Breeding Bird Community on Crom Mhin - Introduction  

Breeding Bird Community on Crom Mhin - Introduction

Introduction
 
During 1974, a census was carried out on the population of birds breeding on a part of the low lying land, known as Crom Mhin, situated on the North-east shore of the mouth of the Endrick Water on the south shore of Loch Lomond. The area is shown on Figure 1, and the census plot, outlined in red, on Figure 11. The plot consisted of 20.8 hectares of grasslands.

The census area was bordered to the North and West by sandy shoreline and water, and both the Eastern and Southern boundaries were drains, the former being marked on maps as the Great Drain. At the time of the visits, both drains held still water, largely choked by aquatic vegetation. The entire area was open to grazing by around 40 head of cattle, possibly more, but grazing pressure was mainly confined to the drier parts away from the drains.

Figure 11 also shows an approximate vegetation classification of the census plot, base d on that made by Idle, Macfarlane & Tivy on the map produced by the University of Glasgow, for the Nature Conservancy(1972).

Two-thirds of the plot was damp and low-lying, being covered with Juncus effusus, and Carex reedswamp on the Eastern side near the Great Drain. The remaining ground, slightly higher, consisted mainly of grazed Agrostis/Festuca isolated, small Salix sppl grew in those parts which, presumably, were sufficiently damp and unsound so as to discourage grazing. On the drier ground along the western edge were small thickets of Gorse, Ulex euopaeus, and a very few Hawthorn trees, Crataegus monogyna.