Aquatic Habitat

West Bay sits at the intersection between the built and natural environments. The wide promenade, built in the 1880s to replace a narrow rocky beach path, makes West Bay easily accessible to walkers, wheelchair users and cyclists.

Otters have been spotted feeding in the rocky shallows at East Bay in Dunoon. Members of Cowal Wildlife Group have also recorded photos of waterbirds such as curlews, goldeneye and oystercatchers, and fish including butterfish in the rockpool habitats. 

If you look west from the A880 at Cot House you will see a lovely area of woodland on the banks of the Eachaig river. It often floods at very high tides, especially after lots of rain, which creates a different kind of habitat from other woodlands nearby. 

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.