The River Dionard is a river in the historic county of

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

in northwest

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It arises as the outflow from

Loch Dionard Loch Dionard is a medium-sized loch in the Durness Parish, in Sutherland, Highland (council area), Highland Council Area, Northern Scotland. It is in the Northwest Highlands, North-Western Scottish Highlands, Highlands about four miles south of P ...

which lies below the eastern side of

Foinaven Foinaven () is a mountain in Scotland, situated in the far northwest corner of the Scottish Highlands. Like many of the monolithic mountains that surround it, the mountain is within the Moine Thrust Belt and is made up of imbricated layers of Ca ...

and flows north-northwest through Strath Dionard below that mountain's eastern flanks for 7 km before turning north and then northeast towards the head of the Kyle of Durness. Its winding channel is exposed at low tide within the sands of this shallow

firth Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more often refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to Scan ...

which connects with the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

on the north coast. The principal headwater stream feeding Loch Dionard is the Allt an Easain Ghill which passes through two

lochan ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or " sea inlet" in Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes called a lochan. Lochs which ...

s beneath Meall Horn; the upper Lochan Ulbha and the lower An Dubh-loch. The nearby Allt Eilidh a' Chleirich flows from a third lochan, Lochan Sgeireach. There are numerous other streams and lochans in the upper catchment. The Gualin National Nature Reserve has been established within the catchment. The name may be from dyn-fjordr, 'noisy-firth.'https://www.jstor.org/stable/30069878 , Some Sutherland Names of Places. W. J. Watson, The Celtic Review, Vol. 2, No. 8 (Apr., 1906), pp. 360-368.

References

Dionard Landforms of Sutherland Former populated places in Scotland Valleys of Highland (council area) Rivers of Scotland {{Sutherland-geo-stub