Grain and grazing fields north of Meikle Carrewe

Meikle Carewe Hill is a

landform A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

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 ...

within the

Mounth The Mounth ( ) is the broad upland in northeast Scotland between the Highland Boundary and the River Dee, at the eastern end of the Grampians. Name and etymology The name ''Mounth'' is ultimately of Pictish origin. The name is derived from ' ...

Range of the

Grampian Mountains The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. T ...

. (Grid Reference NO 921 828) The peak elevation of this mountain is 266 metres above mean sea level. Meikle Carewe is a prominent landform visible from a number of coastal hills such as

Kempstone Hill Kempstone Hill is a landform in Aberdeenshire, Scotland within the Mounth Range of the Grampian Mountains. The peak elevation of this mountain is 132 metres above mean sea level. This hill has been posited by Gabriel Jacques Surenne, Archibald ...

and

Megray Hill Megray Hill is a low-lying coastal mountainous landform in Aberdeenshire, Scotland within the Mounth Range of the Grampian Mountains. The peak elevation of this mountain is 120 metres above mean sea level. This hill has been posited as a likely ...

; it also forms a major backdrop to the community of Netherley.

Geology and hydrology

This mountain is covered virtually entirely with

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...

. Its northwestern slopes drain to the

Cairnie Burn Cairnie Burn is a stream that rises in the Mounth, or eastern range of the Grampian Mountains, north of Netherley, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Cairnie Burn is a generally northeast flowing watercourse that is a tributary to the Crynoch Burn. Cair ...

, whilst the northern and eastern slopes drain to

Crynoch Burn Crynoch Burn is a stream in Aberdeenshire that is tributary to the River Dee. This stream rises somewhat above Netherley and flows near Netherley House; and thence into the Red Moss, a significant natural bog habitat; thence near the histori ...

. The western slopes yield

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...

that drains into

Cowton Burn Cowton Burn is a stream that rises in the Mounth, or eastern range of the Grampian Mountains, on some of the northwest slopes of the Durris Forest west of Netherley, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Grid Reference for the headwaters is NO 925 823); ...

Curlethney Hill Curlethney Hill is a landform in Aberdeenshire, Scotland within the Mounth Range of the Grampian Mountains. (Grid Reference NO 918 839) The peak elevation of this mountain is 246 metres above mean sea level. This landform lies slightly southwest ...

is situated approximately 0.9 kilometers to the east of Meikle Carewe Hill Surface runoff and drainage from Curlethney Hill also drain north to Crynoch Burn, at reaches above the Red Moss. Waters within the Red Moss are decidedly

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

ic, with measured summer pH values in the range of 5.68. These low pH levels may be caused in part by the

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

drainage from the moorland on Meikle Carewe Hill.

Wind farm proposal

Renewable Energy Systems (RES UK & Ireland Ltd) is to construct a

windfarm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

for

electrical power Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with other SI units: thousands, millions and billions of ...

generation using Meikle Carewe Hill and nearby high ground to install twelve wind turbines, five of which are proposed for Meikle Carewe Hill itself. Each turbine would reach a height of 70 metres above grade level, and the entire complex could generate enough power to supply the equivalent of 5000 homes. The planning application for the development was originally rejected by

Aberdeenshire Council Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area includ ...

but was overturned on appeal on 24 February 2011. Environmental concerns over the proposal include

noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is main ...

, visual impactMeikle Carewe Windfarm Action Group website
and ecological disturbance.

References

Mountains and hills of Aberdeenshire {{Aberdeenshire-geo-stub

Geology and hydrology

Wind farm proposal

See also

References