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Special Areas of Conservation

Loch Etive Woods

Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Country Scotland
Unitary Authority Highlands and Islands
Centroid* NN040360
Latitude 56.475
Longitude -5.183333333
SAC EU Code UK0012750
Status Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Area (ha) 2642.59
* This is the approximate central point of the SAC. In the case of large, linear or composite sites, this may not represent the location where a feature occurs within the SAC.
Location of Loch Etive Woods SAC

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%)

Download the Standard Data Form for this site (PDF <100kb)

Note When undertaking an appropriate assessment of impacts at a site, all features of European importance (both primary and non-primary) need to be considered.

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

  • 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.

  • 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

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

Many designated sites are on private land: the listing of a site in these pages does not imply any right of public access.