Geography of Scotland example at Aberdeen. Much of the Scottish coastline consists of a machair formation, a dune pasture land formed as sea levels subsided. The east coast has several significant estuaries and other nature reserves including the Ythan Estuary and Fowlsheugh, both of which have been designated as Important Bird Areas. Firths of Scotland include the Solway Firth, Firth of Clyde, and Firth of Lorne on the west coast, and the Cromarty Firth, Moray Firth, Firth of Tay, and Firth of Forth on the east coast. The Pentland Firth is not an inlet, but the strait that separates the Orkney Isles from
Firth of Lorn Scottish refusal to demark the firth as a separate body: the island of Lismore, Scotland (not to be confused with the various Irish Lismores), blocks the entry to Loch Linnhe in such a way as to create a shelter from weather in the Firth of Lorn. In 1816 the commissioners appointed by the British government to complete the Caledonian Canal reported that ships of 300-400 tons were running into Linnhè Loch to shelter from the weather in the firth. The loch was recognized far earlier, but not under that name. Some crown-sponsored sailing directions by a pilot, Alexandre Lindsay, who