Fauna of Scotland - Habitats

Habitats

Scotland enjoys a diversity of temperate environments, incorporating deciduous and coniferous woodlands, and moorland, montane, estuarine, freshwater, oceanic, and tundra landscapes. About 14% of Scotland is wooded, much of it in forestry plantations, but before humans cleared the land it supported much larger boreal Caledonian and broad-leaved forests. Although much reduced, significant remnants of the native Scots Pine woodlands can be found. Seventeen per cent of Scotland is covered by heather moorland and peatland. Caithness and Sutherland have one of the world's largest and most intact areas of blanket bog, which supports a distinctive wildlife community. Seventy-five per cent of Scotland's land is classed as agricultural (including some moorland) while urban areas account for around 3%. The coastline is 11,803 kilometres (7,334 mi) long, and the number of islands with terrestrial vegetation is nearly 800, about 600 of them lying off the west coast. Scotland has more than 90% of the volume and 70% of the total surface area of fresh water in the United Kingdom. There are more than 30,000 freshwater lochs and 6,600 river systems.

Under the auspices of the European Union's Habitats Directive, as of December 2007 a total of 239 sites in Scotland covering more than 8,750 square kilometres (3,380 sq mi) had been accepted by European Commission as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). Scotland's seas are among the most biologically productive in the world and contain 40,000 or more species. Twenty-four of the SACs are marine sites, and a further nine are coastal with marine and non-marine elements. These marine elements extend to an area of around 350 square kilometres (140 sq mi). The Darwin Mounds, covering about 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), are being considered as the first offshore SAC.