Mire Loch is a man made freshwater loch

Loch

Loch is the Irish and Scottish Gaelic word for a lake or a sea inlet. It has been anglicised as lough, although this is pronounced the same way as loch. Some lochs could also be called a firth, fjord, estuary, strait or bay...

 situated on St Abb's Head

St Abb's Head

St. Abb's Head is a rocky promontory at the village of St. Abbs, Berwickshire, Scottish Borders, and a National Nature Reserve administered by the National Trust of Scotland...

 in the Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

, just over a kilometre NW of the village of St. Abbs

St. Abbs

St. Abbs , historically known as Coldingham Shore, is a small fishing village located on the south east coast of Scotland, in the Berwickshire area of Scottish Borders....

 at grid reference . The loch lies on land owned by the National Trust for Scotland

National Trust for Scotland

The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland describes itself as the conservation charity that protects and promotes Scotland's natural and cultural heritage for present and future generations to...

 (NTS) and is approximately 600 metres long by 50 metres at its widest point.

History

Mire Loch was originally an area of marshy land within the St. Abbs Head Fault. The fault separated the hard volcanic rocks of St. Abbs Head from the softer sedimentary rocks of the mainland. The glacial channel which follows the fault is marked by a distinctive inland valley across the Head which was fed by rainwater from the high ground on both sides and formed a boggy area which drained into the sea.

Around the year 1900 it was decided to turn the boggy area into a recreation area. A dam was built to form a freshwater loch to be used for angling

Angling

Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...

 and waterfowl hunting, a nine hole golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 course was also constructed nearby. The use of the golf course was discontinued many years ago although there is some visible evidence of the old greens and tees. A boat house was built on the loch and this too has fallen into disrepair with most of the roof timbers now missing.

Present day

Today Mire Loch is a valued part of St. Abbs Head National Nature Reserve providing a home for freshwater birds such as Little Grebe

Little Grebe

The Little Grebe , also known as Dabchick, member of the grebe family of water birds. At 23 to 29 cm in length it is the smallest European member of its family. It is commonly found in open bodies of water across most of its range.-Description:The Little Grebe is a small water bird with a pointed...

, Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

The Reed Bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae....

, Heron

Heron

The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....

, Mute Swan

Mute Swan

The Mute Swan is a species of swan, and thus a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is native to much of Europe and Asia, and the far north of Africa. It is also an introduced species in North America, Australasia and southern Africa. The name 'mute' derives from it being less...

, Moorhen

Moorhen

Moorhens, sometimes called marsh hens, are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Gallinula....

 and Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

The Sedge Warbler is an Old World warbler in the genus Acrocephalus. It is a medium-sized warbler with a brown, streaked back and wings and a distinct pale supercilium. Sedge Warblers are migratory, crossing the Sahara to get from their European and Asian breeding grounds to spend winter in Africa...

. The fringing vegetation which is composed mostly of high reeds provides shelter and food for nesting birds as well as for migrants in Spring and Autumn. In early Summer hundreds of Herring Gulls and Kittiwake

Kittiwake

The kittiwakes are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the Black-legged Kittiwake and the Red-legged Kittiwake . The epithets "Black-legged" and "Red-legged" are used to distinguish the two species in North America, but in Europe, where R...

s bathe in the loch. In recent years the NTS has planted almost 1000 trees around the loch in an effort to provide extra cover for migrant birds. Most of these trees have been planted on the SW shore in a plantation dedicated to a diver

Scuba diving

Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....

 who died off St. Abbs Head in 1981.

Eel

Eel

Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

s, perch

Perch

Perch is a common name for fish of the genus Perca, freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which there are three species in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Perciformes, from the Greek perke meaning spotted, and the...

 and stickleback

Stickleback

The Gasterosteidae are a family of fish including the sticklebacks. FishBase currently recognises sixteen species in the family, grouped in five genera. However several of the species have a number of recognised subspecies, and the taxonomy of the family is thought to be in need of revision...

 all live in the loch which is also a breeding site for frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

s and toad

Toad

A toad is any of a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura characterized by dry, leathery skin , short legs, and snoat-like parotoid glands...

s. The loch has footpaths around its shores and walkers are encouraged by the NTS to include a circuit of the loch during their visit to St. Abb's Head although there is a warning that the paths can be quite muddy after rain. The loch has a stepped outflow which only runs for only several metres before disappearing down a man made drain, finding its way underground to the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

which is just 500 metres to the SE.