Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 1007 A revision of invertebrate features of designated sites in Scotland COMMISSIONED REPORT Commissioned Report No. 1007 A revision of invertebrate features of designated sites in Scotland For further information on this report please contact: Athayde Tonhasca Scottish Natural Heritage Battleby PERTH PH1 3EW Telephone: 01738 458671 E-mail: [email protected] This report should be quoted as: Littlewood, N.A. 2017. A revision of invertebrate features of designated sites in Scotland. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 1007. This report, or any part of it, should not be reproduced without the permission of Scottish Natural Heritage. This permission will not be withheld unreasonably. The views expressed by the author(s) of this report should not be taken as the views and policies of Scottish Natural Heritage. © Scottish Natural Heritage 2017. COMMISSIONED REPORT Summary A revision of invertebrate features of designated sites in Scotland Commissioned Report No. 1007 Project No: 013952 Contractor: Nick Littlewood Year of publication: 2017 Keywords assemblages; invertebrates; notified features; qualifying features; site condition monitoring; SSSI Background Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are designated on the basis of notified features. For invertebrates, notified features range from individual species, through assemblages of a specific taxon, to the overall invertebrate assemblage. For a variety of reasons, the invertebrates’ notified features do not always reflect the currently established criteria for selecting such features for site protection and designation purposes. In some cases, citations are based on old records that may now be considered unreliable whilst in others, the records do not demonstrate that the species or assemblages are of sufficient quality to meet the criteria. The objective of this project was to revise and update the list of all 241 invertebrate features of SSSIs in Scotland, covering 158 SSSIs. For each feature, an assessment was made as to whether it was a qualifying feature under current guidelines, whether the feature could be better defined, and, if it is a qualifying feature, how it should be monitored for site condition monitoring purposes. Assessments were also made of whether there were any invertebrate features that were qualifying features, but not represented in the notified features. The outputs of the project should not be read as guidance for revising SSSI citations, but instead as guidance to help prioritise and implement field programmes for SCM purposes. For further information on this project contact: Athayde Tonhasca, Scottish Natural Heritage, Battleby, Perth, PH1 3EW. Tel: 01738 458671 or [email protected] For further information on the SNH Research & Technical Support Programme contact: Knowledge & Information Unit, Scottish Natural Heritage, Great Glen House, Inverness, IV3 8NW. Tel: 01463 725000 or [email protected] i Table of Contents Page 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Project justification 1 1.2 Project outcomes 1 1.3 Limits of project coverage 1 2. METHODS 2 2.1 Resources used 2 2.2 Status and threat definitions 2 2.3 Criteria used for assessing qualifying features 3 2.4 Recommendations for monitoring 4 2.5 Layout of site reports 4 3. SITE ASSESSMENTS 6 3.1 Abbey Burn Foot to Balcary Point 6 3.2 Abbey Craig 6 3.3 Abernethy Forest 7 3.4 Ailsa Craig 9 3.5 Airds Park and Coille Nathais 10 3.6 Alvie 11 3.7 Ardgour Pinewoods 12 3.8 Ardmeanach 13 3.9 Ardura – Auchnacraig 14 3.10 Arran Northern Mountains 15 3.11 Avenel Hill and Gorge 16 3.12 Barry Links 17 3.13 Beinn Eighe 18 3.14 Ben Heasgarnich 20 3.15 Ben Lomond 22 3.16 Ben Lui 23 3.17 Ben Nevis 24 3.18 Black Wood of Rannoch 25 3.19 Blind Moss 27 3.20 Bothwell Castle Grounds 28 3.21 Braelangwell Wood 29 3.22 Buckstruther Moss 30 3.23 Burnmouth Coast 31 3.24 Cadder Wilderness 32 3.25 Caenlochan 33 3.26 Cairngorms 34 3.27 Cambusurich Wood 36 3.28 Canna and Sanday 37 3.29 Carnach Wood 38 3.30 Carrick Ponds 38 3.31 Clais Dhearg 39 3.32 Claish Moss 40 3.33 Clarilaw Grasslands 41 3.34 Cleghorn Glen 42 3.35 Coille Coire Chuilc 43 3.36 Coille Dalavil 44 3.37 Coille Mhor 45 3.38 Coille Phuiteachain 45 3.39 Coille Thogabhaig 46 ii 3.40 Conic Hill 47 3.41 Corrieshalloch Gorge 48 3.42 Coulin Pinewoods 49 3.43 Cragbank and Wolfehopelee 49 3.44 Craig Leith and Myreton Hill 50 3.45 Craig Royston Woods 51 3.46 Craigellachie 51 3.47 Crannach Wood 53 3.48 