View source for Mill Dam

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Mill Dam RSPB wetlands, extreme northern verge, Shapinsay.jpg|thumb|240px|Mill Dam [[wetlands]].]]
'''Mill Dam''' is a [[wetland]] in western [[Shapinsay]], in Orkney, [[Scotland]].

This water body was not shown on the 1840 survey map of the island, since it is a man-made creation from a damming in the 1880s.<ref>G.T, Masters, ''Orkney, Approaches to Kirkwall'', HMS official survey map, 1840-1843</ref> Mill Dam is fed by a stream flowing from the north that rises on the western lobe of Shapinsay. The [[pH]] levels of the outflow stream of Mill Dam are moderately [[alkaline]], in the range of 9.18. The Mill Dam wetland is a significant bird habitat and is owned and managed by the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]]. It has been designated an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]] because it supports resident [[northern pintail]]s and wintering [[whooper swan]]s.<ref name=bli>{{cite web |url= https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/2539 |title=Mill Dam, Shapinsay|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2024|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 2024-08-31}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Balfour Castle]]
*[[Burroughston Broch]]
*[[The Ouse]]
*[[Vasa Loch]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071009213754/http://www.orkney.org/islands/shapinsay.htm Shapinsay Island, Orkney]

{{coord|59|2|31|N|2|53|46|W|region:GB_type:isle|display=title}}
{{RSPB sites in Scotland}}

[[Category:Shapinsay]]
[[Category:Dams in Scotland]]
[[Category:Wetlands of Scotland]]
[[Category:Landforms of Orkney]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of Orkney]]
[[Category:Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in Scotland]]


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