Loch Duich (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...

: "Loch Dubhthaich") is a

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelling ...

situated on the western coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, in the

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia * So ...

History

In 1719, British forces burned many homesteads along the loch's shores in the month preceding the Battle of Glen Shiel.

Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan Castle stands at the meeting point of Loch Duich,

Loch Long Loch Long is a body of water in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Sea Loch extends from the Firth of Clyde at its southwestern end. It measures approximately in length, with a width of between . The loch also has an arm, Loch Goil, on its weste ...

, and Loch Alsh.

Legends

A legend connected with Loch Duich states that three brothers who went fishing at the loch one night became enraptured by three seal-maidens who had thrown off their furs, assumed the likeness of humans, and danced in the moonlight on the sands. The brothers stole their furs, intending to claim the seal-maidens as their wives. The youngest brother, however, moved by the seal-girl's distress, returned her seal-skin. For his kindness, the girl's father allowed the youngest brother to visit the maiden every ninth night. As for the other two brothers, the middle brother lost his wife after the seal-maiden he had captured found her stolen fur, while the eldest brother burnt his wife's fur as a preventative measure, only to burn her accidentally in the process.

Connections with Loch Ness

The infamous "McRae film" connected with the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster ( gd, Uilebheist Loch Nis), affectionately known as Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or m ...

was supposedly shot as a close-up of not only "Nessie" in its habitat of

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for clai ...

, but a second film allegedly shows a similar animal in Loch Duich. Both films are, according to most sources, held in a secret trust, and few people have seen either film. It is still a mystery as to whether the films exist at all, but are accepted by several Loch Ness researchers.

Nature and conservation

Loch Duich, along with the neighbouring sea lochs of

and Loch Alsh, was together designated as a Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA) in 2014. The designation is in place to protect the lochs' burrowed mud and their

flame shell ''Limaria hians'', the flame shell, is a species of small saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Limidae. This species is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Biology The flame shell resembles a scallop with a bright ...

beds.

References

*''Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain'' (London: The Reader's Digest Association, 1973), 444. Duich Duich Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas of Scotland {{Highland-geo-stub