Wildlife at Baron's Craig

Set in 12 acres of woodland the Baron's Craig is blessed with a huge array of wildlife. The grounds have been enhanced to support the widest variety of wildlife possible. The existing pond has been brought back to life with a new clay liner to hold the water throughout the year, and a new pond at a slightly lower lever has been created to make use of the natural water table and keep the two ponds at an acceptable level to sustain the vast array of wildlife, all reliant on each other to survive in their own hierarchal food chain.

RED SQUIRREL (Sciurus Vulgaris)

The Red squirrel is Britain's only native squirrel and is threatened in several ways; Loss of habitat, disease and the grey squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis) introduced from America. Fortunately in Dumfries and Galloway we have a relatively thriving population, home to a quarter of the Scottish population and almost a fifth of all the red squirrels in the UK.

At the Baron's Craig we take the best care we can for our squirrels and can be seen playing in the trees and regularly sighted on squirrel feeders which are placed around the grounds as a supplement. The main aim is to enhance the habitat by planting so that supplementary feeding is not required. View short video clips of our Red Squirrels on the video page.

Other wildlife located in the grounds consists of Deer, Badgers, Adders, Herons, Toads, Frogs & Newts, Bats, Tawny Owls and wide array of garden birds including Woodpecker and Jays. On rare occasions Perigrine Falcons have been sighted as well as Buzzards flying overhead.

Nest boxes have been placed in the grounds and hope to make sightings of these creatures much easier causing as little disturbance as possible.

Every year the hotel has a resident pair of Swallows which nest in the front entrance porch. This pair have been successfully rearing 2 broods every season. By next year we will have a camera mounted onto the nests which will be fed into the Bar and all of our bedrooms for guests to view. We also have a camera viewing a squirrel feeder, which is also fed into the Bar and bedrooms. Over time this network will develop to a much wider species.

Pond before and after renovations