Loch Lomondside from near the Queen’s View.
‘While I gazed on this Alpine region, I felt
a longing to explore its recesses…’
Frank Osbaldistone in Rob Roy Sir Walter Scott (1817)
Ever since tales of the adventures of Rob Roy MacGregor first drew Loch Lomondside to the nation’s attention, generations of travellers have followed in Sir Walter Scott’s literary footsteps. They too may have shared Frank Osbald-istone’s desire to know more of the region on first seeing it stretched out before him on the southern approach, a prospect that has since become known as the Queen’s View (see Figure below). In the foreground the open moorland with its mosaic of subdued colours gradually falls away to an orderly patchwork of plantations and enclosed green fields. Beyond that and studded with wooded islands is the wide expanse of the loch itself, almost completely encircled by a backdrop of rugged mountains which were once the remote fastness of the Highland clans. Such is its scenic reputation, the area attracts more than two million visitors every year, many from overseas. Landscape entirely un-defaced by man may have long since vanished, yet to most eyes Loch Lomondside still reflects the wild country so vividly portrayed by Scott. And once away from the beaten track and the confines of man-made boundaries, a feeling of open space and solitude may still be experienced, belying the fact that the largest concentration of people living in Scotland is encompassed within a one hour car journey.
Every book has a point of conception, and in this case it occurred some years ago when I was invited to prepare a course of lectures on Loch Lomondside’s natural history and nature conservation for the University of Glasgow’s Department of Further Education. It was the students’ need for a readily available and modestly priced work on the history and wildlife of Loch Lomond and surrounds that brought together a group of tutors to produce A Natural History of Loch Lomond (1974), a booklet which is still in print and available from the Loch Lomond Park Authority’s visitor centres. The intention of this greatly expanded account is to examine in turn each of Loch Lomondside’s component physical, historical and economic features, before describing the principal wildlife habitats and their dependent species, concluding with a summary of the gradual awakening to the national importance of the region’s wealth of wild places, plants and animals. Particular attention is drawn to the influence of man on the natural environment, especially those changes brought about by agriculture, forestry, urban and industrial water demands, together with recreation in all its forms. If, as intended, the present work not only answers many of the enquiring reader’s questions as to what, where and when, but stimulates a wider awareness of the significance of Loch Lomondside’s diverse wildlife heritage, then the book’s aim as a New Naturalist will have been achieved.
Loch Lomondside from near the Queen’s View.
In the gathering of material for the book, help has been forthcoming from many directions. First I would like to acknowledge a considerable debt to all those historians, geographers and biologists – past and present – who have published or permanently recorded in some way the results of their investigations in the Loch Lomond area. Without such a rich legacy of the written word to draw upon, the project could not even have begun. Considerable assistance with obtaining these publications and reports was given by Scottish Natural Heritage, Stirling and Dumbarton library services. Thanks are also due to fellow members of the Loch Lomond & Trossachs Research Group (based at the University Field Station near Rowardennan) for helpful discussions on various subjects outwith my own experience. Similarly, I would like to extend my thanks to a number of former colleagues in the Nature Conservancy Council and associates at the Universities of Glasgow, Paisley and Stirling, the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, the Natural History Society of Glasgow and the Scottish Entomologists’ Group, who generously made available their expertise on specialist groups from bryophytes to beetles, freshwater life to fungi. Members and staff of the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club, the British Trust for Ornithology, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Botanical Society of the British Isles, the British Bryological Society, the British Lichen Society, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the National Trust for Scotland, the Forestry Commission and the Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Association have between them furnished many additional biological records. The Scottish Climate Office in Glasgow kindly provided much of the recent meteorological data. A large proportion of the accompanying photographic plates and figures have been drawn from my own collection; those from other sources are individually acknowledged. Preparation of these photographs for publication was undertaken by Norman Tait.
To Allan Stirling – my field companion on Loch Lomondside on many an occasion – I am especially grateful for giving his time and unfailing patience to read through and comment on the entire draft manuscript. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to pay a personal tribute to Dr Derek Ratcliffe of the New Naturalist Editorial Board; not only for overseeing the manuscript through its early stages, but for his encouragement and guidance over many years.
John Mitchell, Drymen, July 2000