LANDSCAPE AND SCENERY- Glenlivet and Strathavon

Topography and Drainage

The landscape of the area is typical of the eastern Highlands with relatively smooth, gently rolling hills, which contrast markedly with the rugged, steep sided appearance of the western Highlands. While evidence of the work of ice can be identified in a number of places, the hills have not been excessively modified by glacial action, and illustrate a mixture of glacial and pre-glacial landforms which give them characteristics of their own.

The river Avon has its source high in the Cairngorms to the south west of the estate, while the river Livet originates from a number of tributaries which drain from the Ladder Hills. Both flow in a northerly direction, in alignment with the main landforms created by glacial action. The Livet joins the Avon at the northern edge of the estate before its confluence with the River Spey at Ballindalloch.

The shape of the landscape in and around Strathavon and Glenlivet has partly been determined by the areas geological past. However, the smooth gently rolling hills combined with the broad, open straths and glens, contrast markedly with the rugged,steep-sided appearance of the western Highlands, despite having a similar geological history. These differences in landform, owe their origin to various land-shaping processes which have occurred in relatively recent times - mainly processes associated with erosion and deposition by ice and water.

1. The smooth gently rolling slopes and hills

These are a relic of a warmer climate which existed before the last ice-age and have been formed principally by river and water erosion.

As Scotland was uplifted during the latter half of the Tertiary era (c. 26 mya), rivers started to cut into the flat landscape as it emerged from the sea. Deep glens with smooth steep sides were cut into the hills and an undulating, rolling landscape was created. Softer sedimentary rocks like the Old Red Sandstone were eroded more easily than the more resistant quartzites, schists and granites which were left to form the higher ground. By the time the climate started to cool down at the beginning of the ice-age many of the sediments which had previously clothed the hill-sides had been washed away, exposing the harder rocks to the action of ice and frost.

2. Ice deepened river valleys and glens.

We are currently thought to be living in an interglacial cycle of an ice-age which began 2 million years ago. Ice-ages are characterised by several phases of cold and warm periods called Glacials and Interglacials. Many of the processes which shaped our present landscape occurred during the most recent successions of glacial or cold periods, the last of which ended approximately 10 000 years ago. It was during the successive advances of ice which have occurred during these glacial periods, that Scotland was covered in massive ice sheets up to 1000m thick, radiating huge glaciers, which eroded and modified the previously undulating topography creating much of the present scenery of the Highlands.

The shattered peaks, aretes, corries, cliffs and precipitous slopes which are so characteristic of the west Highland landscape do not occur so frequently in the eastern Highlands and are virtually absent in the Glenlivet area. It is thought that the reason for this results from the nature of the large ice-caps which covered the Cairngorms during the ice-age and the glaciers associated with them, which are thought to have been more stagnant and much less active than the faster moving valley glaciers in the west, which were fed by much higher rates of precipitation. Despite this, the eastern hills and glens were still partly modified by the ice, though not to the same extent, and as a consequence have survived with a mixture of glacial and pre-glacial landforms which give them characteristics of their own.

While a huge Cairngorm ice-cap was plucking spectacular headwalls and corries from the Cairngorm massifs during the last glaciation, large glaciers were flowing from it, down the Spey and Avon river valleys to merge with lobes of ice emerging from the Ladder Hills and Ben Rinnes. The alignment of the main landforms cut by the ice and the distribution of glacially moved boulders (erratics) indicate that the ice was moving in a north-easterly direction, often following previously eroded river channels, like that of the Avon, which were subsequently deepened and scoured out by the ice.

3. Gullies, gorges and meltwater channels

Other landforms created as the ice sheets started to retreat and melt were the gullies and gorges carved out of the rocks by glacial meltwater. This water, often flowing under enormous pressure under the ice, often exploited weaknesses in the underlying rocks and cut gashes across the main lines of the topography. Sometimes when a river valley was orientated in the same direction as the flowing ice, the meltwater cut huge gorges like the spectacular Ailnack gorge at Delnabo - one of the most impressive in Scotland. Other river channels, like the long sinuous channels through which many of the burns flow from the Ladder Hills, were incised and deepened by these fast moving torrents of water.

