The area
provides a wide variety of habitats but lacks a coastline, though Loch Awe itself is only
36 metres above sea-level. Having a relatively humid, mild and unpolluted climate it is
particularly rich in ferns, lichens, liverworts and mosses.
Loch Awe is large, the longest loch in Britain (37
km), so the best places to look for aquatic plants are where wave action is at a minimum
in sheltered bays such as those at An Lodan (west end) and at Kilchurn Castle (east end).
Notable plants are the nationally rare Pillwort, a member of the fern family which creeps
on mud in shallow water, Lesser Marshwort and Six-stamened Waterwort.
Globeflower
Much of the lochside is stony and in
places there is scrub of Alder and Willow. In such damp places Globeflower and Northern
Bedstraw can be plentiful.
Sundew
To north and south of Loch Awe the hills are low,
reaching little more than 500 m. There are many conifer plantations, mainly of Larch,
Lodgepole Pine, Norway Spruce and particularly Sitka Spruce. However, much unforested
ground remains where Heather, Purple Moor and Bent Grasses, Cottongrass and Deergrass
dominate. Lochans are numerous and here can be found the beautiful flowers of Bogbean,
Water Lobelia and White and Yellow Water-lilies. On boggy margins the insectivorous
Butterwort and Sundew are common, while a rare treasure is the tiny Bog Orchid. Mires are
frequent in the many hollows and may have Bog-sedge and Cranberry.
Remnants of the Oak woods, which must once have dominated the low ground, can still
be found, as at Cladich, Coille Leitire, Dalavich and Fernoch.
Here Hay-scented Buckler-fern and Tonbridge
Filmy-fern can occasionally be found. Much richer mixed broad-leaved woodland is to be
found in the National Nature Reserve in Glen Nant. Here Bluebell, Common Dog-violet,
Dog’s Mercury, Primrose and Ramsons grow in abundance along with locally rare flowers
such as Bird’s-nest Orchid, Early-purple Orchid, Goldilocks Buttercup, Herb-Paris and
Twayblade.
The east end of Loch Awe is dominated by Ben Cruachan (1124 m), much of which is
composed of granite and is not noted for the variety of its mountain flora.
Of much greater interest to the botanist are the mica-schist mountains such as
Beinn Udlaidh (between Glen Orchy and Glen Lochy), the Ben Lui (1130 m) National Nature
Reserve and, further afield, the mountains on the east side of the railway in the Bridge
of Orchy area.
Bogbean
Of the many treasures which could be
found are Alpine Bartsia, Alpine Cinquefoil, Alpine Saxifrage, Alpine Woodsia, Cyphel,
Mountain Avens, Northern Rock-cress, Rock Speedwell, Round-leaved Wintergreen and Scottish
Asphodel.
For anyone seeking
more comprehensive information on the area’s flora, the following would assist: An
Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Main Argyll by Gordon Rothero
and Bernard Thompson (1994), obtainable from BSBI Publications, Green Acre, Wood Lane,
Oundle, Peterborough PE8 5TP.
