Autumn in Scotland means vibrant colours, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, quieter trails and most importantly no midges! Conversely, it often boasts high winds, snow and, as we experienced in Aberdeenshire and Angus last year, high rainfall and flooding. It’s therefore understandable if Munro summits and the high tops might not be everyone’s cup of tea at this time of year so why not check out our top 5 recommendations for lower level walks in Aberdeenshire?

1. Burn O Vat and Loch Kinord

Based in the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve the area is steeped in history, from fugitive hideouts to man-made iron age islands.
The extensive birch and oak woodlands create enchanting Autumn colours.
Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to spot one of the resident otters or the plenty of bird life that can be found around the loch.

2. Glen Tanar

The National Nature Reserve of Glen Tanar houses the third largest native Caledonian pinewood in the whole of Scotland, this lays the foundation for the biodiversity and natural beauty of the area.
Opportunities to see wildlife from red squirrels, Scottish crossbill, osprey or even a red listed capercaille.
Excellent lookouts take in the scale of the pinewood and boast views up the glen into the moorland and hills beyond.

3. Loch Callater

Step out of the woodland to walk through wild open moorland and experience the vivid autumn colours. Get fantastic views down Loch Callater and of the surrounding mountains.
Follow Jocks Road, retracing the steps of the drovers who used the route to drive their flocks over the mountains from Braemar to market further east.
Arrive at the head of the loch and you’ll come across a working hunting lodge – Lochcallater Lodge and Callater Stables, a traditional Scottish bothy (mountain refuge).

4. Ballochbuie Forest

Red deer are often spotted grazing, and at this time of year, you may be lucky enough to hear the roaring stags during the rut.
This ancient Caledonian pinewood is steeped in Royal history. Saved from commercial felling in 1878 by Queen Victoria and added to the Balmoral Estate, Ballochbuie Forest is home to some of the oldest granny pines in the world.
Head over the River Dee via the grand old Invercauld Bridge, built in the mid 1700s after the Jacobite uprisings.
Visit Allt Garbh waterfall, a favourite beauty spot of Queen Victoria overlooked by ‘the bridge to nowhere’ which she had commissioned just upstream.

5. Bennachie

A local favourite, Bennachie offers many different hiking options, from the mixed woodland around the visitor centre to the open moorland above the tree line.
Mither Tap, standing proud at 518 meters, acts as a sentinel of the past. Its summit crowned by an Iron Age fort whose roots delve back to the Bronze Age.
If you want to make a day of it and fancy an A to B walk you can follow the Gordon Way which traverses the whole of Bennachie and the hills further west.