Site Code
Country: United Kingdom
Central coordinates: 56.56666667o [56o 34' 0" North], -3.38333333o [3o 22' 59" West]
Administrative region: Scotland Tayside & Clackmannanshire (East Perthshire)
Area: 510 ha
Altitude: 89 - 202
Site Description
Lochs Craiglush, Lowes, Butterstone, Clunie and Marlee are situated between Dunkeld and Blairgowrie. The lochs form part of a chain of five kettle hole lochs (formed by melting isolated blocks of ice) along the Lunan Burn as it flows between Dunkeld and Blairgowrie before joining the River Isla on the northern edge of the central Scottish lowlands. Those at the western end are more acidic, but to the east the lochs are further from the Highland Boundary line and are more alkaline. These five Lochs provide a natural example of gradually-increasing eutophy and have been designated under the EU Habitats Directive as the Dunkeld - Blairgowrie Lochs Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Dunkeld and Blairgowrie Lochs have also been recognised as a Stonewort site of European Importance, with a total of eight recorded species (Stewart, 2004).
The three upper lochs (Craiglush, Lowes and Butterstone) lie north of the Highland Boundary Fault, 4 km east of Dunkeld with catchments which are predominantly upland and acidic; the lower lochs (Clunie and Marlee) lie 5 km downstream and south of the Fault with predominantly agricultural and more enriched catchments. The series provides examples of relatively unpolluted oligotrophic to mesotrophic loch types, which are rare and decreasing habitats in Britain, especially in the lowlands. The aquatic flora is exceptionally diverse, with the number of pondweeds Potamogeton spp. at Loch of the Lowes and Loch Clunie being outstanding. The aquatic plant slender naiad Najas flexilis, which is extremely rare in the UK, occurs in each of the lochs. Hare Myre, Monk Myre and Stormont Loch are three partially silted-up shallow kettlehole lochs, lying south east of Blairgowrie, on fluvioglacial outwash sands deposited by glacial melt water along the valley of the River Ericht. These lochs are important for the wide range of different types of fen habitats which have formed in the transition from open water to woodland. All three lochs have a fringe of emergent vegetation, mixed deciduous woodland and wet woodland. The site is important for its open water transition fens, assemblage of rare vascular plant species, wintering greylag goose population and geomorphology.
Botanical Significance
Noted for stoneworts and vascular plants interest.
Lochs Butterstone, Craiglush and Lowes
The aquatic flora is exceptionally diverse and an outstanding number of pondweeds and other macrophytes have been recorded in the 3 lochs. 11 species of pondweed have been recorded to date, including slender-leaved pondweed and curly-leaved pondweed. Of the other aquatic plants, of particular note is the internationally rare slender naiad Najas flexilis found here at one of its few locations in eastern Scotland. This site contains the most easterly occurrence of slender naiad Najas flexilis on the Scottish mainland and is the second-largest known population. Around the lochs is a variety of transition fens from emergent vegetation at the loch edge including reed Phragmites communis and bottle sedge Carex rostrata swamp grading through to raised bog, alder and birch woodland in the drier areas. Alder buckthorn Frangula alnus is found in one of its few Scottish locations around Loch of the Lowes.
The open water transition fens round the lochs consist of a wide range of different fen types ranging from emergent vegetation through to raised bog between Craiglush and Lowes, and wet woodland of birch and alder. Sitting between Lowes and Craiglush is an unusual basin fen. This extensive and virtually undisturbed ‘quaking bog’ consists mainly of a carpet of bog mosses and open reed swamp with bottle sedge Carex rostrata, slender sedge Carex lasiocarpa and bog myrtle Myrica gale together with bladderwort Utricularia sp and many- stalked spike-rush Eleocharis multicaulis. It is of outstanding interest and is probably unique in Tayside.
The stoneworts Chara virgata, Nitella opaca and Nitella translucens have been recorded at Loch of Craiglush; Chara globularis, Chara virgata and Nitella flexilis agg. at Loch of Lowes; and, Nitella flexilis (plus an old record for nitella translucens which may still be present) at Loch of Butterstone.
Lochs Marlee and Clunie
Lochs Clunie and Marlee are also of international importance for their aquatic vegetation, which is exceptionally diverse. The number of pondweed species present is outstanding, with 9 species recorded to date, including slender- leaved pondweed Potamogeton filiformis and 11 species of sedge, including water sedge Carex aqualtilis and lesser tussock sedge Carex diandra. The aquatic plant, slender naiad Najas flexilis, which is extremely rare in the UK, is also present in the lochs.
The Lunan Burn, linking the two lochs, is of national importance and is the best example of a lowland river in Perth and Kinross. It is particularly notable because of its lack of management disturbance and the diversity of its plant community.
At Loch of Clunie the stonewort species Chara aspera, Chara virgata, Chara globularis, Nitella flexilis agg. and Nitella translucens have been found. At Loch of Marlee: Chara aspera, Chara virgata and Nitella flexilis s.s.. There are also old records for Nitella translucens and Nitellopsis obtusa. This is the only locality for the latter but there is still some doubt over whether the record was correct (Stewart, 2004)
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Hare Myre, Monk Myre and Stormont Loch
Plant species diversity is high with over 170 species having been recorded at these lochs to which the range of habitats is a contributing factor. The western end of Stormont Loch in particular displays an impressive example of natural succession from open water to floating bog moss Sphagnum and developing willow carr which has formed in a shallow hollow in the corner of the loch. Elsewhere fen communities are dominated by a range of sedges and grasses including bottle sedge Carex rostrata and reed grass Phalaris arundinacea.
Amongst the rarer species in the vascular plant assemblage in these fen communities are the nationally rare Scandinavian small-reed Calamagrostis purpurea found at the poor-fen at the western end of Stormont Loch, where it is locally abundant (a species first recognised in Britain in 1980); the nationally scarce tufted loosestrife Lysimachia thrysiflora and needle spike-rush Eleocharis acicularis; greater spearwort Ranunculus lingua, found in the emergent wetland zone around Stormont Loch; nodding bur marigold Bidens cernua at the water’s edge in both parts of the site, together with trifid bur-marigold Bidens tripartita at Stormont Loch.
In the old pines surrounding Stormont Loch and Hare Myre are two nationally scarce species at their only locations in east Perth and Kinross: twinflower, Linnaea borealis and creeping lady’s-tresses Goodyera repens.
The stoneworts: Chara contrary; Chara globulari; and Chara virgata have all been recorded at Monk Myre with old records for Chara aspera and Nitella flexilis agg.. The site is also of historic interest as the type and only locality for Chara sturrokii, a plant which may be an aberrant form of Chara globularis but whose taxonomic position has never been established (Stewart, 2004). Stormont Loch once contained Chara globularis, Chara virgata and Nitella flexilis agg.
BSBI VCR supporting info: Calamagrostis purpurea; Carex diandea; Corallorhiza trifida; Elatine hydropiper; Limosella aquatica; Linnaea borealis; Lysmachia thrysiflora; Nuphar pumila; Persicaria minor; Potamogeton filiformis; Potamogeton rutilus. Site should include the following lochs: Loch of the Lowes, Craiglush, Butterstone, Clunie, Marlee, rae, Fingask, White, Black, Monk Myre, Stormont, Hare Myre with their mire and carr margins
Management guidance notes
Notes
None