Moray Firth

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Moray Firth

The Moray Firth (Scottish Gaelic: An Cuan Moireach or Linne Mhoireibh) is a roughly triangular inlet

Inlet

An inlet is a narrow body of water between islands or leading inland from a larger body of water, often leading to an enclosed body of water, such as a Sound , bay , lagoon or marsh....
(or firth

Firth

Firth is the Scots language word used to denote various coastal waters in Scotland. It is usually a large sea bay, which may be part of an estuary, or just an inlet, or even a strait....
) of the North Sea

North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
, north and east of Inverness

Inverness

Inverness is a City status in the United Kingdom in northern Scotland. The city is the administrative centre for the Highland Council areas of Scotland, and it is promoted as the capital of the Scottish Highlands....
, which is in the Highland

Highland (council area)

The Highland Council areas of Scotland area is a local government area in the Scottish Highlands and the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole....
council area of Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
. It is the largest firth in Scotland, stretching from Duncansby Head

Duncansby Head

Duncansby Head is the most north-easterly part of the Scotland mainland, including even the famous John o' Groats, Caithness, Highland . The Headlands and bays juts into the North Sea, with the Pentland Firth to its north and west and the Moray Firth to its south....
(near John o' Groats

John o' Groats

John o' Groats is a village in the Highland Council areas of Scotland of Scotland. Once a part of the Counties of Scotland of Caithness, John o' Groats is popular with tourists because it is usually regarded as the most northerly settlement of mainland Great Britain....
) in the north, in the Highland council area, and Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh is a town in Aberdeenshire , Scotland with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2001 at 12,454. It lies at the extreme northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, around north of Aberdeen, and north of Peterhead....
in the east, in the Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland.In this present day Aberdeenshire does not include Aberdeen City which is a Council Area in its own right....
council area, to Inverness and the Beauly Firth

Beauly Firth

The Beauly Firth is a firth in northern Scotland. It is effectively a continuation of the Moray Firth westward, and is bounded at one end by Beauly and at the other by Inverness ....
in the west. Therefore three council areas have Moray Firth coastline: Highland to the west and south of the Moray Firth and Highland, Moray

Moray

Moray is one of the 32 Council areas of Scotland of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland ....
and Aberdeenshire to the south.

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Encyclopedia

The Moray Firth (Scottish Gaelic: An Cuan Moireach or Linne Mhoireibh) is a roughly triangular inlet

Inlet

An inlet is a narrow body of water between islands or leading inland from a larger body of water, often leading to an enclosed body of water, such as a Sound , bay , lagoon or marsh....
(or firth

Firth

North Sea

Inverness

Highland (council area)

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
. It is the largest firth in Scotland, stretching from Duncansby Head

Duncansby Head

John o' Groats

Fraserburgh

Aberdeenshire

Beauly Firth

Moray

Geography

A number of rivers flow into the Moray Firth, including the River Ness

River Ness

The River Ness is a river flowing from Loch Ness in Scotland, north to Inverness and the Moray Firth.See also*Rivers of Scotland...
and the River Spey

River Spey

The River Spey is a river in the northeast of Scotland, the second longest and the fastest flowing river in Scotland. It is important for salmon fishing and Scotch whisky production....
. Various smaller firths and bay

Headlands and bays

Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment....
s are inlets of the firth, including the Cromarty Firth

Cromarty Firth

The Cromarty Firth forms an arm of the North Sea in Scotland.From where it joins Moray Firth, the Cromarty Firth extends inland in a westerly and then south-westerly direction for a distance of 19 miles ....
and the Dornoch Firth

Dornoch Firth

The Dornoch Firth is a firth on the east coast of Highland , in northern Scotland. It forms part of the boundary between Ross and Cromarty, to the south, and Sutherland, to the north....
. The Pentland Firth

Pentland Firth

The Pentland Firth , which is actually more of a strait than a firth, separates the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland. The name is presumed to be a corruption of "Petlandsfj?r?", the fjord of Pictland, and is completely unrelated to the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh....
has its eastern mouth at the Moray Firth's northern boundary.

The Moray Firth is effectively two firths, the Inner Moray Firth, which was traditionally known as the Firth of Inverness, and the Outer Moray Firth which is more open North Sea water. The name "Firth of Inverness" is rarely found on modern maps, but extended from the Beauly Firth

Beauly Firth

Chanonry Point

Chanonry Point lies at the end of Chanonry Ness, a Spit of land extending into the Moray Firth between Fortrose and Rosemarkie on the Black Isle, Scotland....
in the east.

The Moray Firth is visible for considerable distances, including a long range view from as far to the east as Longman Hill

Longman Hill

Longman Hill is a prehistoric monument in northern Aberdeenshire, Scotland near Banff Bay. Due to the low lying coastal plain characteristics, the elevation of Longman Hill affords a long distance view as far as the Moray Firth....
.

