Ardgour Pinewoods

General site character

• Inland water bodies (Standing water, Running water) (3%)
  
• Bogs, Marshes, Water fringed vegetation, Fens (18%)
  
• Heath, Scrub, Maquis and Garrigue, Phygrana (33%)
  
• Dry grassland, Steppes (14%)
  
• Broad-leaved deciduous woodland (5%)
  
• Coniferous woodland (27%)
  

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

• 91C0 Caledonian forest  * Priority feature

  Ardgour Pinewoods complex includes the principal Caledonian forest areas of northern Ardgour, including Cona Glen, Doire Mór, and Loch Shiel Woodlands. These represent the South West Zone. The pinewoods of this zone are considered to be genetically distinct from that elsewhere in Scotland. However, their origins are believed to be similar to those of the North West Zone, in that the woods may have recolonised from pinewood remnants that survived the Ice Age on the then west coast of Scotland. The pinewoods in this complex are the largest, most intact and most diverse remnants of semi-natural pinewood in their biochemical region. There is a rich flora of oceanic mosses and liverworts (including the nationally scarce Cephalozia catenulata and Plagiochila carringtonii) and a notable invertebrate fauna, including the rare beetle Boletophagus reticulatus and 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

• Not Applicable