Loch lomond (лох ломонд)

Flora and fauna

Powan are one of the commonest fish species in the loch, which has more species of fish than any other loch in Scotland, including lamprey, lampern, brook trout, perch, loach, common roach and flounder. The river lamprey of Loch Lomond display an unusual behavioural trait not seen elsewhere in Britain: unlike other populations, in which young hatch in rivers before migrating to the sea, the river lamprey here remain in freshwater all their lives, hatching in the Endrick Water and migrating into the loch as adults.

The surrounding hills are home to species such as black grouse, ptarmigan, golden eagles, pine martens, red deer and mountain hares. Many species of wading birds and water vole inhabit the loch shore. During the winter months large numbers of geese migrate to Loch Lomond, including over 1% of the entire global population of Greenland white-fronted geese (around 200 individuals), and up to 3,000 greylag geese.

The Scottish dock (Rumex aquaticus), sometimes called the Loch Lomond dock, is in Britain unique to the shores of Loch Lomond, being found mostly on around Balmaha on the western shore of the loch. It was first discovered growing there in 1936 (else it grows eastwards through Europe and Asia all the way to Japan).

One of the loch’s islands, Inchconnachan, is home to a colony of wallabies.

Conservation designations

As well as forming part of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Loch Lomond holds multiple other conservation designations. 428 ha of land in the southeast, including five of the islands, is designated as national nature reserve: the Loch Lomond National Nature Reserve. Seven islands and much of the shoreline form a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), the Loch Lomond Woods. This designation overlaps partially with the national nature reserve, and is protected due to the presence of Atlantic oak woodlands and a population of otters. Four islands and a section of the shoreline are designated as a Special Protection Area due to their importance for breeding capercaillie and visiting Greenland white-fronted geese: this designation overlaps partially with both the national nature reserve and the SAC. Loch Lomond is also a designated Ramsar site, again for the presence of Greenland white-fronted geese.

The loch and its surrounding are designated as a national scenic area, one of forty such areas in Scotland, which have been defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development.

In popular culture

Loch Lomond from just below Beinn Dubh and Creag an t-Seilich

The song

The loch is featured in a well-known song which was first published around 1841. The chorus is:

The song has been recorded by many performers over the years, including Scottish Celtic rock band Runrig. The original author is unknown. One story is that the song was written by a Scottish soldier who awaited death in enemy captivity; in his final letter home, he wrote this song, portraying his home and how much he would miss it. Another tale is that during the Jacobite rising of 1745 a soldier on his way back to Scotland during the 1745–46 retreat from England wrote this song. The «low road» may be a reference to the Celtic belief that if someone died away from his homeland, then the fairies would provide a route of this name for his soul to return home. Within this theory, it is possible that the soldier awaiting death may have been writing either to a friend who was allowed to live and return home, or to a lover back in Scotland.

Other

Loch Lomond, looking west from Ben Lomond

• Loch Lomond (like Loch Ness) is often used as a shorthand for all things Scottish, an image partly reinforced by the self-titled song. An archetype is the Lerner and Loewe musical Brigadoon. The opening lyrics of the song «Almost Like Being in Love» are: «Maybe the sun gave me the power/For I could swim Loch Lomond and be home in half an hour/Maybe the air gave me the drive/For I’m all aglow and alive!»
• It is mentioned in the song «You’re All the World to Me» from the musical film Royal Wedding in the line: «You’re Loch Lomond when autumn is the painter!»
• The village of Luss («Glendarroch») on the shores of the loch was the location for the TV soap Take the High Road, and the loch itself was given the fictional name Loch Darroch for the purpose of the series.
• Luss («Lios») and the islands nearby were used as the setting for E. J. Oxenham’s first book, Goblin Island, published in 1907.
• Loch Lomond is also the brand name of the Scotch whisky drunk by Captain Haddock in Hergé’s comic book series The Adventures of Tintin. A non-fictional whisky by the same name is produced at the Loch Lomond distillery.
• Loch Lomond is the opening track on guitarist Steve Hackett’s 2011 album Beyond the Shrouded Horizon.
• In The Three Stooges episode «Pardon My Scotch» a gentleman asks ‘Are you laddies by any chance from Loch Lomond?’, whereupon Curly replies ‘No we’re from lock jaw’.
• One of the road signs in the Merrie Melodies short «My Bunny Lies over the Sea» points to Loch Lomond.[citation needed]
• Spike Milligan created an episode of The Goon Show entitled The Treasure of Loch Lomond. The main character, Neddie Seagoon, discovers he has Scottish heritage and travels to Scotland to claim a fortune owned by his uncle, who discovered a galleon full of treasure at the bottom of the loch.
• In the Mel Brooks film Spaceballs, the character «Snotty» delivers the line «Lock one… lock two… lock three… Loch Lomond…» while locking transporters onto «President Skroob».
• In Santa Cruz County, California, United States, lies Loch Lomond, a small body of water named after Loch Lomond in Scotland. Near Loch Lomond, California, is Ben Lomond which was named by Scot John Burns in 1851.
• Loch Lomond features as the backdrop for a song sequence in the 1998 Bollywood film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

