Loch Etive Woods

General site character

• Bogs, Marshes, Water fringed vegetation, Fens (7%)
  
• Heath, Scrub, Maquis and Garrigue, Phygrana (16.5%)
  
• Humid grassland, Mesophile grassland (10%)
  
• Broad-leaved deciduous woodland (60%)
  
• Coniferous woodland (3.5%)
  
• Inland rocks, Screes, Sands, Permanent Snow and ice (3%)
  

Annex I habitats that are a primary reason for selection of this site

• 9180 Tilio-Acerion forests of slopes, screes and ravines  * Priority feature

  Some good examples of Tilio-Acerion forest occur in the deeply-incised rocky gorges associated with Glen Nant and in the nearby Coille Leitire. These sites are representative of the habitat type in western Scotland, and comprise stands of ash Fraxinus excelsior woodland with a hazel Corylus avellana understorey and a rich field layer of tall herbs and woodland grasses on base-rich soils characteristic of the habitat.

• 91A0 Old sessile oak woods with Ilex and Blechnum in the British Isles

  Loch Etive Woods in western Scotland is one of three sites representing old sessile oak woods in the most bryophyte-rich zone in the UK, the south-west Highlands zone. The diversity of soils and physical conditions leads to transitions between oakwood and both wet alder Alnus glutinosa and base-rich ash-elm-hazel Fraxinus excelsior-Ulmus-Corylus avellana stands, giving additional patterns of structural variation and transitions. The woods support important populations of the rare chequered skipper butterfly Carterocephalus palaemon.

Annex I habitats present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for selection of this site

• 91E0 Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior (Alno-Padion, Alnion incanae, Salicion albae)  * Priority feature

Annex II species that are a primary reason for selection of this site

• Not Applicable

Annex II species present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for site selection

• 1355 Otter Lutra lutra