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Argyll & Isles, Stirling, Loch Lomond & Trossachs

Covering some 1,600 hectares on the west coast of south Kintyre, this reserve has plenty of interesting features and diverse wildlife. Metamorphic rocks (including limestone) are capped with thin acidic soil and peat. Bogs and heaths dominate with patches of acid grassland and bracken, while the native woodland fragments are expanding. Along the 6-km coastal strip, jutting cliffs with steep slopes and truncated corries drop dramatically into a heaving Atlantic. The ocean heaves a sigh and creamy foam sprays high over bare black rock, iced with guano and peppered with small ledges on which breeding seabirds can be found. At the cliff base before the tide comes, feral goats are often seen. Within the Dun Ban SSSI, mountain avens carpets scree faces, while other Arctic-alpines thread through fescues, sedges and tiny mosses. Orchids, campions and harebells splurge among wild thyme. Yellow milk vetch drapes itself on thin ledges and rock samphire creeps along crevices. Golden eagles can be seen here, along with peregrine falcons, kestrels, pipits and resident barn owls. Red, roe and sika deer often forage into other parts of the reserve at night.

Best time to visit:

• June to September for wildflowers

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• Uplands Leaflet