Loch Beannach, Assynt
Loch Beannach is a small, island-strewn, v-shaped loch in the Assynt area of south-western Sutherland, two miles to the west of Loch Assynt and three miles north-east of Lochinver.
The loch is located in an area known as the Assynt-Coigach National Scenic Area,[1] spread over Assynt in Sutherland and Coigach in Cromartyshire.
Conservation
The northeastern part of the loch is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.[2] The specific area covered are the woodlands of Downy Birch (Betula pubescens) on eight islands within the loch. The woodland is a prime example of the type that would have covered the area extensively in the past.[2] The area of the site overlaps with the areas of the 'Assynt Lochs SSSI',[3] that is notable for its population of black-throated divers where the loch is one of the nesting sites for this species.[2] The Loch is also a nesting site for common gull, golden plover meadow pipit. red grouse, skylark, swallow, and wheatear. The lily Nuphar pumila grows around the loch.
Township
To the east of the loch is a former crofting township that was cleared during the 19th Century:[4] the township's name was never discovered.[4] It consists of 11 former crofts, consisting of sizes of ten feet by six feet to 52 feet by 16 feet in two groups.[4] The evidence for lazy bed cultivation is still visible.[4] On the stream that issues from Loch an t- Sabhail are the remains of a corn-mill and a dam further upstream.[4]
Geography
The waters issuing from Loch Beannach flow along a unnamed stream into Loch Bad nan Aighean directly south.[5] The ground around the loch is hummocky with stretches of peat bog and water lying between bare rocky knolls.[6]
Directly to the north-west, the loch is overlooked by the triple peaks of Quinag.
Location
- Streetmap: NC13852637
- Location map: 58°11’20"N, 5°9’43"W
References
- ↑ "Assynt-Coigach National Scenic Area". NatureScot. https://sitelink.nature.scot/site/9119.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 SSSI listing for Loch Beannach Islands
- ↑ SSSI listing for Assynt Lochs
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Loch Beannach
- ↑ The Scottish Geographical Magazine. Royal Scottish Geographical Society. 1904. p. 170. https://books.google.com/books?id=ciw7AQAAMAAJ. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ↑ Dryburgh, P M; Ross, S M; Thompson, C L (2014). AssyntThe geologists' Mecca (2nd ed.). AssyntThe geologists’ Meccaby P M Dryburgh, S M Ross and C L Thompson2nd edition 2014Edinburgh Geological Society. ISBN 978-0-904440-13-3. https://www.edinburghgeolsoc.org/downloads/assynt_mecca2014.pdf.
- Beannach: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
- Murray, John; Pullar, Lawrence: 'Bathymetrical Survey of the Fresh-Water Lochs of Scotland, 1897-1909 Lochs of the Tay Basin Volume II - Loch Beannach (1910) – NLS
