Biodiversity map of the Dunoon area

Find out where to watch porpoises playing in the water, bees feasting on wildflower nectar, oystercatchers hunting for dinner through this locally created biodiversity map of Dunoon.

Our map shares information on places where you can find and enjoy local flora, fauna and wildlife, and highlights where there are challenges and threats to biodiversity. You'll also find community-led suggestions about how biodiversity could be improved in various locations for the health of local people and the planet.

Local people contribute data to this map as part of the Green Map Dunoon project, hosted at the POP shop and supported by the Dunoon Area Alliance, CHARTS and Inspiring Scotland.

Help grow the map

You can add your own information and ideas about biodiversity in the Dunoon area by contributing to our Biodiversity survey here>

sites

Glenfinart Walled Garden

Built in the 1840s as a kitchen garden for the local estate, Glenfinart Walled Garden in Ardentinny is now community-led garden and in keeping with its kitchen garden roots. An orchard grows native fr...

Grahams Point Heritage Park and Beach

Overlooking the Holy Loch, Grahams Point Heritage Park is a green space with a children's play area, a monk's hut and a monument to James Duncan, the owner and improver of the Benmore estate. The smal...

West Bay shingle beach

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, ...

Biodiversity bench / West Bay

This bench was repaired by local creatives during COP27 (October 2022). The bench and surrounding work (prints and gutter repair) aims to provide a space for people to meet, chat, sit, and think about...

Wild flower slope

A sloping area in the grounds of some flats with wild flowers.

Wildlife Habit, residential area

Waste ground in a residential area which isn't suitable for building on due to marshy and boggy ground. This area provides a vital habitat and refuge for local wildlife such as hedgehogs, frogs, insec...

Dunoon Police Station grounds

Mature trees and hedging, which line the Argyll Street edge of the station are alive with birdlife. The trees are planted on a regularly mown lawn. The trees give the main road, Argyll Street, a lush ...

Cowal Community Hospital grounds

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 m...

The Rose Gardens

The one saving grace of this small and neglected public park is the stunning display of cherry blossom in April and May each year. Despite its name, there are no roses here any longer. Close to ...

Bullwood nature trail

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 ...

Pocket forest and wild area near Dunoon hospital and stadium

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. In the spring,...

Bute and Cowal Vets grassy meadow

An excellent example of a grassy meadow that was once a lawn at the back of the vet surgery, off Argyll Street. The grassy meadow is enclosed by trees along one side and the vet surgery car park is on...

East Bay, Dunoon

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...

Wet woods by the Eachaig at Cot House

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...

Blairmore Gardens

A community-owned and run site that includes spaces to sit and enjoy nature and the view. Blairmore Gardens also has facilities to allow people to enjoy and identify nature including some interpretati...

Ardnadam Heritage Trail and native woodland, Sandbank

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 ...

River Eachaig by the Cot House

The river Eachaig flows from Lock Eck to the Holy Loch passing the Cot House, Kilmun. Built in 1885, the Eachaig bridge is a listed building. This wetland is a habitat for many sea birds. You may spot...

Kilmun Arboretum

Kilmun Arboretum is at the western end of the village, close to Historic Kilmun church and graveyard. Tree lovers can enjoy a stroll through the small forest which is home to over 150 species of...

Bishops Glen

Bishop’s Glen sits at the foot of the hill known as Bishop’s Seat and is a popular place locally for walking, running and fishing. Bishop’s Glen centers on a reservoir that is surrounded by walkable w...

Holy Loch Nature Reserve & Bird Hide

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 intersec...

Ardentinny Beach and Woodland

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...