Qualla: Glenmore Forest Park

Glenmore Forest Park: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Iain Thompson, CC BY-SA 2.0. The water of An Lochan Uaine glows an impossible shade of green, and the locals have an explanation that has nothing to do with mineral content or algae. The fairies do their washing here, the story goes, and their bright green clothes have stained the pool over centuries. It is the kind of explanation that survives in places where the trees are old enough to remember things. Glenmore Forest Park, sprawled across 35.7 square kilometres of the Cairngorms, is one of those places: a remnant of the great Caledonian Forest that once covered much of Scotland, now reduced to scattered pockets of which this is one of the finest. Scots pine, some grown from seed gathered nearby, lean over moss the colour of wet emerald. Capercaillie - the great wood grouse that once nearly vanished from Britain - still hold their dawn leks in the deeper groves. The forest survives, and so do its ghosts.

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Image: Iain Thompson | CC BY-SA 2.0

Glenmore Forest Park: What Survived the Axe

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Graham Lewis, CC BY-SA 2.0. After the last ice age, pine forest spread across Scotland from coast to coast. Centuries of clearance reduced it to fragments, and Glenmore is one of the largest. Around half the trees here regenerated naturally; the rest were planted from local seed, a careful effort to keep th...

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Image: Graham Lewis | CC BY-SA 2.0

Glenmore Forest Park: Norwegians in the Pines

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0. During the Second World War, this forest became a training ground for Norwegian resistance fighters. Selected men of Kompani Linge and other special units trained in the pines and on the surrounding moors, learning to ski cross-country, survive in cold weather, and conduct sabota...

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Image: Richard Webb | CC BY-SA 2.0

Glenmore Forest Park: Hunters and Hunted

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bob Allan, CC BY-SA 2.0. Above the canopy, the sky belongs to predators. Ospreys hunt the loch of Morlich, plunging feet-first for trout. Golden eagles ride the thermals above the higher ground, occasionally crossing the forest in long, deliberate glides. Peregrine falcons and merlins hunt smaller prey, ...

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Image: Bob Allan | CC BY-SA 2.0

Glenmore Forest Park: The Lochan and the Fairy

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Elliott Simpson, CC BY-SA 2.0. Folklore clings to Glenmore the way moss clings to its trees. The Ly Erg - a small soldierly figure said to appear in the forest with a single bloody hand - is a portent of death; meet him on the path, the legend goes, and someone close to you will not see the year out. An Lochan...

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Image: Elliott Simpson | CC BY-SA 2.0