Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre and Wildlife Reserve covers 130 hectares near Dunkeld. From early April to late August, the star attraction is a pair of breeding ospreys, which nest just 150 metres from our observation hide.
Address: Loch of the Lowes, Dunkeld PH8 0HH
Visiting safely
A range of new measures have been put in place in line with Scottish Government guidelines to keep you and our staff and volunteers safe. This includes pre-booked timed entry, enhanced cleaning, sneeze screens and hand sanitising stations. Please do not visit if you or anyone in your household has any symptoms of Coronavirus.
If you are booking for more than one household, please ensure you are following the latest government guidance. In Scotland a maximum of 6 people aged 12+ from 2 households can meet indoors or outdoors. Please respect this guidance when booking.
We want you to have a safe and enjoyable visit.
During your visit, we ask you to please:
- Keep your distance from others (at least 2m)
- Wear a face covering in hides and the visitor centre
- Use the hand sanitising stations provided
- Wash your hands often
- Pay by contactless wherever possible
N.B. Bookable time slots are for 1 hour and 45 minutes only. Please arrive at the start of the time slot; 10:30, 13:15 or 15:15 to get the most from your entry.
Book your ticket
Your privacy
Information we collect from visitors to the Trust, via our booking systems, will also be used to support the NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect service and we will disclose relevant personal information to the service if requested up to 21 days following your visit. For more details, please click here.
Any questions? If you have a question about your ticket or would like information on moving timeslots/refunds, please email lochofthelowes@scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk
Planning your visit
Please check ahead to make sure the centre is open. It may be subject to temporary closure should a local lockdown be required. If this occurs and you have pre-booked you will be notified and refunded. Please note that we are open Thursday – Monday only and are closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.
What’s open?
Our visitor centre has reopened complete with a new look viewing window. We have temporarily closed the Crannog Hide but there is limited access to the double storey hide.
Our woodland path remains accessible and open to all with a new children’s trail.
Access to the children’s hide will be limited and may be subject to closure for cleaning between family visits.
Food and drink
The self service hot drinks machine is still available but now operated by staff and volunteers only. Individually wrapped snacks and ice cream are also available. Please note we are accepting card payments only.
You are welcome to bring your own picnic to eat at our outdoor picnic area. Please dispose of your rubbish responsibly in the bins provided. Barbecues and gas stoves are not permitted.
Shop
The centre shop will be open, accepting card payments only. In line with Scottish Government guidelines, face coverings must be worn at all times. Scottish Wildlife Trust Members receive a 10% discount on all shop purchases.
Scottish Wildlife Trust Membership
Join today and help support our conservation work, with free access to all our visitor centres and around 120 reserves. Your support will protect Scotland’s Wildlife for the Future.
We’re Good to Go
“We’re Good To Go” is the official UK mark to signal that a tourism and hospitality business has worked hard to follow Government and industry Covid-19 guidelines and has a process in place to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing.
Why visit?
Highlights include:
- Learning from knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff and volunteers
- Getting closer to the ospreys with binoculars, telescopes and live video footage
- Spotting red squirrels, woodpeckers and other woodland birds from viewing windows
- Joining a ranger-led beaver watch to spot these elusive mammals
- Children’s hide – games, books and bird viewing window. NEW 2020 climate crisis theme
- Quizzes, crafts, colouring in, nature table and microscope display
- Live and visual interpretation helps bring the story of 50 years of Lowes to life
- Education activities and school visits
- Regular family events throughout the year
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Gift shop stocking a range of wildlife-themed gifts, souvenirs and birdcare products
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Self service hot and cold drinks and light refreshments available. Nearest café in Dunkeld
Best time to visit?
- Apr – Aug for ospreys
- Apr – Sept for beavers
- All year round for red squirrels
- All year round for wildfowl
- All year round for bird feeders & deer
Visit for:
- birdwatching
- woodlands
- wildflowers
- scenery
- mammals
Other information
The Fungarth path leads from the historic town of Dunkeld to Loch of Lowes.
Events
Find out what events are taking place at Loch of the Lowes in the coming months by viewing our events leaflet.
You can book on to these events by clicking the button below.
We are delighted to be open to visitors again and looking forward to welcoming you through the doors! This is a wee update about our ospreys and some changes to our working practice. Please remember, entry is by Pre-Booking, tickets available here: https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserve/loch-of-the-lowes/ This system allows us to keep the number of visitors within our limit per the Scottish Government Guidelines. Members still have free entry but need a ticket. This is also to comply with taking details to allow…
The journey towards re-opening was a challenging – but rewarding – one for the visitor centre teams across Scotland. It took a huge amount of planning from people all across the Scottish Wildlife Trust. This time last year, the ideas of social distancing, screens, face coverings, and online booking systems were quite foreign to us, but we’re proud to say that we’ve quickly become very confident with the “new normal” since re-opening earlier this month. The visitor centre staff at…
PT0 lands at Poole Harbour © Birds of Poole Harbour We’ve had some exciting news from our colleagues at the Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey Project about a very special visitor to one of their artificial nests. Yesterday it was reported that a Loch of the Lowes fledgling from 2018, ringed PT0 arrived at 17:21 and stayed for around 40 minutes. Arriving to the same nest as CJ7 has been sitting on since April. She was…
Create a new scrubby to clean your dishes from your worn out socks! ©Amy Bastow During this time of isolation, I’ve heard many people refer to the war-time like spirit of reuse and upcycle. People are now actively looking to mend and repurpose rather than buy new. This is something that as conservationists we’ve been trying to encourage for years. Reduce, reuse, recycle has been a long established mantra and it’s good to know that…
Great Crested Grebe © Johnny Rolt Breeding plumage With its striking appearance and fascinating behaviours, the Great Crested Grebe is in strong competition to be considered as one of the most interesting and beautiful of all European waterfowl. Here at Loch of the Lowes we are lucky to have at least 3 breeding pairs, with one pair choosing their territory right in front of the main hides, making observation of their intriguing daily lives easier than…
It is great to read how many people are enjoying watching our webcam during this period of staying home. I know many of us, myself included, are enjoying listening to the bird call in the background – it almost feels like we are sat in the woodland at Loch of the Lowes, perhaps a bit warmer and more comfortable though! I have really enjoyed trying to identify some of the bird song in sound clips that have been sent in…
During these uncertain times we are all spending a lot more time at home and many people may have noticed that they have seen an increase in their household rubbish. Around 7 million tonnes of food is thrown away by households in the UK every year, and most of it could have been eaten. With extra time on our hands this is a perfect opportunity to look into how we can be more sustainable within our own homes, reduce…
This week our ospreys have been conspicuously absent from the nest. We’ve had some understandably concerned viewers write in to us with their questions, so we thought we’d answer some of these here. 1. Have the ospreys abandoned the nest? It looks increasingly likely. Visits to the nest by the resident pair are still happening but these incidents are becoming less frequent. 2. Do we think the birds have been scared off? We can’t be certain but…