Rannoch Moor | |
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Mòinteach Raineach/Raithneach | |
Location | West of Loch Rannoch, Scotland, UK |
Coordinates | 56°39′15″N 4°35′37″W / 56.654112315228254°N 4.593733814613356°W |
Designations | |
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Official name | Rannoch Moor |
Designated | 5 January 1976 |
Reference no. | 78[1] |
Rannoch Moor (/ˈrænəx/ ; Scottish Gaelic: Mòinteach Rai(th)neach) is an expanse of around 50 square miles (130 km2) of boggy moorland to the west of Loch Rannoch in Scotland, where it extends from and into westerly Perth and Kinross, northerly Lochaber (in Highland), and the area of Highland Scotland toward its south-west, northern Argyll and Bute. Rannoch Moor is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation.[2] Much of the western part of the moor lies within the Ben Nevis and Glen Coe National Scenic Area,[3] one of 40 such areas in Scotland.[4]
It is notable for its wildlife, and is particularly famous as being the sole British location for the Rannoch-rush, named after the moor.[5] It was frequently visited by Horace Donisthorpe who collected many unusual species of ants on the moor and surrounding hilly ground. Today it is still one of the few remaining habitats for Formica exsecta, the "narrow-headed ant", although recent surveys have failed to produce any sign of Formica pratensis, which Donisthorpe recorded in the area in the early part of the 20th century.
Peat deposits pose major difficulties to builders of roads and railways. When the West Highland Line was built across Rannoch Moor, its builders had to float the tracks on a mattress of tree roots, brushwood and thousands of tons of earth and ashes. Corrour railway station, the UK's highest, and one of its most remote being 10 miles (16 km) from the nearest public road, is located on this section of the line at 1,339 feet (408 m).[6] The line takes gentle curves totalling 23 miles (37 km) across the moorland. The A82 road crosses western Rannoch Moor on its way to Glen Coe and Fort William.
The desolate and isolated Gorton was a private railway station built near Meall a Ghortain that once housed a school for local railway workers' children, and still serves as the Gorton Crossing engineers' siding.