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Special Areas of Conservation

Kinloch and Kyleakin Hills

Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Country Scotland
Unitary Authority Highlands and Islands
Centroid* NG749201
Latitude 57.2167
Longitude -5.7292
SAC EU Code UK0030176
Status Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Area (ha) 5275.63
* 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 Kinloch and Kyleakin Hills SAC

General site character

  • Inland water bodies (Standing water, Running water) (0.5%)
  • Bogs, Marshes, Water fringed vegetation, Fens (19%)
  • Heath, Scrub, Maquis and Garrigue, Phygrana (72.5%)
  • Broad-leaved deciduous woodland (4%)
  • Coniferous woodland (1%)
  • 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

  • This is an extensive upland site on Torridonian Sandstone, where the lower slopes contain several areas of rocky woodland and wooded ravines varying from acidic oak–birch QuercusBetula woodland, to base-rich ash–hazel Fraxinus excelsiorCorylus avellana woodland with a herb-rich ground flora. It includes the woodland at Leitre Fura, one of the few woods on Skye which is dominated by ash and wych elm Ulmus glabra. Many of the oak and ash trees within the component woods of this site are veterans and are now growing within an infilled wood pasture, which has regenerated as woodland. Several of the component woods support a very rich bryophyte flora, both as epiphytes and on the block scree within the wood, with an internationally important representation of oceanic species, especially in ravines deeply cut into the sandstone. The woods are also important for epiphytic lichens, with good examples of euoceanic communities.

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.