page_title: Cape Wrath
section_title: Natural environment
hierarchical_section_title: Cape Wrath / Natural environment
caption_attribution_description: English: Beyond the lighthouse These rocks form the very north-west tip of Scotland, at Cape Wrath.
context_page_description: Cape Wrath is a cape in the Durness parish of the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It is the most north-westerly point in mainland Britain.
  The cape is separated from the rest of the mainland by the Kyle of Durness and consists of 107 square miles of moorland wilderness known as the Parph. The first road was built in 1828 by the lighthouse commission across the Parph/Durness. This road connects a passenger ferry that crosses the Kyle of Durness with the buildings on the peninsula.
  Much of the cape is owned by the Ministry of Defence and is used as a military training area, including as live firing range. Areas of it are also designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area, a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Landscape Area.
context_section_description: Because its landscape is largely untouched by man, Cape Wrath has a wide diversity of wildlife, including red deer, hooded crow, rock pipit, golden eagle, cormorant and gannet. An area of 1,019.2 hectares (2,518 ¹⁄₂ acres) is designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA) and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The cliffs around the cape are an internationally important nesting site for over 50000 seabirds, including colonies of puffin Fratercula arctica, razorbill Alca torda, guillemot Uria aalge, kittiwake Rissa tridactyla and fulmar Fulmarus glacialis. The SPA extends 2 km (1 ¹⁄₄ mi) out to sea and includes the sea bed and marine environment which is a source of food for the bird population of the area.
  Numbers of seabirds in the area saw significant declines in the early 21st century with puffin numbers falling by 50%. An area of 1,015.2 hectares (2,508 ⁵⁄₈ acres) is also designated as a Special Area of Conservation. Marine species present in the area include harbour porpoise, common seal and bottle-nosed dolphin as well as species such as sea squirts and sponges.
  The cliff-top vegetation at sites such as Clò Mòr includes common scurvygrass Cochlearia officinalis and a wide range of habitats are present. These include cliff-top sand dunes at the cape itself as well as montane habitats found at sea level.
  An area of 123 square kilometres (47 sq mi) around the coastline is designated as a Special Landscape Area. This area extends from Oldshoremore in the south-west to Durness in the east and includes the entire coastline of the cape area. Just offshore is Stac Clò Kearvaig, also known as "The Cathedral" due to the appearance of two spires and a natural window created by erosion. To the east lies Garvie Island (An Garbh-eilean), one of the main targets for live firing by the military.
  Inland the landscape is primarily covered in peat and is often boggy with difficult terrain and a number of lochans, the largest of which, Loch Airigh na Beinne, is around 0.6 square kilometres (¹⁄₄ sq mi) in area. The area has been described as one of the few coastal wildernesses in Britain. Plant species include heather Calluna vulgaris, juniper Juniperus communis and ferns.
caption: Cliffs at Cape Wrath
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