Skip to Content

Special Areas of Conservation

Ness Woods

Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Country Scotland
Unitary Authority Highlands and Islands
Centroid* NH434142
Latitude 57.19166667
Longitude -4.591666667
SAC EU Code UK0030223
Status Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Area (ha) 841.38
* 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 Ness Woods SAC

General site character

  • Inland water bodies (Standing water, Running water) (1.4%)
  • Bogs, Marshes, Water fringed vegetation, Fens (3.6%)
  • Heath, Scrub, Maquis and Garrigue, Phygrana (15%)
  • Alpine and sub-Alpine grassland (1.8%)
  • Improved grassland (0.1%)
  • Broad-leaved deciduous woodland (77%)
  • Coniferous woodland (0.5%)
  • Mixed woodland (NaN%)
  • Inland rocks, Screes, Sands, Permanent Snow and ice (0.6%)

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

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

    This complex of sites includes one of the best and most extensive examples of a ravine woodland in Scotland at Glen Tarff; further examples occur along the north-facing shores of Loch Ness. The canopy is a mixture of alder Alnus glutinosa, ash Fraxinus excelsior and wych elm Ulmus glabra with a locally abundant hazel Corylus avellana shrub layer. The ground flora is rich in ferns, mosses and herbaceous plants, and the woods have a luxuriant epiphytic flora of lichens, liverworts and mosses with Atlantic affinities.

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.