История вискокурни Loch Lomond

Виски Loch Lomond достаточно молодой — завод появился всего лишь в 1965 году благодаря Бартону Брэндсону и Дункану Томасу. На вискокурне Loch Lomond было установлено три перегонных куба — нечетное количество весьма редкое для вискокурен.  Владельцем компании является Loch Lomond Company, которая помимо родительской вискокурни владеет еще тремя дистиллериями, одно из которых зерновая, две остальные — солодовые вискокурни.

Сегодня вискокурня Loch Lomond производит около 12 миллионов литров алкоголя в год. Она выпускает не только одноименный виски Loch Lomond, но и односолодовые бленды Inchmurrin, Old Roshdhu, Craiglodge, Croftengea, Glen Douglas, Inchmoan, а также купажи Loch Lomond Single Blend, High Commissioner и Scots Earl.

Винокурня Loch Lomond находится в центре виски индустрии. Со временем компании разорялись, делая винокурню более популярной. Винокурня имела много владельцев, пока Дункан Томас не стал ее хозяином. Вдохновением для него всегда была красота Шотландии.

Винокурня была основана в 1772 году. В 1987 году винокурня становится частью огромной компании, владельцем которой являлся род алкогольных магнатов. 1993 году винокурня была полностью перестроена и модернизирована. Через несколько лет обновились перегонные кубы. В 2004 году из-за пожара компания несет тяжелые потери. На данный момент она полностью восстановилась и производит разные сорта виски и другую алкогольную продукцию.

References and footnotes

Notes

1. Some of the islets in Loch Lomond may only appear when the water levels are low and although many sources provide a figure of up to sixty islands this may derive from a poetic 9th century description. Other sources suggest a total of 30 or 38 islands.

Citations

1. ^ Tom Weir. The Scottish Lochs. pp. 33-43. Published by Constable and Company, 1980. ISBN 0-09-463270-7
2. ^ Ordnance Survey 1:50000 Landranger Map. Sheet 56. Loch Lomond and Inverary.
3. ^
4. Richens, R. J. (1984) Elm, Cambridge University Press.
5. Peter Matthews, ed. (1994). . Guinness World Records Limited. p. . ISBN 978-0-85112-736-1.
6. Whitaker’s Almanack (1991) London. J. Whitaker and Sons. p. 127.
7. ^ Worsley, Harry (1988). Loch Lomond: The Loch, the Lairds and the Legends. Glasgow: Lindsay Publications. ISBN 978-1-898169-34-5.
8. ^
9. Morton, H. V. In Scotland Again (1933), Methuen London – p145
10. S. Johnson & J. Boswell (ed. R. Black). To the Hebrides: «Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland» and «Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides», p. 409. Published by Birlinn, 2007.
11. Armit, Ian (2003). «The Drowners: permanence and transience in the Hebridean Neolithic». In Armit, I.; Murphy, E.; Simpson, D. (eds.). Neolithic Settlement in Ireland and Western Britain. Oxford: Oxbow.
12. S. Johnson & J. Boswell (ed. R. Black). To the Hebrides: «Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland» and «Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides», p. 423. Published by Birlinn, 2007.
13. James J. Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular and Folk, p. 336.
14. Elsie J. Oxenham, Goblin Island, Collins (1907), p. 58.
15. Farr, Michael (2011). Tintin : the complete companion. London: Egmont. ISBN 978-1405261272.