Conservation and economy

The Moray Firth is one of the most important places on the U.K.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
coast for observing dolphin

Dolphin

File:Bottlenose_Dolphin_KSC04pd0178.jpgDolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genus....
s and whale

Whale

Whales are marine mammals of order Cetacea which are neither dolphinsmembers, in other words, of the families Oceanic dolphin or River dolphinnor porpoises....
s. The most common species are the Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins....
and the Harbour Porpoise

Harbour Porpoise

The Harbor Porpoise is one of six species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest ocean mammals. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries and as such is the most familiar porpoise to whale-watching....
. With occasional sightings of Common dolphin

Common dolphin

The Common Dolphin is the name given to up to three species of dolphin making up the genus Delphinus.Prior to the mid-1990s, most taxonomy only recognised one species in this genus, the Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis....
and Minke Whale

Minke Whale

Minke Whale or Lesser Rorqual is a name given to two species of marine mammal belonging to a clade within the suborder of baleen whales. The Minke Whale was given its official designation by Lacep?de in 1804, who described a dwarf form of Bal?noptera acuto-rostrata....
. The popular wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals, and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
viewing area located at Chanonry Point

Chanonry Point

Chanonry Point lies at the end of Chanonry Ness, a Spit of land extending into the Moray Firth between Fortrose and Rosemarkie on the Black Isle, Scotland....
host some spectacular displays of dolphins within the inner Moray Firth. There are also visitor centres at Spey Bay

Spey Bay

Spey Bay is a small settlement in Moray, Scotland. It is situated at the eastern side of the mouth of the River Spey on the coast of the Moray Firth between the village of Kingston, Moray on the western side of the River Spey, and the fishing port of Buckie to the east....
and North Kessock

North Kessock

North Kessock is the first village encountered on the Black Isle when driving from Inverness north over the Kessock Bridge. Because it is by-passed by the main road to the north the village remains quiet....
run by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society is a wildlife Charitable organization that is dedicated solely to the worldwide conservation and welfare of all whales, dolphins and porpoises ....
where dolphins and other wildlife can often be seen.

It is also an important oil field

Oil field

An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area....
and fishing grounds. The Beatrice oil field in the Outer Moray Firth is the closest of the North Sea oil fields; it is also the planned home for a 200-turbine

Wind turbine

A wind turbine is a rotating machine which converts the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, such as a pump or grinding stones, the machine is usually called a windmill....
deep-water wind farm

Wind farm

A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used for production of electric power. Individual turbines are interconnected with a medium voltage power collection system and communications network....
. Much of the fishing industry focuses on scallop

Scallop

A scallop is a Marine bivalve mollusk of the Family Pectinidae. Scallops are a wiktionary:cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans....
s and Norway lobster

Norway lobster

The Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus, , is a slim, orange-pink lobster which grows up to 24 cm long . It is found in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and North Sea as far north as Iceland and northern Norway, and south to Portugal....
s.

The Inner Moray Firth is a designated as a Special Protection Area

Special Protection Area

A Special Protection Area or SPA is a designation under the European Union directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.Member States of the European Union have a duty to safeguard the habitat of Bird migration and certain particularly threatened birds. ...
for wildlife conservation purposes.

Map references

	Latitude and longitude Geographic coordinate system A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates, using mainly a Spherical coordinates#Spherical coordinates....	Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey is an executive agency of the United Kingdom government. It is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, and one of the world's largest producers of maps.... grid reference British national grid reference system The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude and longitude....
Duncansby Head Duncansby Head Duncansby Head is the most north-easterly part of the Scotland mainland, including even the famous John o' Groats, Caithness, Highland . The Headlands and bays juts into the North Sea, with the Pentland Firth to its north and west and the Moray Firth to its south....
Chanonry Point Chanonry Point Chanonry Point lies at the end of Chanonry Ness, a Spit of land extending into the Moray Firth between Fortrose and Rosemarkie on the Black Isle, Scotland....
Inverness Inverness Inverness is a City status in the United Kingdom in northern Scotland. The city is the administrative centre for the Highland Council areas of Scotland, and it is promoted as the capital of the Scottish Highlands.... (Kessock Bridge Kessock Bridge The Kessock Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Beauly Firth, an inlet of the Moray Firth, between the village of North Kessock and the city of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.... )
Fraserburgh Fraserburgh Fraserburgh is a town in Aberdeenshire , Scotland with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2001 at 12,454. It lies at the extreme northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, around north of Aberdeen, and north of Peterhead.... (Kinnaird Head)

Moray Firth

Geography

Conservation and economy

Map references

Line notes

External links