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Special Area of Conservation Citation
Reasons for recommendation as a candidate Special Area of Conservation (incorporating possible amendments)
| Area name: | Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands |
Administrative area: | Highland |
Component SSSI: | Listed at end of document |
This area has been recommended as a candidate Special Area of Conservation (SAC) because it contains habitat types and/or species which are rare or threatened within a European context. In addition, an amendment to the candidate SAC is being considered based upon further habitat or species considerations. The SSSI citation describes the special interests for which the site was notified in the British context. [NB: not for marine interests below mean low water mark]. The interests for which the site was selected as SSSI may differ from the interests selected in a European context.
The habitats and/or species for which the area has previously been recommended as a candidate SAC are listed below, together with proposed additional interests (where applicable). The reasons for their selection are listed. together with a brief description of the habitats and species as they typically occur across the UK. This area contains the interests described although it may not contain all the typical features. In some cases, amendments to the boundary of the candidate SAC are also being considered.
The area is considered to have a high diversity of habitats/species of European importance.
lnterest(s) previously submitted to the European Commission
European priority interest(s): 1. Blanket bogs -
for which this is considered to be one of the best areas in the United Kingdom
Blanket bog. This occurs in the wettest parts of the UK as a mantle of peat which often clothes extensive areas of the landscape. Blanket bogs are characteristically wet underfoot and are usually dominated by carpets of bog-moss Sphagnum species, cotton-grasses and heathers. Active blanket bogs are those in which the peat is still able to accumulate because of the growth of the surface vegetation. In the far north and west of the UK the surface often displays areas of dramatic patterning consisting of variously-shaped bog pools sometimes separated by quaking peat ridges. The UK and Ireland holds the largest area of blanket bog in Europe.
European interest(s): 2. Natural dystrophic lakes and ponds. -
for which this is considered to be one of the best areas in the United Kingdom
Acidic peat-stained lakes and ponds. Dystrophic lakes and ponds are highly acidic and characteristically stained brown from contact with surrounding peat. A limited range of plant ant invertebrate species are able to tolerate these waters and fish are usually absent. Such habitats are extremely rare in southern parts of the UK but are a characteristic feature of Scottish peatlands.
3. Depressions on peat substrate. -
for which the area is considered to support a significant presence
Depressions on peat substrate. This vegetation on exposed peat, or sometimes sand, occurs naturally on frost-eroded areas of heath and bogs, in flushes or on the edges of bog pools. It can also occur on artificially disturbed ground. The vegetation forms low-growing communities of sedges, mosses and herbs which may include the white beak-sedge Rhynchospora alba, brown beak-sedge R. fusca, oblong-leaved sundew Drosera intermedia, round-leaved sundew D. rotundifolia and marsh clubmoss Lycopdiella inundata.
4. Lutra lutra -
for which this is considered to be one of the best areas in the United Kingdom
Otter. Otters are semi-aquatic mammals, requiring both good fishing grounds for food and suitable shelter on land for resting and breeding. Once widespread in Europe, the otter population declined sharply during the 1960s and 1970s. It is now showing signs of recovery in the UK and it is spreading to repopulate its former areas. The UK, and in particular Scotland, supports some of the largest concentrations of otters in Europe, with both freshwater and coastal populations.
5. Northern Atlantic wet heaths with Erica tetralix -
for which the area is considered to support a significant presence
Wet heathland with cross-leaved heath. These are heathlands of cool oceanic regions on mainly acidic, nutrient-poor, shallow peat or sandy soils with impeded drainage. They are often dominated by mixtures of cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix, grasses, sedges and Sphagnum bog-mosses. These heathlands are found in both lowland and upland parts of the UK although they are more extensive in the wetter north and west. The UK hosts the majority of this habitat in the European Union.
6. Oligotrophic to mesotrophic standing waters with vegetation of the Littorelletea uniflorae and/or of the Isoeto-Nanojuncetea. -
for which this is considered to be one of the best areas in the United Kingdom
Clear-water lakes or lochs with aquatic vegetation and poor to moderate nutrient levels. In the UK this freshwater habitat is represented in the north and west by lakes with low to moderate nutrient levels. These waters are often to acid deposition and nutrient enrichment. Shoreweed Littorella uniflora and water lobelia Myriophylum alterniflorum and quillworts Isoetes species are found. These lakes usually have healthy salmonid populations. Brown trout Salmo trutta are common, although in some lakes species such as arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus, whitefish Coregonus lavaretus or vendace Coregonus albula also occur.
7. Transition mires and quaking bogs -
for which the area is considered to support a significant presence
Very wet mires often identified by an unstable ‘quaking’ surface. These are mires or fens which occur in waterlogged situations where they receive nutrients from the surrounding catchment as well as from rainfall. The vegetation typically dominated by tall sedges Carex species and rushes Juncus species mixed with herbs, over a ground layer of bog-mosses Sphagnum species or feather-mosses such as Calliergon species.
| Component SSSI: | A' Mhoine
Bad na Gallaig
Badanloch Bogs
Ben Griams
Ben Hutig
Ben Loyal
Blar nan Faoileag
Cnoc an Alaskie
Coir' an Eoin
Coire na Beinne Mires
Druim na Coibe
Druim nam Bad
Dunbeath Peatlands
East Halladale
Forsinard Bogs
Grudie Peatlands
Knockfin Heights
Loch Caluim Flows
Loch Meadie Peatlands
Lochan Buidhe Mires
Lon a' Chuil
Mallart
Moss of Killimster
Oliclett
Rumsdale Peatlands
Shielton Peatlands
Skelpick Peatlands
Skinsdale Peatlands
Sletill Peatlands
Strath an Loin
Strath Duchally
Strathmore Peatlands
Strathy Bogs
Stroupster Peatlands
Syre Peatlands
Truderscaig
West Borgie
West Halladale
West Strathnaver |
Date compiled 18/05/00
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