Crathie Wood 54 3.49 Creag nan Gamhainn 55 3.50 Culbin Sands, Culbin Forest and Findhorn Bay 56 3.51 Dalkeith Oakwood 57 3.52 Dam Wood 58 3.53 Den of Airlie 59 3.54 Doire Donn 59 3.55 Dollar Glen 60 3.56 Dundonald Wood 61 3.57 Dunhog Moss 62 3.58 Earlshall Muir 63 3.59 Eastern Cairngorms 64 3.60 Ellary Woods 66 3.61 Endrick Mouth and Islands 66 3.62 Fannich Hills 67 3.63 Fiddler Gill 68 3.64 Firth of Forth 69 3.65 Flanders Moss 70 3.66 Gannochy Gorge 72 3.67 Garron Point 72 3.68 Gattonside Moss 73 3.69 Glen Affric 74 3.70 Glen Creran Woods 75 3.71 Glen Lochay Woods 75 3.72 Glen Moss 76 3.73 Glen Nant Woods 77 3.74 Glen Strathfarrar 78 3.75 Glen Tanar 78 3.76 Glen Tarff 80 3.77 Glenmore Forest 81 3.78 Hamilton High Parks 81 3.79 Inchrory 82 3.80 Inverpolly 83 3.81 Jedwater Woodlands 85 3.82 Kenmure Holms 85 3.83 Kippenrait Glen 86 3.84 Knapdale Woods 88 3.85 Lindean Reservoir 88 3.86 Lismore Lochs 89 3.87 Loch a' Mhuilinn 90 3.88 Loch an Duin 91 3.89 Loch Bee 91 3.90 Loch Bran 92 3.91 Loch Leven 92 3.92 Loch Lubnaig 93 3.93 Loch Maree 94 3.94 Loch Moidart 95 iii 3.95 Loch Shiel 96 3.96 Loch Stack and River Laxford 96 3.97 Loch Vaa 97 3.98 Lochmaben Lochs 98 3.99 Lochs of Harray and Stenness 99 3.100 Lochwood 100 3.101 Logierait Mires 101 3.102 Lurgie Loch 101 3.103 Maidens to Doonfoot 102 3.104 Meall na Samhna 103 3.105 Merrick Kells 104 3.106 Methven Woods 105 3.107 Milton Loch 106 3.108 Milton-Lockhart Wood 106 3.109 Minto Craigs 108 3.110 Moine Mhor 108 3.111 Monadhliath 109 3.113 Morrone Birkwood 111 3.114 Mount Bog 113 3.115 Mugdock Wood 114 3.116 Muir of Dinnet 114 3.117 Nethan Gorge 116 3.118 North Rothiemurchus Pinewood 116 3.119 Ochtertyre Moss 118 3.120 Pass of Killiecrankie 119 3.121 Perchhall Loch 119 3.122 Pitmaduthy Moss 120 3.123 Rannoch Moor 121 3.124 Rassal 123 3.125 Rhidorroch Woods 123 3.126 Rickle Craig - Scurdie Ness 124 3.127 Rinns of Islay 125 3.128 River Ayr Gorge 126 3.129 River Borgie 127 3.130 River Dee (Parton to Crossmichael) 127 3.131 River Kerry 128 3.132 River Moidart 129 3.133 River Spey 129 3.134 River Spey - Insh Marshes 130 3.135 River Tweed 132 3.136 Ronas Hill - North Roe 133 3.137 Rossie Moor 134 3.138 Rum 135 3.139 Shieldaig Woods 136 3.140 Shingle Islands 137 3.141 Spey Bay 137 3.142 St Cyrus and Kinnaber Links 138 3.143 Strath 139 3.144 Strathmore Peatlands 140 3.145 Struan Wood 140 3.146 Sunart 142 3.147 Talisker 143 3.148 Taynish Wood 143 3.149 Tayport – Tentsmuir Coast 145 3.150 Tayvallich Juniper and Fen 146 iv 3.151 Torridon Forest 147 3.152 Turnberry Dunes 148 3.153 Tweedwood - Gateheugh 149 3.154 Waulkmill 150 3.155 Western Gailes 150 3.156 Whiting Ness - Ethie Haven 151 3.157 Whitlaw Bank to Hardies Hill 152 3.158 Whitlaw Mosses 152 3.159 Woodhall Loch 154 4. REFERENCES 156 v Acknowledgements Thanks to Athayde Tonhasca at SNH for arranging this project and providing much useful feedback throughout. Iain MacGowan and Bob Bryson at SNH also provided much useful input and discussion. A number of SNH Operations’ staff responded to requests for information including Tamara Lawton, Stephen Longster, Andrew MacGregor, Sarah McGrory, Lorraine Servant, Mike Smedley and Nicola Tallach. Paul Brookes, Duncan Davidson, Juliette Dinning, Paul Kirkland, Pete Moore and Mark Young responded to specific enquiries. Val MacAtear, Royal Entomological Society Librarian, responded promptly to several request for copies of journal papers. vi 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project justification Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are designated on the basis of notified features, which may be particular habitats or vegetation types, species or geological features. For invertebrates, notified features range from individual species, through assemblages of a specific order (e.g. beetles) to the overall invertebrate assemblage. The primary criteria for notification of individual species and assemblages are 'typicalness' (species that are characteristic of an ecosystem in the ‘Area of Search’, and also the best examples available), fragility, population size, diversity, naturalness and rarity (Bainbridge et al., 2013). For a variety of reasons, the invertebrate notified features do not always reflect the currently established criteria for site protection and designation purposes. In some cases, citations are based on old records that may now be considered unreliable whilst in others the records do not demonstrate that the species or assemblages are of sufficient quality to meet the criteria.