WLGS 47 Linlithgow Loch [NT 004 776] (Figure 155)

WLC site description

Part of the Quaternary deposits, landscapes and soils sites

Other designations: B-SSSI (Linlithgow Loch); SAM (Linlithgow Palace, Peel and Royal Park); AGLV; LWS (close to Union Canal)

Linlithgow Loch is a very large kettle hole formed by the melting of a large detached mass of ice trapped within glacial deposits. This is part of the Linlithgow Loch SSSI (biological) — the largest natural freshwater loch in the Lothians, and the only example of a lowland mesotrophic loch in West Lothian. The loch supports representative examples of aquatic and emergent plant communities, and some of the plant species present are uncommon in the Lothians. The loch is regionally important for the number of birds it supports. Breeding birds of particular interest are Great Crested Grebe and Mute Swan, both uncommon in West Lothian. In the winter the loch has some of the largest flocks of Mallard, Coot, Tufted Duck and Pochard in West Lothian.

(Figure 155) Linlithgow Loch and Linlithgow Palace. The loch is very large kettle hole formed by the melting of a large detached mass of ice trapped within glacial deposits [NT 004 776] (WLGS 47).