Meikle Loch from the air (geograph 1842682)

Meikle Loch is an inland loch some miles north of Collieston, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is designated as part of the

Ythan Estuary The Ythan Estuary (Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Eithein) is the tidal component of the Ythan River, emptying into the North Sea north of Aberdeen, Scotland. The estuary’s tidal action extends a inland and has characteristic widths of between ...

complex, along with the

Sands of Forvie The Forvie National Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve owned and managed by NatureScot. It is located north of Newburgh in Aberdeenshire, in the northeast of Scotland. The reserve includes the Sands of Forvie, which are the fifth larg ...

, as a

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cert ...

for

wildlife conservation Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habita ...

purposes. Meikle is a Scots word for large/big, which the loch is when compared to the adjacent Little Loch. It is a

eutrophic Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytoplank ...

loch with limited aquatic vegetation but is important as the home to overwintering

pink-footed geese The pink-footed goose (''Anser brachyrhynchus'') is a goose which breeds in eastern Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard. It is migratory, wintering in northwest Europe, especially Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and western Denmark. The na ...

. Additionally, it is an essential breeding location for three species of

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...

during the summer months and houses a tremendous variety of reedswamp plants.

References

External links

Special Protection Area designation
at the

Joint Nature Conservation Committee The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is the public body that advises the UK Government and devolved administrations on UK-wide and international nature conservation. Originally established under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, JN ...

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PDF Review of Meikle Loch, 2002
Protected areas of Aberdeenshire Special Protection Areas in Scotland Ramsar sites in Scotland {{Scotland-protected-area-stub