Native Forest or Plants

The grounds of the community hospital are mainly to the front, running along Argyll Street (A885). Mature trees are dotted around one section of the large lawn area. The lawn appears to be regularly mown, except for one thin strip by the pavement on Argyll Street. A couple of trimmed native hawthorn trees grow along the same edge, near to the bus stop on Argyll Street. The blossom attracts pollinators and the dense growth habit of hawthorn makes it a safe habitat for small birds. 

Nestled behind the colourful Tigh na Cladach eco-house development on the outskirts of Dunoon, Bullwood nature trail is a wooded hillside that was once the extensive garden grounds of a mansion house called Alderwood. There are many mature trees and many woodland plants, including hawthorn, primroses, foxgloves, ferns, mosses and fungi. A wildlife pond is a habitat for frogs and more. The site it currently quite overgrown in places with some large patches of invasive plants including Himalayan balsam.

A small area at the bottom of the drive between the hospital and the stadium that contains well-established trees including beech, oak, hazel, rowan, as well as wildflowers and stream.

Walk through the Scottish native woodland of oak, ash, birch, rowan and hazel at Ardnadam. Look out for the lichens and mosses that indicate that this woodland is part of Scotland's growing temperate rainforest. 

The Holy Loch Nature Reserve at Sandbank stretches across the head of the loch. There are 24 acres of ungrazed saltmarsh, wildflower meadows and woodland, with reedbed and bog, which are intersected by several burns.

Around 12 miles north of Dunoon, Ardentinny beach is on the shores of Loch Long. It has the longest sandy beach in Cowal and lies in part of the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park. Buzzards, oystercatchers, grey herons, common seal and porpoise, there's plenty of wildlife to see from the beach and in the nearby woodland.