BLUEMOMENT

I have always believed that wallabies lived on Inchconnachan Island, Loch Lomond but had never been lucky enough to spot a live one.

Saw lots during the last week, thanks to the advice given by the crew of Wendy who spend 2 to 3 months every summer on the loch living aboard their Magregor 26.

I have a (bad) habit of using my camera on 'auto', so my first attempts at getting a photo amongst the trees during the late evening were hopeless due to camera shake.

I had another go during the day, with the camera on the 'shutter speed' setting and with reduced resolution and quality, with more success.

If you want to see more pix, then Click Here and use ashpix as the guest password.



Ash

Great pic Ash. Had no idea there are wallabies there. Tnx for that.

Superb.

I seem to remember, in the distant past, that some other non-indigenous creatures used to inhabit the Loch Lomond island of Inchmurrin. From time to time some would manage to get free and frighten passing motorists.

I think they were ca'ed 'noodies'.....

Bejasus wrote:an the odd broon bear at one time.

Ah! Hercules.

Naw. You're thinking of Sooty, trained by a guy called Harry.

bilbo wrote:I seem to remember, in the distant past, that some other non-indigenous creatures used to inhabit the Loch Lomond island of Inchmurrin. From time to time some would manage to get free and frighten passing motorists.

I think they were ca'ed 'noodies'.....

Ye, they were human beings.

Bejasus wrote:wallabies, you just awoke an old memory from my subconscious.

as a kid I always had this hazy memory of coming down Loch Lomondside from Crianlarich in my dads Ford Shooting Brake, 'Auld Bessie', and waking up late at night and seeing a wallaby jumping across the road. I thought it was a kangaroo in those days and my dad told me there were these creatures loose around the Loch, but I have never heard of it again until now. People thought I was nuts whenever I mentioned it.

I have a book on board which has information on the islands of Loch Lomond. It mentions a story which had been in the papers about a tanker driver who had reported to the police that he had hit and killed a 'kangaroo' whilst driving on the A82 down the side of the loch. I can't remember the date, and at the moment I can't find the details online.

bilbo wrote:I seem to remember, in the distant past, that some other non-indigenous creatures used to inhabit the Loch Lomond island of Inchmurrin. From time to time some would manage to get free and frighten passing motorists.

I think they were ca'ed 'noodies'.....

The Scottish Naturist Club still exists on the island of Inchmurrin if you're interested.

Bejasus wrote:wis thon Hercules no ah grizzly, trained by that Andy chappie?

Some info on Hercules here.

I remember taking my children to one of Andy Robin's shows some 20 something years ago. He asked for volunteers to come on stage to attempt to lift two 56 lb (25 kgs) weights and win money. Easy peesy I thought - but you had to lie on your back with your arms stretched past your head. No one but Andy had the body weight, never mind the strength to do it.

The brown bears were on the mainland


Loch Lomond Wildlife Park / Bear Park

Located at Cameron.

Extract from 'Animals on View' by 'Anthony Smith' 1979: -

"The Cameron Loch Lomond Wildlife and Leisure Park ( as it was originally called ) got off to a shaky start. In 1972 it opened up as a Bear Park, a brave attempt to break the stranglehold of Lions upon the safari business. Unfortunately, although Bears are as big and potentially lethal as Lions, they do not have the same box-office appeal. Also, although Jimmy Chipperfield was well experienced in turning stately parks into animal enclosures and their owners into partners, there were management disagreements. The triumvirate of Chipperfield, Patrick Telfer-Smollett ( who owned the land ) and Muir ( of Blair Drummond ) disintegrated when the Loch Lomond Bear Park was declared bankrupt not many months after its inception."

Re-opened in 1975, under the control of the Telfer-Smollett family, still with bears as the main attraction.

Closed sometime in the 1980's.

Ash

Bejasus wrote:Ash that was load of information, but really, just the bear necessities would have sufficed.

Thanks for the advice, I'll bear that in mind next time.

Ash

I have a pic of one of them too:

aquaplane wrote:I have a pic of one of them too:

Well done.

We sailed on the loch for seven years before we saw a live one. You sailed for seven days and managed to photograph one.

BTW - We plucked up the courage to anchor here in The Narrows. It was great - 2 boats could happily swing to the anchor. This put us ashore at the right area to see the wallabies.



Ash

When we saw the beastie we walked East along the South of the island, then headed uphill North. When we got to the top and the exclusion zone, there it was. It was rough ish skirting the exclusion zone back to the West and we ended up at the narrows.

We saw a herd of deer on Inch(the other one to the South we anchored off when you were there)in. It was a bit of a wildlife spotting trip all in all.

Then there was the Greater Pissed Red Breasted Glaswegian at Rowardenen too, truly wild, an interesting mating ritual though.

When we saw them during the evening, it was by walking NE from the house. During the day it was E to the top of the hill and on to the Osprey bay. By the amount of droppings, it would appear that they lie up during the day on the higher ground. It's great that they don't bolt immediately, but happily watch the watchers as long as you don't get too near.

The herd of deer on Inchtavannoch include a white one. We once saw them running N up Inchtavannoch, then soon appeared running S on Inchconnachan - they must have swam accross the narrows. They had been startled by a dog.

As for the GPRBG, we didn't tell you our story about when someone stole our dinghy off the beach at Rowardennan. We were stuck ashore, with the boat on a swinging mooring!

Ash

ash wrote: I have a book on board which has information on the islands of Loch Lomond. It mentions a story which had been in the papers about a tanker driver who had reported to the police that he had hit and killed a 'kangaroo' whilst driving on the A82 down the side of the loch. I can't remember the date, and at the moment I can't find the details online.

Ash

Extract from The Islands of Loch Lomond by Clair Calder and Lynn Lindsay

On October 16, 1982 the following news item appeared in the Glasgow Herald "Police are investigating a claim by a tanker driver that he had collided with a kangaroo about a mile south of Luss on Loch Lomondside"

Ash