Kingshouse
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Condition (NatureScot)
| Unit | Feature | Condition | Area (ha) | Assessed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Quaternary of Scotland | Favourable | — | 2024-07-30 |
Climate exposure
This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.
Peat habitats store centuries of carbon and depend on a stable, waterlogged water table. Warmer, drier summers dry out peat, making it far more vulnerable to wildfire and to carbon release — a pressure that can undo years of restoration work regardless of how well the site is otherwise managed.
Geology & landscape
Geological Feature: Moraine · Geological Period: Quaternary
Landscape processes: Glacial, Peatland / Mire
Description
KINGSHOUSE Kingshouse SSSI is situated on the west side of Rannoch Moor between the Kingshouse Hotel and Black Corries Lodge. The site comprises two small kettlehole basins formed between hummocks of glacial moraine, together with their adjacent catchments. Formerly open water, the basins have in-filled through the accumulation of sediments and subsequent development of peat. Kingshouse is important for Quaternary studies in two respects. First, the basal sediments in the western basin provide a source of material that can be dated and thereby used to place a limit on the time of deglaciation of Rannoch Moor, the major centre of ice accumulation in Scotland during the Loch Lomond Readvance. Particularly significant is the radiocarbon date of 10,290 ± 180 BP obtained from moss fragments near the base of the sequence, since it is likely to be free from error arising from the “hard water effect” which may influence basal dates on organic lake materials which have frequently been used elsewhere. This date implies much earlier deglaciation in Scotland at the end of the Loch Lomond Readvance than conventionally assumed. Second, the pollen preserved in the Kingshouse deposits, and at other sites in the area, records in considerable detail the complex and rapid vegetational changes that occurred in this area of the Grampian Highlands in the period immediately following the Loch Lomond Readvance. In a northwest European context, such changes are important and are particularly clearly represented at Kingshouse.