Lewis Peatlands. 22/12/00; Scotland; 58,984 ha; 58°15'N 006°35'W. Special Protection Area EC Directive. Largely made up of a near-continuous mantle of blanket bog (a significant proportion of the total world resource), liberally dotted with small pools and lochans. In the southern part, the peatland is more broken with outcrops of rocks of Lewisian gneiss and lochans, forming a distinctive "knock and lochan" landscape and including the largest freshwater nutrient-poor lochs of south central Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles. The vast expanse of this relatively undisturbed peatland supports a diverse range of associated flora and fauna, including 31% of the world population of dunlin (Calidris alpina schinzii). The hyper-oceanic, extremely humid upper boreal bioclimatic zone predominates to an extent found nowhere else in Scotland. Human uses include low-density sheep and red deer grazing, sport shooting and angling, and low-level recreational use of "quad bikes" and other all-terrain vehicles. Ramsar site no. 1046. Most recent RIS information: 2006.