Loch Watten

Loch Watten lies in the flat Caithness plain in the far north of Scotland, a shallow freshwater lake fed by burns from nearby hills. Its name mixes the Gaelic word for lake with the Old Norse word for water, a reminder of the Vikings who once sailed these waters. The loch stretches across 373 hectares with a mean depth of only 2.6 metres, so it warms quickly under summer sun. Its catchment covers 55.78 square kilometres, collecting rain and hill streams before it drains south-east through the short Loch Burn into the River Wick. The Gillock Burn and Quoynee Burn join 800 metres from the loch’s edge, adding their flow to the widening waters. Anglers prize Loch Watten for its stock of wild brown trout, drawing fishermen to the southern shore where the village of Watten stands. The loch’s gentle contours and weed beds give trout shelter and steady food, making it one of the region’s top fly-fishing spots. Local guides know the best casts along the sheltered bays where midges hatch in summer evenings. The clear water reflects the wide sky, so a rising trout shows plainly against the sandy bottom. After rain the burns colour the loch brown, but within a day the silt settles and the water clears again. Paths circle the loch, crossing farmland and skirting reed beds where waterfowl nest in spring. Moorhens glide between the stems while curlews call over the meadows at dusk. In winter the loch often freezes, turning the landscape into a wide mirror framed by skeletal hawthorns. Visitors can walk the full circuit in under two hours, pausing on the small jetty where the Loch Burn leaves. From here the flat horizon stretches away, broken only by distant wind turbines and the occasional heron standing motionless at the water’s edge.