Loch Enoch
Loch in Galloway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Loch Enoch is a multi-basin freshwater loch in Galloway, to the east of Merrick and south of Mullwharchar. The loch is situated in a granite basin and has several small islands and some beaches on its shore. The sharp granite sand of these beaches was collected and sold for sharpening knives and scythes.[2] The catchment area's vegetation is mainly Purple Moor Grass and Heather.[1]
| Loch Enoch | |
|---|---|
| |
  Loch Enoch | |
| Location | Galloway |
| Coordinates | 55°08′10″N 4°26′20″W |
| Type | Loch |
| Primary outflows | Eglin Lane |
| Catchment area | 186 ha (460 acres)[1] |
| Basin countries | Scotland |
| Surface area | 50 ha (120 acres)[1] |
| Max. depth | ~36 m (118 ft)[1] |
| Surface elevation | 493 m (1,617 ft)[1] |
| References | [1] |
The loch's outflow supplies Loch Doon and the River Doon, both in Ayrshire.
Acidification
By 1800 the water of Loch Enoch had already become acidic.[3] J. McBain in his 1929 book The Merrick and the Neighbouring Hills. Tramps by Hill, Stream and Loch describes a trout that 'bore the unmistakable marks of a Loch Enoch trout, i.e. it was minus the lower half of its tail and part of its ventral fins'.[4] McBain writes that the last recorded trout caught was in 1899. Since 1940 the loch became more acidic due to industrial emissions[3] and in the 1950s it completely lost its fish population.[5] In 1994 it was restocked with 3000 trout.[4] The loch has not become more acidic since the mid-1970s and has become slightly less acidic from the 1980s onwards,[1] with the pH increasing slowly from around 4.3 in 1978 to 4.9 in 2003.[6] Between 1983 and 2003 the loch's DOC levels increased.[7]
