Stephen Lee Photography

Looking over Loch Creran on a winters evening, with ice still on the waters edge. Loch Creran, situated at the northern end of the Firth of Lorn, is a typical fjordic sea loch. The site is particularly notable for biogenic reefs of the tube-worm Serpula vermicularis, which occur in shallow water around the periphery of the loch. This species has a world-wide distribution but the development of reefs is extremely rare; Loch Creran is the only known site in the UK to contain living vermicularis reefs and there are no known occurrences of similarly abundant reefs in Europe. The loch is about 11 miles north of Oban on the Fort William road.

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Location: North Argyll