These two easy walks are around a couple of kilometres long each, and combined could take around an hour – or half a day if you want to enjoy the views, look more closely at the flora and fauna, stop at the viewing places for a break (or a snack) and spend time in the hides looking for birds.
Ideal for the solo hiker, the casual rambler, the enthusiastic nature-lover and definitely the birdwatchers amongst you, but just as good for a family trip out – even younger walkers will find plenty to interest them along the way, lots to see and do and learn about.
So where do you start?
Find your way to the min RSPB nature reserve centre at Loch Gruinart on the B8017. Just opposite the main nature reserve building (where you’ll find a lot of information on the birds and plants you might see, parking, toilets, and refreshment facilities as well as great views of across Gruinart) there is a road signposted Ardnave, take this road and after a couple of hundred metres you’ll reach a small hide car park on the left (see picture above) signposted Welcome to RSPB Loch Gruinart. Here you can decide whether to do the Moorland Walk or the Woodland Walk and each one is described below.
Each walk is a complete circular walk, but you can combine the two in any order and enjoy both open moorland and woodland.
Moorland Trail
Park up and turn left out of the car park and along the road for a few minutes. Less than a hundred metres (100 yards) along the tarmac you’ll see a single storey white building on the left. This is the RSPB office and you need to leave the road here and head off up the trail.
The well-signposted, well-maintained and well-worn path takes you up through the gorse and woodland (look out for the RSPB signposts along the way which will tell you more about the plants and animals and history of the place).
The paths lead you through this scrubland and then through a gate into open moorland. Here a path (at times a duckboard walkway) will take you between the bog pools that in summer are covered in the yellow flowers of bog asphodel, orchids and sundew with dragonflies and damselflies. For a few weeks at the end of summer, the moorland is covered by a purple carpet of flowering heather.
The RSPB has looked after the moorland since 1984. A herd of red deer graze here, but in the past it was home to early farms and would have looked very different. The bog would have been drained to improve the soil and the peatland would have been grassland. You can still see the outline of Maol Bhuide, a farmstead which dates back to the early 19th century, when farmers grew simple crofts and grazed livestock on the land.
Nowadays a lot of work is done to restore and maintain the valuable peatland – a valuable habitat which supports a number of plants and animals. Peat is a fantastic medium for preserving things, giving us incredible glimpses into past lives and ways of living.
In 1964 local crofters unearthed the skeleton of a young girl, thought to date from 1000-1500 BC. Wooden bowls found with her are in the Museum of Islay Life in Port Charlotte.
As you stand and ponder the past you may see a hen harrier, and if you are lucky, even a golden eagle. Skylarks might be singing high in the sky, or you may spot distinctive lapwings or curlews, so keep your eyes on the skies from time to time as you make your way over the moor. Walk along the path which will start to turn slightly downhill towards the big gorse bushes. Here, when the gorse is in flower you’ll get that heady coconut scent from the blooms and the low hum of bees busy in the flowers.
A little side track goes off just a few metres to the left leading you to those bushes, which act as a shelter for a few simple benches, ideal to rest up and soak up the views of Loch Gruinart, Colonsay, Mull and Jura. Then go back to the main path and walk downhill to reach a willow woodland. Walk through the woodland on the boardwalk and soon you’ll hit the tarmac road again. You can make your way back to your car at this point, or carry on further all the way to the visitor centre to make use of the toilets, information and refreshments before heading back to the car.
Or, when you hit the road off the moorland, just turn left and walk a few metres then cross the road and go through the gate into the woodland walk (described below). You’ll be doing the walk the opposite way round.
Woodland Trail
This is a fairly easy circular walk starting, as before, at the hide car park at Loch Gruinart. (You can park at the main visitor centre if you wish and walk along the road opposite, signposted Ardnave) until you reach the start of the well-signposted Woodland Trail.
If you’re in the smaller hide car park pictured at the top of this blog, you’ll leave the car park and turn right, cross the road and the start of the trail is through the gate on your left.
Walk down to the viewing platform where you’ll be able to see the whole of tidal Loch Gruinart, saltmarsh and floods.
Then go to the first hide, Taigh Deas, which is in the middle of a freshwater wetland. Water levels are higher in winter and that is also the time when you can observe hundreds of wintering wildfowl and waders – mallard, wigeon, teal, pintail, shoveler, barnacle gees and white-fronted geese, redshank, lapwing and many others.
In spring you can listen to corncrake or watch lapwing chicks right in front of the hide , or even spot an otter fishing in one of the pools.
From Taigh Deas, walk back to the viewing platform and continue through coppiced hazel woodland, with trees covered in beautiful lichen and mosses. After less than half a mile you’ll reach the high sycamore and beech woodland. Here you can go on a short detour to the second hide, Taigh Tuath, which is located closer to the salt marsh, or you can continue up through the high woodland.
This part of the walk is particularly spectacular in spring when the ground is covered in a shimmering carpet of bluebells.
After you leave the woodland, turn left and walk along the road back to where you have parked your car, or go on and into the visitor centre building.
Remember to keep your dog on a lead at all times. Although the paths are good and boardwalks cover the boggier bits, do wear sensible shoes, and always take any litter home with you. We hope you enjoy the walks.
If you’d like more walks like this, our Islay Walks book is available at bookshops, shops and distillery shops around Islay and includes 28 walks with descriptions and maps.
