Round Loch of Glenhead

The Round Loch of Glenhead is a small upland single basin loch in Dumfries and Galloway. It is situated within Galloway Forest Park to the west of the hill Craiglee. It forms a pair with the nearby Long Loch of Glenhead. Both lochs are of similar sizes and each have a small island. The two lochs are separated from Loch Valley and Loch Naroch to the north by the Rig of the Jarkness. The loch is drained to the southwest by Round Loch Burn, which after joining into Glenhead Burn flows into Loch Trool. The catchment of the loch, which receives around 2.3 m of precipitation per year, is 90 hectares of the slopes of Craiglee and some flatter areas nearer the loch. These are characterised by soils varying from thick peat to bare granite and tonalite. The unafforested catchment has vegetation typical of moorland blanket mires. The area is grazed by cattle in the summers only; having previously supported sheep, with periodic peat burning. The loch has suffered bady from the effects of acidification. As of 2012 the loch had started to recover from this but was still chronically affected, with nitrate and sulphate levels also high. Over the period of July 2013 to December 2014 the pH varied from 4.1 to 6 and the dissolved oxygen ranged from 8.7 to 12.7 mg/L. The lake and its catchment are part of the Merrick Kells Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation and the Silver Flowe-Merrick Kells UNESCO biosphere reserve The loch is monitored since 2005 on an intermittent basis by the (now) United Kingdom Lake Ecological Observatory Network and the Upland Waters Monitoring Network (the United Kingdom Acid Waters Monitoring Network from 1988 to 2013). As of 2011 it was the 'most fully equipped site for monitoring upland water quality and freshwater biodiversity in the UK' The loch is characterised as oligotrophic and polymictic The main plant species present in the catchment include moor grass, heathers including common heather, bracken and sedge and includes other species commonly associated with upland blanket mires such as moor matgrass and potentilla.

Nearby Places View Menu

Loch Valley

Loch Valley is a loch in Galloway Forest Park to the east of Buchan Hill, north of the Rig of the Jarkness and southwest of Craignaw. It drains via Gairland Burn down to Loch Trool. The loch has a catchment area entirely on the Loch Doon granite, is oligotrophic, and has suffered from gradual acidification since the mid-19th century leading to the elimination of the original Brown Trout population. It has recovered to some extent, with the pH increasing slowly from around 4.4 in 1978 to 5.2 in 2003. Between 1983 and 2003 the loch's dissolved organic carbon levels increased, and the loch had a sediment accumulation rate of around 0.01 g cm−2 yr−1 from 1850 to 1975.

Loch Neldricken

Loch Neldricken is a loch in Galloway to the south-east of Merrick, south of Craig Neldricken and west of Craignaw. The loch is almost bisected by a long promontory. It drains via the short Mid Burn into Loch Valley and then via Gairland Burn down to Loch Trool. An inlet at the west of the loch is marked on maps as 'Murder Hole' and features in SR Crockett's The Raiders. However, the original 'Murder Hole' was a well on the Glen Trool to Straiton road where the bodies of travellers who had been robbed and murdered were dumped and Crockett moved the location for his book. The loch has suffered from acidification but has recovered to some extent, with the pH increasing from around 4.4 in 1978 to 5.4 in 2003. Between 1983 and 2003 the loch's DOC levels increased.

Craignaw

Craignaw is a hill in the Dungeon Hills, a sub-range of the Galloway Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Unlike many hills in the Southern Uplands, Craignaw has a complex and rocky summit area, with a long line of crags and rough ground on the east side. The hill is largely composed of granite. Near the north end of the hill is an interesting area of terrain known as the "Deil's Bowlin' Green" where various rounded granite boulders are scatterd at random over an area of nearly horizontal granite slabs. These are believed to be glacial erratics or result from a similar glacier process. On the west side of the hill, near grid reference NX458831, a few hundred meters from the summit is an F-111E Aardvark crash site. The site is marked by a small memorial to the two U.S. Air Force pilots who were killed in the accident (Captains Spaulding and Hetzner). Although the crash happened on 19 December 1979 there are still small amounts of aircraft debris in the area.

Silver Flowe

Silver Flowe is an area of patterned blanket mire in the Galloway Hills, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Located around 16 km north northeast of Newton Stewart, it forms part of the Galloway Forest Park. An area of 620 hectares has been designated as a Ramsar Site. The site is one of the least-disturbed and most varied areas of acid peatland in southern Scotland. The site includes the most southerly of the characteristic oceanic blanket bogs in the west of Scotland. It is a breeding site for the rare Azure Hawker dragonfly. As well as being recognised as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, Silver Flowe has also been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest as well as forming part of the UNESCO recognised Silver Flowe-Merrick Kells biosphere reserve.