Andrea & Terry of Aquila Wildlife & Nature CIC welcome you to our beautiful corner of Perthshire where we are delighted to be able to offer customer focused wildlife tours, walks, holidays, ecological consultancy, training and general wildlife and environment consultancy.
We are based in the beautiful village of St Fillans where we are fortunate to be surrounded by lochs, rivers, mountains, moors and woods which all provide homes for a huge array of charismatic species such as Red Kite, Golden Eagle, Red Deer, Red Squirrel, Mountain Hare, Beaver, Otter, Osprey and Black Grouse as well as plenty of plants and invertebrates.
We have a passion for nature and wildlife conservation and want to share with everyone the beauty that we see in the world around us.
Also, check out the Aquila Wildlife & Nature CIC Facebook page for latest news and events and enjoy looking through our website which provides a snapshot of what we can offer.
Nestled in a beautiful setting, our Play Park inspires visitors both young and old.
Active youngsters can hare around the roundabout, swing, slides and climbing tower to their hearts content. Once they’ve burnt off their excess energy, they and their family can do something more unusual instead.
To pique a child’s curiosity, the park has loads of different challenges with themes including ecology, the Moon, ‘Tick’ health awareness, mythology, animal poo, cloud-spotting and local history. There’s an activity for everyone.
So, enjoy quality ‘family time’ tracking footprints to a secret entrance of the Faeries’ underground kingdom. Identify animal paw prints, tell the time using a giant sun dial or crack the code carved in ancient Ogham. Discover all the hidden Pictish symbols, thistle men and haggis snouts before deciphering the anagram of the Viking Runes. Ponder the Pensive Grouse’s ‘deep’ thoughts in a unique egg hunt. Guess the ‘creepy crawlies’ in a Scots quiz and match up the quirky Scottish Beasties® to their personalised play features.
There’s so much to do that one visit may not be enough … but that’s ok.
Come back as often as you want!
‘You don’t stop playing because you grow old,
You grow old because you stop playing’.
(George Bernard Shaw).
The BLiSS Trail consists of a series of art pieces linking National Park locations. BLiSS stands for Balquhidder, Lochearnhead, Strathyre and St Fillans, the four communities that the trail connects.
Have a look and listen to the complete tour here where you can download the app for use with a Smartphone https://geotourist.com/tours/2040
See also the blog BLiSSful (but Baltic) Loch Earn Loop
We wanted to create something new – an attraction that would capture the imagination of people of all ages and become a talking point. Our BLiSS trail’s diverse, inspirational artworks and installations should, we feel, do just that. Each of the pieces is interesting, thought-provoking and entertaining so we hope the trail will become a real favourite with visitors and make our villages even more attractive as destinations that people will seek out.
I organise and promote small gigs in Comrie, Perthshire because I am passionate about music and in particular trad, folk and blues though not exclusively so. I want local people to have the chance to hear music they might not otherwise go to.
Keep an eye on the What’s On page on this website.
Chris Grace
The Comrie and St Fillans Music Circle run a full program during Autumn and Spring at the Rural Hall, Comrie.
Each session commences at 12:30pm with a light lunch followed by the programme of the day and finishing by 4pm. Cost – £10pp for non members. Please come along and give it a try, We are friendly and think and hope you will enjoy it.
For further informtion please contact Malcolm Gregory on 01764 670493 or 07752 498187.
We look forward to meeting you.
The Supper Clubs, Ladies and Gents, meet monthly from Autumn to Spring at various hotels and restaurants in St. Fillans and the surrounding area and are a great way to catch up with your fellow villagers.
Each club is managed through Spond. To become a member, click on the relevant Supper Club Logo below to receive the group code. Once received, download the app on your mobile device and create an account. Within the app, you will see the published Suppers and can respond by clicking ‘accept’ or ‘decline’.
Welcome to St Fillans Golf Club – a small club with a big reputation! Masters Champion Sandy Lyle often visits the course, which he has described as his “favourite inland course in Scotland”.
St Fillans – Best 9 hole Course in Scotland – Scottish Golf Tourism Awards
2019 -2022
St Fillans Golf Club is situated in the heart of Highland Perthshire, in one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland with magnificent lochs and towering mountains.
At this nine-hole course, each hole is very challenging. A combination of course design, superb green keeping and breathtaking scenery keep players on the course for as long as possible.
Loch Earn Sailing Club is a popular members sailing club where we pride ourselves on providing relaxed family sailing and training in modern and fully equipped facilities, situated on the north side of Loch Earn near the St Fillans end of one of the most picturesque inland sailing lochs in Scotland.
