WOODS OF THE NOVAR ESTATE. 25 



IV. Plan or Scheme of Management of the Woods of the Novar 

 Estate for twenty-five years, from 1899-1900 to 1923-24. 

 By Colonel F. Bailey, assisted by John J. B. Meiklejohn, 

 Factor, John D. B. Whyte, Assistant-Factor, and William 

 Mackenzie, Forester. 



SITUATION, GEOLOGICAL AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 



The estate of Novar, owned by Mr Munro Ferguson, is situated 

 on the north-western shore of the Cromarty Firth, between the 

 river Skiack and Evauton on the south-west and the town and 

 river Alness on the north-east. The woods, some scattered blocks 

 of which lie but a few feet above the sea at high tide, rise on Cnoc 

 Duchaiie to a height of 1172 feet and on Cnoc Fyrish to a height 

 of 1460 feet. The mass of them forms a continuous stretch of 

 forest, covering well-drained slopes which face the Firth and extend 

 inland to a distance of three or four miles. The general aspect of 

 the woods is south-easterly ; but in the northern portion of the 

 estate they drain into the Alness river and there have a generally 

 north-eastern exposure. 



The principal rocks of the district round Novar are various 

 crystalline schists, which form the higher parts of the parishes of 

 Alness and Kiltearn. These are succeeded, to the east or south- 

 east, by conglomerates and sandstones of Old Red Sandstone age. 

 The conglomerates are developed chiefly in the hills immediately 

 to the west and north-west of Novar House — the highest point 

 being reached in Caishlan (1715 feet). The low grounds between 

 Alness and Evanton are underlaid chiefly by sandstones. The 

 superficial accumulations of the district consist in the hilly ground 

 principally of a gravelly and sandy till. The same deposit covers 

 considerable areas in the low grounds, but it is frequently over- 

 laid or replaced by sheets and mounds and ridges of gravel. The 

 ground below a level of 90 feet or thereabout is chiefly gravelly 

 and sandy, or alluvial. These low-lying deposits appear to be 

 relics of three old raised beaches, of which the uppermost occurs at 

 a height of about 90 feet, the middle one at 50 feet, and the lowest 

 at 25 feet above the present sea-level. Along the margins of the 

 streams alluvial flats occur as usual. 1 



1 This statement of the geological characteristics of the locality was kindly 

 furnished by Professor James Geikie. 



VOL. XVI. PART I. C 



