Sampling site images
with links to samples

1: Isle of Islay


Loch Tallant. (2000)

Loch Tallant is a shallow loch in a nutrient-poor peaty basin: marginal vegetation is gradually encroaching on the open water and the loch is now only a remnant of the original.


More images of Islay and its lochs here:
Sampling results: 2000   2002   2003  2004  2005  2006  2018-19

2: Hidden Lochan, near Aviemore.

 

Hidden Lochan is in a densely (planted) forested area near Aviemore. The lochan is formed in a peaty depression and the waters are highly coloured. That's me using a plankton net.


3: Green Lochan, near Aviemore.


Green Lochan is in the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) forest on the edge of the Cairngorms. The soils are shallow and gravelly, and the lochan appears to be nutrient-poor (no assays have been done), its chemistry probably dominated by the geology. The waters are very clear, the bottom covered with stones and fallen logs. There are few macrophytes present.



4: Lochan an Eilein, near Aviemore.


Lochan an Eilein is in the Rothiemurchus estate

 

5: Wester Ross, near Achiltibuie.


Stac Pollaidh is a Corbett (mountain 2000-3000 feet high) within the Inverpolly estate. The area is dominated by its proximity to the Atlantic coast and has poor soils based on Torridonian sandstone overlain with peat. There are numerous mountains rising abruptly from the lower ground which is dissected by brown-water lochs.
More pictures of the area here and here.


6: Kindrogan Pond Periphyton


Kindrogan pond is near the Kindrogan field centre in Perthshire: this page shows periphytic algae collected on slides exposed in the pond for 24 hours then grown in filtered pond water for ~ 6 weeks.
Algae from the Kindrogan area in 2003 can be seen here.


7: Millport Reservoir


Millport Reservoir was the water supply (now disused) for the island of Cumbrae. I collected some algal samples there while helping with a field course at the island's Marine Biology station. The picture shows Millport's famous Crocodile Rock.
2002 samples 
2003 samples  
2004 samples 
2005 samples  
2006 samples 
2007 samples.


8: Loch Skeen algae

Loch Skeen lies in a glacial hanging valley in the Scottish Borders area: the Tail Burn which drains it cascades into the Moffat Water, forming a waterfall called the Grey Mare's Tail. The area is popular with tourists, and a steep but well-constructed path leads up the side of the waterfall to the loch.

9: The Trossachs and Loch Chon

The Trossachs area includes the Loch Ard catchment (Loch Ard pictured left) which has been the focus of much monitoring and research into freshwater acidification, as has Loch Chon.


10: Bemersyde Moss, The Scottish Borders

Bemersyde moss is a shallow loch and surrounding wetland near Melrose, and an important local bird reserve. Napier biologists have been engaged in a long-term study of nutrient levels and their relationship with the bird community and other aquatic life.

11: Ettrick and Yarrow Waters, the Borders.

 
The Ettrick and the Yarrow are rivers which form major tributaries of the river Tweed, a famous salmon fishing river in the Scottish and English border country. The algal samples were taken during a project to investigate possible reasons for differences in salmon recruitment in the two rivers.

12: River Creran, west highlands

 
The River Creran lies on the west coast of Scotland, running into the fjordic Loch Creran. It drains a mountainous catchment with a small human population. Some agriculture is practiced on the drained strath (flood plain).

13: Rivers Almond and Creran

 
The River Almond has a highly populated catchment lying mainly in West Lothian to the west of Edinburgh. It has been industrialised since the beginning of the industrial revolution, being the birthplace of the shale oil industry ("Paraffin Young"), and saw iron ore smelting and deep - mined coal at a multitude of locations - all now ceased. It provides a complete contrast in terms of topography and land use to the Creran catchment.

 

14: Nepal                            

 
Samples were collected in Nepalese rivers in the foothills of the Himalaya by Ian Martin, alongside invertebrate and water samples taken for his Honours project, while conducting a fishing/rafting trip in Nepal.

John Kinross