Loch of Mey is a loch near the north coast of
Caithness
Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...
,
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 the ...
, and one of the most northern water features of mainland Britain. It lies just to the south of
Skarfskerry
Skarfskerry (or Scarfskerry; gd, Sgarbh Sgeir) is a settlement located in the far northern county Caithness on a small peninsula northeast of Thurso off the A836 road, A836 in Scotland. It is the most northerly settlement in Great Britain. The ...
, and southwest of
Harrow. Described as a "shallow ephemeral loch fringed by fen", due to its importance in facilitating wintering populations of
whooper swan
The whooper swan ( /ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/) (''Cygnus cygnus''), also known as the common swan, pronounced ''hooper swan'', is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type specie ...
and
greylag goose
The greylag goose or graylag goose (''Anser anser'') is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus ''Anser''. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A ...
from Greenland and Iceland, it has formed part of the Caithness Lochs Ramsar Site since February 1998. Ornithologists of the
Scottish Ornithologists Club have established a footpath and memorial hide dedicated to
James MacIntyre, which was renovated in August 2005.
The
Burn of Horsegrow flows into the loch on its southeastern side.
References
Mey
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Caithness
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