Information about Angling and Camping on the Loch can be viewed by clicking on the links to the right.
Loch Earn is stocked with brown trout each year and has always been popular with fishermen. Fishing Permits can be bought at the Village Store (01764 685309) in St Fillans and at Loch Earn Leisure Park (01764 685270) on the south shore and Drummond Estates Boat Hire (01567 830400) on the north shore.
Camping Management Byelaws cover popular lochshore areas of the National Park from 1st March to 30th September every year.
During this time if you want to camp in these Camping Management Zones, you will need to book a permit or stay at a campsite. Camping permit areas are now open and can be booked up to four weeks in advance.
Please also note that the parking of caravans and motorhomes for longer than three nights is prohibited in most laybys on the north shore. Caravans and Motorhomes are not allowed at anytime in the horseshoe layby.
A word of caution: bathing in the loch can be extremely dangerous. In many places the edge drops almost vertically to at least 15m and the water just below the surface can be very cold, even at the height of summer. There are safer areas at the St. Fillans end but advice should always be sought from those with local knowledge.
Music
Theatre
Comedy
Film
Strathearn Arts is a community owned arts organisation aiming to enrich people’s lives, bring the community together and put Strathearn on the cultural map of Scotland. We do this by providing our community with high-quality artistic and cultural experiences including live music events, theatre, comedy performances, film screenings, tea dances, visual art workshops and creative learning opportunities.
For details please go to our ‘What’s On’ page on this website
or
The great variety of habitats and diversity of landforms in the area support an exceptional wide range of species.
Birdlife is abundant, especially smaller garden birds. Britain’s commonest bird, the Chaffinch is present in large numbers and it is quite common to see vast Chaffinch flocks. They compete for bird table food with Greenfinches, Siskins and Great, Blue and Coal Tits. Long-tailed Tits rarely visit gardens but can be seen on the outskirts of our wooded areas. Beautiful Goldfinches and handsome Bullfinches are also frequent visitors to our gardens. That National favourite, the Robin is always on the lookout for a titbit and brightens many a winter day. Jenny Wrens are also held in great affection, but difficult to spot as they pop in and out of the undergrowth.
There have been rare sightings of Britain’s most beautiful bird, the Kingfisher, fishing along the shores of the Loch.
The magnificent Osprey, closely associated with Perthshire, is present in the area and if you’re lucky, it can be seen hovering and hunting above Loch Earn. Buzzards are commonly seen soaring through the sky uttering their plaintive cry. Other raptors noted around the area include Red Kites, Kestrels, Peregrines and pouncing Sparrow Hawks.
A variety of wildfowl and waders may be seen round the water margins including Mute Swan, Goldeneye and Grey Heron. There are also attractive Green-Headed Mallards and, along with their dark brown mates frequent the lay-bys and waters edge. Like us, they thrive on a varied diet and their favourite foods are lettuce, potatoes, duck pellets and breadcrumbs!
In winter, Cormorants can be seen perched on buoys and posts in the lochs, with wings outspread, drying their feathers. Outwith the breeding season, colonies are often seen on Neish Island.
The upland areas support moorland birds such as Grouse, Meadow Pipits, Whinchat and Stonechat as well as Mountain Hares and the ubiquitous Red Deer. On October evenings the surrounding hills are alive with the roaring of stags at the rut! Roe Deer are plentiful in the woods and often startle unwary motorists by bounding across the road in front of cars.
Other interesting residents include a herd of wild goats, which can often be spotted in a field some two miles out of the village on the way to Comrie. The local golf club has taken these visitors to heart – the Club crest features a wild goat!
A number of priority species listed in local and national biodiversity action plans have also been sighted and surveyed. These include red squirrels and otters. Scottish National Heritage has designated special sites of scientific and biological interest with much emphasis being placed on protecting the habitats of these endangered animals.
It is a great area for communing with nature. Keep your eyes open, enjoy and see how many different forms of wildlife you can spot!
The St Fillans path network gives access to a variety of landscapes, from woodland to riverside, open hill to lochside. They offer magnificent views over Loch Earn and the surrounding hills. All the routes on this website are fairly straightforward but stout walking shoes/boots are recommended.
The area surrounding St Fillans supports active forestry and farming communities and is therefore a working environment. Please be aware of your surroundings and respect the needs of these activities, as well as all aspects of the Country Code.
All walks start from the Information Point, by the footbridge opposite the former Drummond Hotel. For each walk you can view the text and photos in a PDF file for printing out to take with you. To view the routes, please click here.
