Skip to Content

Special Areas of Conservation

Airds Moss

Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Country Scotland
Unitary Authority South Western Scotland
Centroid* NS613252
Latitude 55.50277778
Longitude -4.197222222
SAC EU Code UK0030218
Status Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Area (ha) 1360.22
* 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 Airds Moss SAC

General site character

  • Bogs, Marshes, Water fringed vegetation, Fens (73%)
  • Humid grassland, Mesophile grassland (7%)
  • Coniferous woodland (19%)
  • Other land (including Towns, Villages, Roads, Waste places, Mines, Industrial sites) (1%)

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

  • 7130 Blanket bogs (* if active bog)  * Priority feature

    Airds Moss represents one of the few remaining areas of relatively low-altitude blanket bog in south-west Scotland, where agricultural conversion and forestry have reduced the original extent. The vegetation over some parts of the site is modified by past drainage and mineral extraction, and dominated by purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea. Elsewhere, areas of surface patterning occur, and more typical bog vegetation dominated by heather Calluna vulgaris, deergrass Trichophorum cespitosum and cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix is extensive, with locally abundant white beak-sedge Rhynchospora alba, cranberry Vaccinium oxycoccos and carpets of the bog-moss Sphagnum magellanicum.

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

  • Not Applicable

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

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