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 and binoculars set up and ready to use
- 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.
Events
Find out what events are taking place at Montrose Basin in the coming months by clicking the button below.
Discover the Basin with one of our self-guided audio tours
If you would like to learn more about the Basin, our audio tours are a great place to start. Choose from four tours available through izi.TRAVEL. These tours can be accessed online or through the izi.TRAVEL mobile app available for iPhone and Android.
We’ve been seeing a lot of winter visitors lately in Montrose, especially when the rowan trees were full of berries! Here’s a look at a few species that you tend to see only at this time of year! Redwings The redwing is slightly smaller than a song thrush, with a pale stripe above the eye and another one less pronounced stripe above its cheek. It’s the chestnut-red underwings that give this bird its name though. Even though…
It’s always exciting when a rare bird is reported on the Montrose Basin reserve – it gives the visitor centre this special ‘buzz’ when birdwatchers come filing in asking about the bird’s whereabouts and how they can best see it. It hasn’t happened many times since I started working here, so needless to say, when I read the bird report that a hoopoe was on the reserve, I was a little taken aback! The only times I had seen a…
Every year, the People’s Postcode Lottery Goose Breakfast is held at the Montrose Basin. This unique event involves attendees and staff members willingly (and not so willingly) getting up at, or before, 6am, gathering at our visitor centre for 6:30am, and then heading out onto the reserve to watch the amazing spectacle of tens of thousands of pink-footed geese taking off at sunrise. Everyone then returns to the visitor centre for some well-deserved homemade porridge and hot drinks. This was…
This will be my final weekend in the role of Montrose Basin Seasonal Visitor Centre Assistant (what a mouthful!). The five months in this post have absolutely flown by and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the change of seasons and the varied wildlife each brings during, what is now, my second year as part of Montrose Basin Visitor Centre team. I started volunteering at Montrose Basin Visitor centre in February 2016 after moving north of the wall, a sum total of…
There is an impressive diversity of wildlife to be seen around the Montrose Basin nature reserve, and what you see very much depends on where you are. Whether you’re birdwatching from our visitor centre, walking past the reed beds towards our Shelduck Hide, or venturing along the sea wall at the Lurgies, there will always be something of interest to see. There are also plenty of geological features that are worth learning about around the reserve. What you see not…
It has been quite the summer here at Montrose Basin! Here’s a few of my highlights… The visitor centre has been quite the attraction for ospreys this summer. We were lucky enough to have 8 of them on 14th August which was really exciting as we aren’t really known for having them. When speaking to members for many years they don’t remember there ever being that many at once – so it looks like this might be a new record…
Montrose Basin has many warbler species. Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers can be regularly seen in the summer at the Lurgies and the visitor centre. It’s always difficult to show them to visitors though, because as soon as you have spotted and identified them, they have snuck back into the reeds. However, in my opinion, our easiest identified warbler is the Sedge Warbler. Sedge Warbler amongst reeds © Mark Woodfin These small, elusive and rather skittish Warblers are…
Estuaries are truly special places and Montrose Basin is no exception. The mixing of North Sea salt water and fresh water of the River South Esk in this unusual enclosed estuary has created a fantastic ecosystem. Although tens of thousands of birds inhabit Montrose Basin throughout the year, most of the animal life is hidden from sight. Beneath the surface of the mud flats lies a busy world where smaller, but no less important, forms of life thrive. Estuaries are…