Mealt Waterfall with Kilt Rock, Isle of Skye

Loch Mealt is an inland fresh-water

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...

on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

in Scotland. It lies close to

Ellishadder Ellishadder () is a crofting township, situated close to the north shore of the freshwater Loch Mealt, on the Trotternish peninsula of the island of Skye, and is in the Scottish council area of Highland. Ellishadder is one of 23 townships making ...

and south of

Staffin Staffin ( gd, Stafain) is a district with the Gaelic name ''An Taobh Sear'', which translates as "the East Side", on the northeast coast of the Trotternish peninsula of the island of Skye. It is located on the A855 road about north of Portre ...

, on the eastern side of the

Trotternish Trotternish or Tròndairnis (Scottish Gaelic) is the northernmost peninsula of the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. Its most northerly point, Rubha Hùinis, is the most northerly point of Skye. One of the peninsula's better-known features is the Trot ...

peninsula.

Geography

This roughly square-shaped loch is about 1 km in length. It is located close to the sea and its eastern side comprises the spectacular tall sea-cliffs of Kilt Rock, made of

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...

rock strata in many different colours."Kilt Rock, Staffin"
ukclimbing.com. Retrieved 25 July 2010. Kilt Rock boasts a dramatic waterfall created from the outflow of Loch Mealt.

Ecology

There are a number of bird species in this roadside loch.Its waters are favoured by

diving duck The diving ducks, commonly called pochards or scaups, are a category of duck which feed by diving beneath the surface of the water. They are part of Anatidae, the diverse and very large family that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The diving d ...

s. The Orkney charr (''

Salvelinus inframundus ''Salvelinus inframundus'', also known as Orkney charr is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae which is endemic to Scotland. Description ''Salvelinus inframundus'' has the following characteristics which in combination make this taxon dif ...

''), a char species that could be vulnerable to

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

ion, has been found in Loch Mealt. Since the impact of Canadian

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populatio ...

the lake upon the native char population is unknown and the taxonomic identity of the char deemed as ''Salvelinus inframundus'' is lacking essential information, a full

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

assessment cannot be made.

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline
NG5065 : Dun Grianan, broch, Loch Mealt, Skye
Mealt Mealt Waterfalls of Scotland

Geography

Ecology

See also

References

External links