Importance of the Regional Park.
At 28,000ha (280 square kilometres), Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park is Scotland’s largest Regional Park, rising to a height of 522m at the highest point - Hill of Stake, behind the Cornalees Visitor Centre. The Park welcomes over 700,000 visitors a year, and you can download information from the park authority here.
There are five Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and one Special Protection Area (SPA) within the Park, covering one third of the total area (9,515 ha). There is also a RSPB Nature Reserve at Lochwinnoch.
The Renfrewshire Heights SSSI and SPA covers the largest area – 8,947 ha. It consists of upland moorland, mainly overlain by blanket mire, wet and dry heaths, and rough grassland, dominated by heather. The SPA designation was made under EC Directive 79/409 on the Conservation of Wild Birds: a breeding site of European importance for Hen Harriers.
Of the other SSSIs, three are biological, and one geological:
- Shielhill Glen SSSI (25 ha) – Fen Meadow and Lowland Mixed Broadleaved Woodland.
- Skelmorlie Glen SSSI (37 ha) – Upland Mixed Ash Woodland
- Castle Semple & Barr Lochs SSSI (268 ha) – Breeding Bird Assemblage and Eutrophic Loch
- Dunrod Hill SSSI (238 ha) – Geological: Carboniferous – Permian Igneous
Our Park in photographs.
Please feel free to email us any images of the Park for inclusion in the Gallery. (Copyright material cannot be accepted or published. The Friends group reserves all rights to published photographs).
Gallery
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