Venture North: Tourist Information for Caithness & Sutherland
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      • Oldshoremore Retreats Self-Catering
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      • Royal Dornoch Golf Club
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Flora & Fauna

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  • Flora & Fauna

Flora & Fauna

What makes the plants of Caithness and Sutherland different is that the climate is cool and influenced by the ocean that surrounds the North. So it is a interesting vegetation; near the sea it is adapted to cool cloudy summers and mild windy winters; the mountaintops have semi- alpine conditions of cool summers and wild cold frosty winters, then there are sheltered inland valleys which naturally grow woodland.

Ken Crossan

This climate produces a big variety of habitats to visit – high mountains, peatlands, seacliffs, sandy beaches and machair, crofting land, farms and native woodland. So the plants themselves are special almost everywhere you look. Find the Scottish primrose at Strathy point, the high alpines growing at sea level at Bettyhill and Inchnadamph, St. Olaf’s Candlestick and the beautiful Twinflower at Balblair Wood near Golspie…..just to name but a few.

  • View our Heritage Map to find natural sites of beauty and interest
  • Download our Heritage App to take with you along the way

Photos on this page by Ken Crossan.

Latest Post

Venture North Discovery: Laura Morgan

Venture North Discovery: Laura Morgan

Posted by Laura Morgan on June 5th 2016

Laura Morgan blogs about the far north at aremoteview.wordpress.com. She is fascinated by the place names and contour lines on her OS 10 map (but that’s a blog for another time). She writes short stories and is currently published in the spring …

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