4. Mounds, terraces, and till deposits.

When the climate started to warm, the ice began to retreat and decay. Much of the rock debris that had been eroded and transported by the ice was dumped on top of the land surface. Rock fragments, sand and gravel were deposited underneath the glacial ice and at the ice margins, creating various hummocks, mounds and terraces. Frequently, especially beneath ice sheets, large areas of the landscape were covered by several layers of sediments called ‘till'. In addition, meltwater moved and deposited ‘fluvioglacial' sediments and frequently modified and reworked the deposits left by the ice. Thus, much of Glenlivet has a layer of glacially deposited till which underlies the soils and sits on top of the solid rocks beneath. A good exposure of till can be seen in the Carn Daimh quarry, (GR NJ 184 302) where it sits on top of the quartzite. This is an example of a till which has been deposited at the base of an ice sheet. The sediments have not been moved far because they are relatively sandy, unconsolidated, and include rock fragments which are fairly angular.

The variation of sediment sizes and the consolidated nature of certain tills, make them impermeable and drainage is impeded. In flat areas like the Feith Musach (GR NJ 195215), this poor drainage results in the development of waterlogged soils - ideal conditions for the growth of peat and raised bogs.

In Strathavon, there are numerous examples of depositional landforms, especially terraces, which were created during the retreat of the Avon glacier and have been subsequently modified by post-glacial river action. Some of these deposits were probably laid down in a meltwater delta or at the bottom of a small glacial lake at the snout of the glacier. These flat sediments have then been incised by the Avon to create flat-topped, steep sided terraces like the one on which Drumin castle is built (GR NJ 173 253).

Soils

On much of the hill ground, glacial deposits impede drainage, creating conditions that suit the development of peaty soils, with bogs and blanket peat occurring frequently at higher levels. At lower levels peaty gleys, peaty podzols and brown forest soils are more frequent and in general, the soils of the area are more fertile than those found at similar altitudes further west. Gravelly, alluvial soils can be found in the bottom of Strathavon while in the Braes of Glenlivet deep loams prevail allowing cultivation to be carried out well above 300m.

Climate

The climate of the Glenlivet area tends to be less maritime than other parts of Britain and is characterised both by very high wind exposure, particularly on the higher hills, and long, cold winters often, with hard frosts.

Several climatic categories as defined by Birse and Dry (1970) and Birse and Robertson (1970) are represented in the area and these include:

• Cool rather wet lowland, foothill and upland
• Cold rather wet foothill and upland
• Cold wet upland
• Very cold wet upland and mountain
• Moderately exposed with rather severe winters
• Exposed with rather severe winters
• Very exposed with very severe winters
• Extremely exposed with very severe winters

The growing season is therefore short and snow on the hills can often last late into the spring. The high Cairngorms to the south west however, intercept much of the rain carried on the prevailing westerlies, and the area is one of the drier parts of Scotland having a rainfall in the region of 800 - 1000 mm per year (see table 1).

Vegetation

None of the estate is below 200m and there are expansive areas over 500m. Altitude and exposure limit plant growth on the high ground but in general the countryside consists of a varied mixture of different habitats including deciduous woodlands, improved and unimproved grassland and coniferous plantations in the lower areas, through to extensive heather moorlands, raised peatland, bogs and montane heath on the higher hills, which extend above 800m.

The appearance of the landscape has been greatly modified by management, but stands of semi-natural woodland have survived forest clearance, and give an indication of how the landscape might have looked before human settlement, when a mixed deciduous woodland would have covered much of the area. Pine and birch would once have been more dominant on the higher slopes, extending above 600 m, and while areas of birch still remain, the only remnants of the once extensive Caledonian pines are the scattered stumps which can be found in certain areas buried and preserved in peat.

Stumps in the peat

Glenlivet welcomes you to explore its tracks and byways.