Montrose Basin is a nearly circular tidal basin which makes up part of the estuary of the River South Esk and which sits just inland of the town of Montrose in

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * Angu ...

on the east coast of Scotland. The basin is protected by a number of designations, it is managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust as a Wildlife Reserve, as well as being designated as a Local Nature Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest, 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 ...

and a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) ** saltmarsh, reedbed and fen and its surroundings of

arable Arable relates to the growing of crops: * Arable farming or agronomy, the cultivation of field crops * Arable land, land upon which crops are cultivated * Arable crops program The arable crops program is a consolidated support system operated und ...

farmland and pasture. The section of the basin at Maryton is an important site for the study of the sea level fluctuations following the end of the last glaciation. The SPA includes the small, eutrophic freshwater loch called Dun's Dish. The basin contains the largest area of saltmarsh in Angus.

Wildlife

The extensive mudflats are home to large populations of invertebrates, especially

annelid The annelids (Annelida , from Latin ', "little ring"), also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecol ...

worms, the snail ''

Hydrobia ''Hydrobia'' is a genus of very small brackish water snails with a gill and an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Hydrobiidae.Gofas, S. (2011). Hydrobia Hartmann, 1821. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species ...

'' and the amphipod ''

Corophium ''Corophium'' is a genus of the amphipod family Corophiidae. Formerly a much larger genus, many species have been transferred to segregate genera such as '' Monocorophium'' and '' Crassicorophium''. Species ''Corophium'' contains 12 species, af ...

''. There are also beds of mussels '' Mytilus edulis''. The flora includes beds consisting of three species of eel grass, ''

Zostera ''Zostera'' is a small genus of widely distributed seagrasses, commonly called marine eelgrass, or simply seagrass or eelgrass, and also known as seaweed by some fishermen and recreational boaters including yachtsmen. The genus ''Zostera'' con ...

'', and algae. The mudflats support numbers of waders and wildfowl including Eurasian oystercatcher,

common redshank The common redshank or simply redshank (''Tringa totanus'') is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae. Taxonomy The common redshank was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of hi ...

, red knot,

mute swan The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, ho ...

Eurasian wigeon The Eurasian wigeon or European wigeon (''Mareca penelope''), also known as the widgeon or the wigeon, is one of three species of wigeon in the dabbling duck genus ''Mareca''. It is common and widespread within its Palearctic range. Taxonomy T ...

and common eider. Large flocks of pink-footed goose 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 ...

use the basin to roost in and feed in the surrounding farmland. As well as wintering eiders the basin supports a large breeding population. In all 213 species of bird have been recorded on the basin, most being winter visitors or passage migrants and just over 50 species are thought to breed. A visitor centre was opened on the south side of the basin at Rossie Braes by the Scottish Wildlife Trust in 1995.

History

The

Montrose Basin Heritage Society Montrose may refer to: Places Scotland * Montrose, Angus (the original after which all others ultimately named or derived) ** Montrose Academy, the secondary school in Montrose Australia *Montrose, Queensland (Southern Downs Region), a locality ...

was formed in 1999 to bring together information about the basin, including its history and archaeology. The oldest evidence for humans in the area dating back as far as over 3,000 year B.C.E., this being the linear monument, known as the cursus, which runs from Powis to Old Montrose. The Basin has been exploited for its seafood, especially the Atlantic salmon but commercial fisheries for this species ended in 2018; and

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, whic ...

cultivation gave it the largest mussel beds in the country during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Montrose Basin was hit by a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

in 6100 BC, generated by the massive underwater Storegga Slide, in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It was high when it hit the basin, with the waters travelling inland as far as

Forfar Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a po ...

References

External links

Reserve's websiteMontrose Basin Live WebcamVisitor Centre informationDEFRA report
* {{coord, 56.70818, N, 2.50305, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(NO693575), display=title Estuaries of Scotland Special Protection Areas in Scotland Ramsar sites in Scotland Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Angus and Dundee Nature centres in Scotland Nature reserves in Scotland Protected areas of Angus, Scotland Landforms of Angus, Scotland Lagoons of the United Kingdom

Wildlife

History

See also

References

External links