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Inchlonaig

Nearest town: Luss

Site type: woodland

Access: Private

Church name: No Data

Diocese: No Data

County: Argyll and Bute

Country: Scotland

Grid ref: NS380935

Lost yew site: No

Date visited: No data

Recorded by: Iona Hyde

Protection & responsibility: No data

Yews recorded at this site: Notable

Notes: A privately owned island in Loch Lomond. 'In 1814 the islands in Loch Lomond furnished for the axe no fewer than 300 large well grown trees, and yet a sufficient crop was left' (Hutchison 1890). Inch-Lonaig is an SSSI first notified in 1972 and renotified in 1983, but its designation is not for it being 'the largest yew wood in Scotland' but for the large area of 'ancient oak woodland'. The presence of wild fallow deer and the development of large dense stands of bracken has resulted in poor woodland regeneration. The island is used as a holiday home by the present tenents. The SSSI management statement of 2001 notes as a long-term objective that 'within the main area for yew trees the main objectives are to protect the yews and maintain these over time with minimum intervention. In particular by (1) encouraging natural yew regeneration by protecting from grazing (2) or planting with seedlings grown from seeds or cuttings from the island trees. The map shows about 42 individual trees, 28 of which are yew. In 2024 and after extensive surveying it is thought that there might be as many as 700 yews that would be classified as ancient or veteran.