


According to Homer the Elysian Fields were a beautiful meadow in the Underworld where the favoured of Zeus enjoyed perfect happiness.
I believe I was there yesterday. You may think of us as a woodland reserve with two glorious lochs at our heart but right now the reserve is carpeted in flower rich grassland. Meeting up with the Cairngorms National Park to map the extent of our aspen woodland took us up into the higher fields of Old Kinord and revealed a stunning visual spectacle – a field full of colourful flowers, filled with fluttering petals. So we indulged in a spot of meadow walking. There is something uniquely joyful about watching waves of wind sculpt the long grasses while Skylark soar overhead.

Ladybirds are instantly recognisable, but could you recognise their larvae. Nestled within the daisy head is the larvae of a 7 spot lady bird. Ladybirds are nature’s pest controllers. Many ladybirds eat aphids such as blackfly and greenfly but their larvae are also keen predators, with some eating up to 100 aphids a day.
Every step through the waist high sward is accompanied by the chirruping of grasshopper and the billowing of small heath, common blue and Dark Green Fritillary butterflies.





Around the visitor center we have had a procession of cute fledgling birds with a cohort of 3 young blackbirds.


A inquisitive baby robin trying to work out just what things are, from all angles



Now onto the Important announcement.
New Kinord is a small informal car park outside the National Nature Reserve which is only accessible by way of a private track. Dinnet & Kinord Estate have tolerated vehicle access by the public along this track for a number of years but increasing levels of use have made that untenable.
They have therefore taken the decision to close the track to vehicles, other than for residents or other permitted users. This will take place on Friday the 29/07/2022.
We were consulted on the change and understand the reasons why the estate have taken this decision.