West ross

Several hundred years ago, Gaelic was used on the territory of West Ross. However, he suffered greatly as the mountaineers, and their traditions, were persecuted after the Battle of Calloden in 1746. A gradual decline began. In the last hundred years, the use of Gaelic has declined significantly; there are currently very few people in the region who are fluent in Gelika .

The church and parents played a significant role in the decline of the language. When children whose mother tongue was Gaelic went to schools (which became compulsory from the 1870s), conversations in Gelika were not encouraged. Many parents mistakenly believed that the Gaelic language would be a hindrance to their children and were not allowed to speak it. When it became clear that more and more people were using English, the church largely abandoned Gaelic . Nevertheless, several churches are still preserved in which the service is in Gaelic. The only area in which the language remains relatively alive is music; many local musical groups perform their works in Gaelic ^[3] .

The Ben Hey State Nature Reserve is managed by the Scottish Natural Heritage Center. It was founded by John Barry in 1951, when he was director of conservation in Scotland. ^[4] It is the oldest reserve in all of Great Britain ^{[5] [6]} . In addition, it is one of the largest nature reserves with a total area of ​​almost 48 square kilometers ^[6] .

The reserve extends from Loch Marie Lake to the top of the mountain, and was created to protect the remains of an ancient Scots pine forest. The Scotland Natural Heritage Center offers the Visitor Information Center about 3.5 km northwest of the town of Kinlochewe, marked trekking routes through the forests and on the lower slopes of Mount Bein Eighe , picnic spots and sightseeing spots platforms. The Scotland Natural Heritage Center also provides a field station with full laboratory facilities for fourteen people, which is used by scientists and students for field research.

Bein Eighe is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve ^[7] .

Of the wild animals in West Ross, deer , golden eagles and martens are most common. There are also foxes and badgers , but they are not found everywhere. In the vicinity of , wild goats are often found. In 2008, 40 red squirrels were brought here; now their number has reached 300 ^[8] .

The sea near West Ross is the habitat for many marine mammals - common and long- mouthed seals, porpoises , bottlenose dolphins , dolphins , otters , whales and sharks . The most common whale species is minke whale , but humpback whales and killer whales are also rare. Other rare species that can be found on the high seas are finials , saivals and sperm whales . In the summer months at the sea you can meet bottlenose , grind and various dolphins: white-faced , white-faced , gray ^[8] .

Of the seabirds, the most interesting are: petrel , petrels , black - billed red - throated and black-throated loons, puffins , eagles . Golden eagles are the rarest of non-seabirds, but there are many other species: plovers , partridges , tapas , waxwing , carduelis .

West Ross has a large number of different lakes, but the most famous of them is Loch Marie Lake.

The lake, with a total area of ​​28 km², is located in a depression with a depth of 110 m. The main feature of the lake are the islands, of which there are more than sixty ^[9] . On large islands are the remains of an ancient Caledonian forest . Some trees are over 350 years old. On the island of Mael Ruva, there are the remains of a chapel, a cemetery, a holy well, a sacred tree and a monastery , presumably belonging to St. Mael Ruva (VIII century), who founded a monastery in in 672. In honor of Mael Ruva, the lake got its name ^[9] . Loch Marie is the habitat for black-throated loons , birds from Siberian forests and the Arctic tundra, which retain a small population on the western outskirts of Scotland. Almost 6% of British black-throated loons are located on Loch Marie Lake, this is the largest concentration of this species in the UK ^[10] .

Another famous West Ross Lake is Lake. In fact, Loch Yu is a bay in the North Sea. During World War II, the lake was a gathering point for Arctic convoys that made vital supplies to the USSR (for example, see Convoy JW-51B ). networks and minefields protected ships from German submarines . To repel air attacks, the lake was protected by anti-aircraft guns . Destroyed firing positions can still be found around the entire lake, especially near the villages of Cove ( Eng. Cove ) and Mellon Charles ( Eng. Mellon Charles ) ^[8] . The base near the village of Mellon Charles is currently still in use. There is a mooring for nuclear submarines of NATO ^[11] . It is labeled as the Z-berth, which allows NATO nuclear submarines to enter service without warning. The second Z-berth ( Eng. Z-berth ) is located in the middle of the lake itself, it is marked with buoys, but, nevertheless, is not marked on any topographic maps ^[12] .

Another famous West Ross Lake is . It is about 4 km long and about 1.6 km wide, with a maximum depth of about 61 m. To the north and west of the lake is the Applecross Peninsula, an east cape that separates it from Lake ^[13] . The lake is famous for the fact that in the docks on its shore was built the Ninian oil platform ( English Ninian Central Platform ). When, in 1978, it was built, the 600,000-ton platform was the largest mobile technogenic facility in the world. The construction took 3 years (1975-1978), more than 3,000 people took part in it, who were placed in temporary housing and two ships moored alongside. Upon completion of the construction of Ninian, 7 tugboats were required to tow the platform to the place of work in the North Sea ^[14] .

The Wester Ross area is well known for its mountain scenery, especially the Hills, which include peaks like Ben Hey ( Eng. Beinn Eighe ) and Liatach ( Eng. Liathach ). And although, from a geological point of view, many peaks in the northwest highlands belong to Toridon, the hills, as a rule, are called only those that are located north of the Torridon valley. In addition to the already mentioned peaks, Ben Hey ( Eng. Beinn Eighe ) and Liatak ( Eng. Liathach ), these are Ben Aligin ( Eng. Beinn Alligin ) and Ben Dirg ( Eng. Beinn Dearg ).

The hills between the Torridon Valley and the village of Strathcarron are no less beautiful. These are Fuar Tholl , An Ruadh-stac, Ben Dam ( Beinn Damh ), Maul Cheann-dearg , Sgorr Roy . Sgorr Ruadh ) and Ben Liath Mhr .

The Scots themselves consider the Torridon hills the most picturesque in all of Britain, with the exception of the ridge on the Isle of Skye . Other significant peaks include An Thallock and Slioch. The landscape is dominated by Precambrian and very old rocks. Each of the is located at a considerable distance from the others, so they are often compared to castles. They have steep slopes, and broken ridges that divide into several peaks. The hills provide a good opportunity for scrambling , so they are popular with mountain tourists. However, the descent from the hills is very limited, there are a few points of departure. Therefore, as soon as the tourist began to climb, he was forced to continue the route to the end. West Ross is sparsely populated, so mountain tourists need to be fully equipped. In winter conditions, many of the tracks become quite complicated.

Wester-Ross is glorified in the lyric song "Letter from America" ​​by The Proclaimers and the song Kishorn Commandos by Gaberlunzie ^[15] , which sings about the workers' lifestyles on the construction of the central oil platform Ninian ( Eng. Ninian Central Platform ) on Lake . Many other songs mention the names of the areas, geographical features and villages of West Ross, especially the islands of Loch Marie Lake, which have been mentioned by many singers, including Calum Kennedy .

Some outdoor scenes in Stardust ^[16] and the Ninth Legion Eagle ^[17] were shot in West Ross.

West Ross is the adventure site of John McNab in the book of John Bucken .

• Allapul
• Highland

• Official website
• Beinn Eighe State Nature Reserve website
• A documentary on the construction of the Ninian oil platform on the website of the National Library of Scotland