Get a preview of this year’s Autumnwatch by joining the Dumfries and Galloway Wild Autumn Festival
The events programme for this year’s Wild Autumn Festival has just been released. There are walks, talks and activities looking at the wildlife and countryside of Dumfries and Galloway running from Friday 9 to Monday 26 October.
Fantastic wildlife spectacles can be seen with tens of thousands of barnacle geese arriving at Caerlaverock and Mersehead and the red deer rutting season in Galloway forest park. There will be expert rangers on hand to help you find the best places to watch and show you what’s what. There are also family activities and events at Eskrig Nature Reserve, Castle Kennedy Gardens and Logan botanic gardens, wildlife kayak adventures on Loch Ken with the Galloway Activity Centre and nocturnal wildlife tours with the latest night vision technology.
The festival is happening just before the BBC arrives to broadcast its popular Autumnwatch program live from the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust’s Caerlaverock reserve.
Chairman of the Council’s Economy, Environment and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor Collin Smyth said;
“The Wild Autumn festival is another example of the excellent range of events and festivals happening across Dumfries and Galloway. The events during the festival give everybody the opportunity to get out and experience the fantastic wildlife found in Dumfries and Galloway. As everyone who lives here knows Autumn is a special time of year with the geese arriving back, the changing colours of the woodlands and the roaring of the stags.
BBC Autumnwatch coming to Caerlaverock is going to let the rest of the country know how great this region is in the Autumn and the Wild Autumn festival gives people the chance to get a preview of what they will see on TV.”
The complete list of events can be found at www.wildseasons.co.uk along with information on the wildlife of Dumfries and Galloway, the best places to go for a day out in the countryside and places to stay while you’re here.
Autumnwatch will be on air on BBC2 starting 2 November.
Wildseasons is a group of organisations and individuals concerned with wildlife conservation and tourism in Dumfries and Galloway led by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Countryside Team and the Southern Upland Partnership. Events in the festival are being run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, RSPB, Lockerbie Wildlife Trust, Castle Kennedy Gardens, Logan Botanic Gardens, The Forestry Commission, National Trust for Scotland and freelance wildlife guides.
