Glen Affric Forest – Changes in native forest and water levels
The images are courtesy of Alan Stevenson, Inverness and Malcolm Wield, Dingwall.
Photographs taken in 2003 are compared with old post card images taken from similar viewpoints prior to 1950. This was also the era of fixed point photography and many sites were surveyed and fixed point camera positions plotted for future photographic comparisons. The modern photographs have been cropped to fit with the post card image but lens lengths used in both images appear to be slightly different.
Malcolm Wield recalls:
“Alan (Stevenson) at the time was keen to get evidence of recovery and improved condition of the forest since FC took ownership of Affric in 1950/51. Whereas the more extensive and long established work in Affric had gone relatively unrecognised. The pre-hydro landscape compared to now was a slight diversion perhaps, but was an aspect that came out of discussion about this and the existence of the old postcard photos.
At the time, I remember coming across some account of Loch Beinn a’Mheadhoin being raised by a mere 6 feet as a result of the dam being built (by the Hydro Board c1950). I couldn’t believe this at first because the dam is fairly high – possibly 100 feet, I’m not sure – and the resultant flooding is clearly extensive compared to the old photos. But looking at pre-dam OS maps show that the loch was actually much higher up the catchment than the site of the dam and the surface area was an awful lot smaller than the post-dam loch now is. So the water depth at the dam is much deeper than over the old loch which was a few miles further west. 6 feet still seems modest but does make more sense than on first reading and is probably not far away from reality.”
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Groups: Forestry Areas