Glen Tarff

Also within

Inverness County

Condition (NatureScot)

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Feature: Gorge / Ravine

Landscape processes: Fluvial

Description

GLEN TARFF Glen Tarff SSSI is situated just south of Fort Augustus, on the southern tip of Loch Ness. It is the largest in a series of gorge woodlands in the Inverness District and runs for approximately 7.5 km from Corrieyairack Hill north to Loch Ness, into which the River Tarff flows. It is notified for its variety of woodland types and a rare beetle. The variable conditions of soil, slope and aspect has led to the development of different types of woodland, with sessile oak and birch on the sides of the gorge and ash, wych elm and alder lower down. The wood is notable for a well-developed under-storey of hazel, bird cherry, holly and goat willow. The site shows both oceanic and continental climatic influences and the woodland habitats reflect this. They are particularly rich in mosses and ferns, including the mountain fern Oreopteris limbosperma, and scaly male-fern Dryopteris affinis. There are also locally important plants such as wood crane’s-bill Geranium sylvaticum and the grasses mountain melick Melica nutans and wood fescue Festuca altissima. The site is also important for the rare beetle, Bolitophagus reticulatus, which in the UK is found only in the Highlands of Scotland. The beetle larvae feed on bracket fungus in old birchwoods.

Species mentioned

Insects to look out for

These moths, butterflies and beetles are known to feed on plants recorded at this site, and carry a notable UK conservation status — but a host-plant being present doesn't mean the insect has actually been recorded here. Treat this as "worth watching for," not a confirmed sighting.

Host-plant data: Cook et al. (2025), Traits data for the butterflies and macro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland, 2024, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology / Butterfly Conservation; and Padovani et al. (2020), Database of Insects and their Food Plants (DBIF), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (both Open Government Licence). Contains data supplied by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.

Plant communities