch Park at the age of six,
“I was hooked. We never were taught in school about our local natural history; we had to find it out ourselves and this is what we did.
Great spotted woodpecker
“Adventures were like an open book, walking for miles and the landscapes changed around every corner discovering badgers, red squirrels, foxes, brown hares – all, sadly, now disappeared, unless you know where to find them. That was the challenge - knowing where to look, and reading the signs of roe or fox prints in the snow.
“The arrival of the geese mid September by the thousands is a sight and sound to behold.
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The pine marten is one of Scotland's most beautiful wild animals
“This in turn led me to pick up my first camera at the age of 12, a Halina Paulette 35mm fixed lens camera to record the things I was seeing. Armed with binoculars, camera and a flask of soup in my school bag I would head over the hills to Ardmore Point spending the day observing the estuary birds on the Clyde.
“Loch Lomond though had much more to offer in species and birdlife, there were freshwater rivers, mountain birds like ptarmigan and snow buntings and forest specialities such as crossbills and goshawk.
A tawny owl keeps watch
“This area is unique in its abundance of wildlife and its geographical location of the Highland Boundary Fault line, which runs from Stonehaven in the north-east to Arran in the south-west - this is where the Highlands meets the Lowlands.
“Nature is wonderful and still surprises me every day.
“Even just admiring the hills clothed in winter snow...the song of a robin announcing that spring has arrived.”
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