Loch of Aboyne is a shallow, artificial formed, freshwater loch in

Grampian Grampian ( gd, Roinn a' Mhonaidh) was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The region t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It lies northeast of

Aboyne Aboyne ( sco, Abyne, gd, Abèidh) is a village on the edge of the Highlands in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the River Dee, approximately west of Aberdeen. It has a swimming pool at Aboyne Academy, all-weather tennis courts, a bowling green and ...

and west-southwest of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. An earthen dam was constructed around 1834 to retain the loch. It also served as a reservoir for a nearby mill.

Survey

The loch was surveyed on 13 July 1905 by T.N. Johnston and L.W. Collett and later charted as part of the Sir John Murray's ''Bathymetrical Survey of Fresh-Water Lochs of Scotland 1897-1909''.

Flora and fauna

The loch was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1984 owing to its aquatic flora and fauna and rich

reedbed A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...

and

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as ...

vegetation. It has one of the finest submerged floras in the area with 8 species of pondweeds. There is a high diversity of

leeches Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bo ...

and pond snails and modest numbers of passage and wintering wildfowl including

wigeon The wigeons or widgeons are a group of birds, dabbling ducks currently classified in the genus ''Mareca'' along with two other species. There are three extant species of wigeon, in addition to one recently extinct species. Biology There are ...

goosander The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (''Mergus merganser'') is a large seaduck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees. ...

and whooper swans. It provides a valuable habitat for waterfowl and other birds, with Osprey regularly seen plucking fish from the water. It is also an important site for butterflies.

Leisure and recreation

Aberdeen Waterski and Wakeboard Club uses the loch for its activities and the club was also responsible for repairing the dam in the late 1980s. In winter, when ice forms on the loch, it is used for curling. A bonspiel was held here in 1891 and the Aboyne Curling Club had its own private railway station named

Aboyne Curling Pond railway station Aboyne Curling Pond railway station, Loch of Aboyne Platform or Curlers' Platform was a private station opened on the Deeside Extension Railway for the use of the curlers, who played on the nearby Loch of Aboyne close to the old Deeside Railway ...

, the remains of which can still be seen. Fishing is available by permit and the existing stock of

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

and

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s was supplemented in 2002 and 2003 with common roach,

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', ''Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', '' L ...

, ide and carp. On the north shore of the loch is the Aboyne Golf Club and course. The Aboyne Loch Caravan Park lies on a peninsula which extends into the loch, and The Lodge on the Loch health spa is located on the north shore.

References

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Survey

Flora and fauna

Leisure and recreation

References

See also