Montrose Basin is an enclosed estuary of the river South Esk covering 750 hectares, home to over 80,000 migratory birds – including pink-footed geese, Arctic terns, knots and sedge warblers. Our four-star visitor centre offers a great day out for all the family in Angus.
Address: Montrose Basin, Rossie Braes, Angus DD10 9TA
Why visit?
Highlights include:
- Telescopes, binoculars and live video footage of visiting migratory birds
- Interactive toys and games – including microscopes and puzzles
- Regular wildlife events – guided walks, children’s activities
- Formal and informal education programmes for school groups run all year round
- Fairtrade tea and coffee available – relax with panoramic views across the Basin
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Range of wildlife gifts available from our gift shop
Best time to visit?
Easter to Oct for activities, Apr to Aug for sand martins, Oct to Feb for wintering geese, anytime for wildfowl and waders
Visit for:
- birdwatching
- coasts
- geology
- scenery
- mammals
Other information
This tidal basin is an important roosting and feeding area for a variety of passage migrants, and is internationally important for breeding eiders and wintering waders and wildfowl, attracting up to 80,000 pink-footed geese in winter.
The centre regularly runs events suitable for all the family.
Living in coastal Scotland means that gulls are a regular sighting, whether you’re at Montrose Basin or in a city. It’s easy to fall into the trap of labeling all gulls as ‘seagulls’, but there are in fact 7 different species of gull that regularly breed in the UK, 6 of which are commonly found in Scotland. These are the herring gull, the black-headed gull, the lesser and great black-backed gulls, the common gull, and the kittiwake. Some birds which…
Today marks the last day of my internship here, so I thought I’d dedicate this blog to my favourite moments of my three months spent in this lovely and unique place! As a native to Stonehaven I’ve been to the Montrose Basin Visitor Centre a number of times over the years; from pond dipping as a kid, to attending a goose breakfast in my early teens (events that still run all these years later!). However those were quite different to…
The Montrose Basin attracts all sorts of bird visitors, and it’s always a thrill to see the somewhat rarer sights such as an osprey flying through or a great spotted woodpecker pecking at the bird feeders. The water rail is an especially elusive bird that we don’t often see, despite the knowledge that we have a breeding pair in the salt pans. So while looking out of the Visitor Centre window and focusing your binoculars on a bird shaped object…
After such another lovely week of weather, today has been a bit of a damp squib! Perfect weather for ducks you could say, so we thought we’d take this chance to look at a few of our regulars. © Scottish Wildlife Trust Here at Montrose Basin we are lucky enough to see a variety of duck species on the reserve. The most common ducks we see here are Eider ducks, Somateria mollissima. Eiders are large sea…
Here at Montrose Basin visitor centre we’ve been eagerly awaiting the appearance of new-borns, and yesterday our wait ended with the arrival of three moorhen chicks!! Moorhen adult and chick © Ron Mitchell These three very welcome newcomers were seen swimming in the salt pans, under the watchful supervision of their parents. This number of chicks might seem a little on the low side, as its normal for females to lay between 5 – 11…
Spring time is a busy time of year for birds, whether they’re migrating, attracting mates, making nests, or raising chicks. It’s been exciting to see this new flurry of activity from the birds that breed at Montrose Basin – our eiders have started making their nests, we have a pair of blue tits attempting to lay eggs in one of our bat boxes (?!), and the sand martins are pairing off and making good use of our sand martin wall.…
Volunteering at the Montrose Basin 3 full days a week has really given me an appreciation for how variable it is. In the past, I’ve only visited for maybe an hour at a time, and while this gave me an idea of the kinds of birds you see in the area, I didn’t realise that I’d only been seeing such a tiny part of such a huge picture. The visitor centre gives you a lot of interesting information on how…
The European Rabbit If you come to Montrose Basin Visitor Centre this spring you’ll be hard pressed not to see a number of the rabbits which live on the reserve. Unlike many of the birds which migrate thousands of miles to spend winter or summer at the basin, the rabbits are here all year long. Indeed it’s a regular sight when peering out the Visitor Centre window to see a cheeky rabbit joining the birds in nibbling whatever…