Kintyre Goose Lochs

Also within

Argyll and Bute County

Condition (NatureScot)

Birds & fish recorded

Birds

Description

Kintyre Goose Lochs The Kintyre Goose Lochs SSSI comprises a series of hill lochs (Loch Garasdale, Loch an Fhraoich, Loch Lussa and Black Loch) on the Kintyre peninsula in south-west Scotland. These sites are notified for their aggregations of Greenland white-fronted geese Anser albifrons flavirostris with each roost supporting nationally or internationally-important numbers over the winter months. Kintyre Goose Lochs, along with Tangy Loch SSSI and Rhunahaorine Point SSSI, regularly supports an internationally-important population of Greenland white-fronted goose Anser albifrons flavirostris (approximately 9% of Total World Population; 16% of great Britain population). The geese roost on the various lochs included within this SSSI as well as on the grassland and heath at Rhunahaorine Point and Tangy Loch. The geese use several other roosts on Kintyre but their use is more sporadic and the geese are not present in nationally-important numbers in these other roosts. There are two main populations of Greenland white-fronted goose in Kintyre, one which generally feeds on improved agricultural land around Rhunahaorine Point with significant roosts on Rhunahaorine Point, Loch an Fhraoich and Loch Garasdale. The other population generally feeds on improved agricultural land in the Laggan area with significant roosts on Loch Lussa, Tangy Loch and Black Loch.

Species mentioned