Wag (ND 026246)
Significance: a rare exposure of a Lateglacial peat resting on till and overlain by periglacial slope deposits
Ellanmore (ND 237370)
Significance: organic deposits that record the vegetation of this part of
Caithness between 15 and 11 thousand years ago.
Loch of Winless
Significance: a key site recording the vegetation history of Caithness and which provided the first clear timescales for the development of the peat bogs of the flow country.
Leavad (ND 174462)
Significance: a large raft of Lower Cretaceous sandstone transported from the inner Moray Firth covered by and now resting on glacial deposits
Langwell Forest
Significance: an ancient inselberg landscape that draws the eye across the plain of Caithness
Drumhollistan
Significance: a site on the north coast with thick till sequences enveloping geos and cliffs
Dunnet Bay Sands
Significance: Dunnet Bay has only limited human impacts on its vegetated dune systems - unlike many other sand dunes in Scotland. The dunes preserve a record of sand accumulation and loss over the last 7500 that can be linked to rising sea level and changes in storm intensity in the North Atlantic.
Gills Bay
Significance: an extensive intertidal shore platform backed by cliffs developed in shelly till
Stacks of Duncansby
Significance: an imposing set of pyramidal or pillar-like stacks isolated by cliff retreat in horizontally bedded sandstones
Wick breakwater
SSignificance: In the mid-19th century, Thomas Stevenson attempted to build a breakwater for the harbour at Wick. Despite its robust construction, the breakwater was never completed due to storm damage. Its loss provided an early demonstration of the power of waves to move large blocks of rock.
Stroma
Significance: The coastal scenery of Stroma is magnificent and on a par with the internationally renowned cliffs of west Orkney and Shetland. Its shore platforms, caves, blowholes, and storm boulders testify to the power of Atlantic storm waves.
Grey Bools, Wick
Significance: this site provided one of the first records of cliff-top storm deposits In Scotland.

Key geomorphological sites

Context: Caithness has many sites where landscape histories can be examined. Some are of national or international significance and have been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Others represent clear and accessible examples of classic rocks, structures and landforms. Many fascinating sites have yet to be listed.

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