Roond Loch o Glenheid

The Roond Loch o Glenheid is a smaw upland single basin loch in Dumfries an Gallowa. It is situatit within the Gallowa Forest Pairk til the wast o the hill Craiglee. It forms a pair wi the nearby Lang Loch o Glenheid. Baith lochs is aboot the same size an ilk hae a smaw island. The twa lochs is separatit fae Loch Valley an Loch Naroch bi the Rig o the Jarkness. The loch is tuimt til the soothwast bi Roond Loch Burn, that efter jynin intae Glenheid Burn flowes intae Loch Trool. The catchment o the loch, that receives aboot 90.5 inch o precipitation a year, is aboot 222 acre o the slopes o Craiglee an some fletter auries nearer til the loch. Thir anes is makkit sindry bi syles varyin fae thick peat tae bare granite an tonalite. The unafforestit catchment haes vegetation teepical o muirland blanket mires. The aurie is lizourt bi cattle in the simmers anely; haein after uphaudit sheep, an at a time peat burnin. The loch haes dree'd bad fae the effects o acidification. As o 2012 the loch haed stairted tae rekiver fae this bit wis verra affectit yet, wi nitrate and sulphate levels heich an aw. Ower the speal o Julie 2013 tae December 2014 the pH varied fae 4.1 tae 6.0 and the dissowle't oxygen ranged fae 8.7 tae 12.7 mg/L. The loch an its catchement is a pairt o the Silver Flowe-Merrick Kells Biosphere Reserve Site o Speicial Scienteefic Interest an Speical Aurie o Conservation and the Silver Flowe-Merrick Kells UNESCO biosphere reserve. The loch is monitort syne 2005 on an unraiglar basis bi the (nouadays) United Kingdom Lake Ecological Observatory Network an the Upland Waters Monitoring Network (umwhile the United Kingdom Acit Waters Monitoring Network fae 1988 tae 2013). As o 2011 is wis the 'most fully equipped site for monitoring upland water quality and freshwater biodiversity in the UK'. The loch is makkit sindry as ogliotrophic an polymictic. The main plant speshies praisent in the catchment include muir gress (Molinia speshies); heathers includin common heather (Calluna vulgaris), brachen, an sedge (Tricophorum speshies); an includes ither speshies common associatit wi upland blanket mires sic as white bent or weir-bent an dug's tansie. References