Loch Kinardochy

Loch Kinardochy viewed from the Lime Kiln at Tomphubil.

Loch Kinardochy lies at the east end of the Schiehallion Road near Tomphubil. It is much frequented by fishermen wishing to catch trout. The fishing is controlled by the Pitlochry Angling Association. It is also a body of water that is used by Whooper swans in the winter and ospreys in the summer.

There was once a nest raft for Black Throated Divers on Loch Kinardochy.

I have seen an otter on the road nearby.

It is soon to have an electricity substation built near it. It is to be hoped that this will not have a deleterious effect on the wildlife.

An SSE explanation of the need for the Electricity Substation at Loch Kinardochy.

SSE Video of the proposed substation

An SSE Video of a flypast of the loch.

In the early 1960s, what seems a rather drastic experiment, was carried out at Loch Kinardochy. The fish were poisoned with rotenone and all the pike were removed. I wonder what happened to the other fish in the loch? Presumably there were trout in the Loch before that? and trout are sensitive to rotenone so I suppose they would have been killed as well as the pike?

Would these trout have had a unique genome? What other species might there have been? Maybe stickleback? Invertebrates are also killed by rotenone but apparently populations recover.

Rotenone kills by blocking oxygen pathways at the cellular level such that mitochondria cannot carry out their normal function. In warm weather it breaks down quickly in cold weather breakdown may take weeks.

- Then after the rotenone had killed the pike (and presumably all the other fish) the loch was stocked with 40,000 salmon fry. The idea was to see if the smolts would migrate out of the loch. A certain number did apparently.

As far as I know that was the end of the story. I suppose the Loch was restocked with trout but these would not have the original genome. I wonder where they came from?

I would be interested to hear more from experts.

Salmon stocking experiment in Loch Kinardochy

In 1955 Brook and Holden fertilised the loch with calcium superphosphate to see what effect this had. The loch was already rather more fertile than other such Highland lochs because there is a semi-submerged limestone outcrop.

Loch Kinardochy has certainly been subject to experimentation.