Lochaber is an area of rich and diverse natural environments, with habitats extending from beneath the Atlantic into the coastal zone and on through a variety of grassland, bog and woodland types up onto mountain summits of rock, scree and mountain heath.
Snow lies above 800m on Ben Nevis for about five months of the year, and in sheltered, north-facing corries and gullies it can last all year.
The high mountaintops are also the haunt of rare and distinctive breeding birds such as dotterel, ptarmigan and snow bunting. Here you may also see golden eagles, merlin and peregrine falcons.
Today little remains of the forest that once blanketed the west coast, but these woodlands still support a distinctive range of wildlife including the red squirrel, black grouse, Scottish crossbill, and rare insects.
Coastal grasslands also support rare invertebrates such as the New Forest burnet moth. Around the coast the spectacular white-tailed eagle is slowly re-establishing itself after its re-introduction to Rum in the 1980s. The coastline itself is dominated by rock, much of which is fairly sheltered, and this extends underwater to form extensive rocky reefs. Soft coastal habitats such as saltmarsh, machair, sand dune and mud flats occur more locally, such as at the head of sea lochs or on sheltered parts of islands.
Lochaber has a diverse and important marine environment. The sea lochs are amongst the deepest in Scotland, while the fresh water environment is a key part of Lochaber’s ecology and character.
To find out more go to the Environment and Wildlife activity pages.
