Loch Druidibeag is a freshwater

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 ...

situated on the island of South Uist, in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

of Scotland. The loch is near the northern end of the island, to the north-east of

Howmore Howmore ( gd, Togh Mòr / Tobha Mor) lies on the island of South Uist to the southwest of Loch Druidibeg. The mountain of Haarsal rises to to the east and immediately south is the smaller settlement of Howbeg. Howmore is also within the parish ...

and to the east of the

A865 road List of A roads in zone 8 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and ...

and south of the B890. The loch is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

and a

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed in a ...

site, and forms part of the South Uist Machair Special Area of Conservation and the South Uist Machair and Lochs Special Protection Area. Loch Druidibeg was designated as a National Nature Reserve (NNR), but was de-declared in 2012. The loch was also formerly a biosphere reserve, being so-designated in 1976, but this status was withdrawn in 2013. The local planning authority is Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

Ecology and management

Loch Druidibeg exhibits a cross-section of habitats from alkaline machair grassland through oligotrophic loch to acidic

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 ...

. This highly diverse range of habitats is variously influenced by the oceanic exposure with high levels of salt spray and humidity, and the influence of settled agriculture on which the species-rich machair grassland depends. The loch is managed for strict conservation purposes, however traditional cultivation and cattle grazing practices are encouraged as an integral part of management for biodiversity. Numerous cooperative projects between conservation agencies and the local community in the Uists are carried out. Although no special research and education facilities are available, the reserve is frequently used for scientific and conservation-orientated research as well as for environmental education of schoolchildren.

Woodland

Prior to the creation of the NNR, a small woodland plantation was established to the north of the loch as policies for an estate lodge which was never built. It contained an eccentric mix of lodgepole pine, Scots pine of unknown provenance, Chile pine, Norway maple and '' Rhododendron ponticum''. In the intervening period, native species such as birch, alder,

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus ''Sorbus'' is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of ''Sorbus'' (''s.l.'') are commonly known as whitebeam, r ...

and aspen have been planted or become established and it is now an important site for woodland birds, which are otherwise scarce in the Hebrides. In the 1980s, Scottish Conservation Project volunteers were contracted by the Nature Conservancy Council to erect a deer fence to protect the plantation from grazing pressure. By the 1990s, the ''Rhododendron ponticum'' had engulfed large areas of the plantation and was spreading onto adjacent land and some of the islands in Loch Druidibeg. Scottish Natural Heritage Area Officer, Gail Churchill, responded by initiating a plan for the restoration of the woodland for educational and amenity purposes.

Ownership

The area, in total, is . of freshwater and moorland, with some croftland, was owned by Scottish Natural Heritage (bought in 1958); acquired in 1962 under a management agreement with the owners South Uist Estates and the

crofters A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural area ...

occupying and managing the croftland/grazings. In 2018 the SNH land was transferred to the local community-owned company Storas Uibhist. There are buffer zones extending to north and south of the zone, under similar schemes.

Sources

References

{{commons category, Loch Druidibeag ;Notes Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Western Isles South Druidibeg Druidibeg South Uist