When I see Cora Linn, one of the waterfalls of the River Clyde in full spate, the force of natural power takes my breath away. The waterfalls are among the most impressive I have seen. Even in ordinary weather they are inspiring; water cascading down rocky gorges overhung with trees, masses of ferns and mossy vegetation. In spate their grandeur is magnified. The roar of water becomes hypnotic after a few minutes, and the cascading sheets and folds of white water mesmerizing.
The waterfall Cora Linn consists of two drops, with a calmer interlude between them. Majestic rocks enclose the basin below the fall. Trees, chiefly hazels, birch, and ash, grow out of the rocky sides wherever they can sink a root. The upper of the falls, the Boninton Linn, has a solemn grandeur … the river descends through a long gorge of steep and threatening rocks. The roaring of the water falling is thunderous.
Poets, artists, and tourists in search of the awe-inspiring have visited the falls. Two visitors in 1783 cast a different eye over the falls. David Dale, son of a grocer, and prosperous cloth merchant Richard Arkwright debated if the falls could power cotton-spinning machines. Arkwright had invented one called "the water-frame". This was too large and needed too much power for use by individual households - spinning machines and looms at the time were small affairs normally situated in people's homes. They wanted to incorporate hundreds of these machines in mills in one location and employ thousands of workers. The result was New Lanark on the River Clyde.
The Falls of Clyde, as well as yielding, beauty, majesty, and power, are also a wildlife habitat. The Scottish Wildlife Trust manages the ancient woodlands and riverbanks with nature conservation in mind, and is gradually replacing recent conifer plantations with deciduous trees such as birch, oak, and ash. Their Wildlife Reserve covers 59 hectares - areas of ancient woodland along both sides of the River Clyde gorge. The reserve takes its name. 'Corra Linn', from the waterfall. Its 84 feet drop impressed the poet William Wordsworth during a visit in 1802 so much he described it as "…the Clyde's most majestic daughter".
The reserve contains a diversity of wildlife. The woodland is filled with the songs of warblers, tits, and wrens, while the open glades and pathways are haunts for badgers, foxes, and roe deer.
The area is full of wildflowers, fungi, and a huge variety of invertebrates. Otters, dippers, herons, and kingfishers live along the river, while several birds of prey, including peregrine falcons, tawny owl, barn owl, and sparrow hawk, make the reserve their home.