Facility
Loch Kinord

The Loch Kinord area is situated in an area of the River Dee catchment known as the Muir of Dinnet. The Muir of Dinnet (area 2287ha) is an SSSI and a Natural Nature Reserve designated because of its value as a habitat for flora and fauna, and important geomorphological features. The Muir forms the south-western corner of the Howe of Cromar, a wide saucer shaped plain at the foot of the Grampian Mountains. The landscape of the area was moulded by gravel and meltwater in the post-glacial era, the loch is a kettlehole (ice depression) surrounded by fluvio-glacial hummocks, ridges and hollows. Loch Kinord possesses a rich aquatic flora, and a full range of hyrdoseral plant communities ranging from emergent fens dominated by sedges, to bog myrtle scrub, fen carr and birch woodland. It also has a rich invertebrate fauna and is an important site for aquatic beetles. About 80 species of birds breed within the SSSI and the lochs are important refuges for passage and wintering wildfowl, particularly greylag geese and wigeon. Since the early 1980's, introduced ospreys have colonised the area, and both lochs are important rearing and feeding grounds for young otters. Pollen preserved in the sediments of Loch Kinord record an almost complete sequence of Devensian late-glacial and Flandrian vegetation history so that these two lochs are important reference sites for reconstructing changing environmental conditions in north-east Scotland since the last ice-sheet melted. The Loch Kinord area is contiguous with the Loch Davan area and the two lochs are adjacent. Loch Kinord (area 79.0 ha) is oligotrophic whereas Loch Davan (31.1 ha) is mesotrophic with recent research suggesting a transition towards eutrophication. The difference in trophic status reflects the higher proportion of agricultural land use in the Davan catchment

General Information

Facility type
site

Location

Geometry

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Mobile
false

Related

This facility is related to:

Loch Davan

Contacts

Lead organisation
Alan Hern Scottish Environment Protection Agency 7 Whitefriars Crescent PERTH PH2 0PA UK http://www.sepa.gov.uk/

Metadata

Publication status
PUBLIC
Record identifier
cd076840-ed78-11e3-ac10-0800200c9a66
Last modified
2017-08-21 11:17:00
Metadata author
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Other identifier
ECN L14