Mulling over a stag-eringly good place to holiday

NO fairytale this. Rather a true story about the rarest of plant life, glimpses of a peregrine falcon, a close-up of a magnificent red deer stag, a lone badger and a legion of snails descending on a remote lighthouse.

All of this – and much more – on a week-long stay in Scotland’s most southern point, the Mull of Galloway.

A first taste of wildlife came during Scotland’s National Book Festival at Wigtown with a heartwarming presentation by Guardian journalist Patrick Barkham on his latest book, Badgerlands.

Inspired by his grandmother and author of Through the Badger Gate, E Jane Ratcliffe, Barkham freely admits having been irrationally attached to the badger since childhood. But, in view of the current culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire aimed at protecting cattle, he poses the question to his audience: Do we want to farm in a way in which we have to kill the creature?

Not surprising, that thought came into stark focus the following night when I caught my first ever glimpse of a badger in the headlights on our way back to the lighthouse on Galloway. It slipped gently – and safely – into the bushes by the road.

Our base at this magnificent edifice, set 280ft above the sea on cliffs at the most southern tip of Scotland, was the delightfully named Kittiwake Cottage.

Simple in design, as befits the former home of a lighthouse keeper’s family, Kittiwake and the larger Puffin and Old Lighthouse Keeper’s cottages next door provide superbly spacious accommodation for travellers to relax in after enjoying breathtaking cliff-top walks or strolls along some of the most beautiful sandy beaches in Scotland.

Towering above them is the 85ft lighthouse, one of several built around the Scottish coastline by engineer Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson.

Its light, now operated remotely by the Northern Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh, can be seen 28 miles away on a clear night.

But operating it in earlier days could be a nightmare as Bill Frazer, principal keeper in 1971, bore testament to: “The worst time was when you went outside to clean the lens after it was snowing and you had to get up and hang on with one hand and the brush in the other. It was part of the job and you thought nothing of it.”

The lighthouse is surrounded by 12 hectares of maritime heath supporting 300 plants like bluebells and a growing family of insects.

Birdlife, with nesting guillemots and puffins – and we spotted a peregrine falcon winging its way above the cliffs – is stunning.

Jone Ayres, who was manning the RSPB centre, converted from an old stable and byre, admitted to being “bowled over” by the discovery of a rose chafer beetle, which she has lovingly preserved in a jam jar.

She was equally enthusiastic about a report from a visiting ornithologist about spotting more than 1,400 skylarks in one dawn chorus.

“Each day brings something different to the landscape,”

said Ms Ayres, a second cousin to poet Pam Ayres.

“This is truly an inspiring place for the nature lover.”

Our stay coincided with the Dumfries and Galloway Wildlife Festival, which hosted more than 70 events.

Not surprisingly the Forestry Commission’s red deer park, on a 200-hectare site in the Galloway Forest, played a major role in this, as did the hundreds of red kites which first started successfully nesting in the forest in 2003.

John Hobbs gets close up to snails on a whitewashed wall at the lighthouse

Hugh Gunning, a local lad, has been a ranger at the red deer park for 38 years.

“It can be an emotional moment for people seeing their first stag or hind close up,”

he told me. “I have seen some visitors openly crying at viewing their first calf.”

High on the visitors list to Galloway is the Logan botanic garden, described as the most exotic in Scotland.

On a tour around this wildlife wonderland, head gardener Colin Belton proudly demonstrates how Logan has established itself as home to one of the richest plant collections on the planet.

The garden focuses mainly on plants from the Southern Hemisphere, although rare species from the Far East, notably China, thrive happily in the warm and damp influence of the Gulf Stream experienced in this part of the world.

Hence the appearance of two tiny rhododendron bushes from Taiwan – the only two survivors of the species in the world. They were rescued following a landslip in that country. It’s hoped cuttings will one day be returned home.

Back at the lighthouse, after a rainy, windswept night, I get my first glimpse of a species rumoured to have been introduced to this part of Britain as a form of food by the invading Romans.

Legions of snails have appeared on walls and the lighthouse itself. Plenty of food for thought here.