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.
If you visit the Montrose Basin around low tide, you may be lucky enough to see an osprey fishing for flatfish. In fact, luck might not even have to be on your side at all as we’ve been having daily osprey sightings from our visitor centre for the past week, sometimes with several flying together at once. An osprey flying over the Montrose Basin. © Andy Wakelin Time has really flown by this breeding season –…
Pink-footed Geese taking off in October Have you ever considered a career in wildlife conservation? Maybe you would like to work in tourism or a customer service related role. At Montrose Basin Visitor Centre we can offer all three. The postholder will learn the skills to help in the day-to-day activities of a busy visitor centre, including retail, education and exhibition areas. This includes providing a first class customer care and visitor service, promoting the work…
It’s come a little earlier than we expected this year, but it’s ‘kingfisher season’ at the Montrose Basin Visitor Centre again! We’re so lucky to be able to get amazing views of kingfishers from our viewing windows – when I started my internship here at the beginning of the year, a male kingfisher was almost a daily sighting. He was regularly seen sat on his perch fishing for sticklebacks, or flying amongst the reeds in the salt pans. But from…
Imagine – it’s 8.30am and you’re walking from your car to your office, bleary eyed and coffee in hand. From nowhere comes a screeching tern from above with a sharp beak. I’m sure you’d agree this wouldn’t be ideal! The poor employees at GlaxoSmithKline in Montrose were being dive bombed by Arctic Terns that were nesting at their factory. The terns were “defending” their chicks from perceived human intruders. Naturally, something had to be done about this for the sake…
Believe it or not, many historically renowned scientists were also passionate creatives. Galileo for example, the Italian physicist and astronomer, was an accomplished art critic. This may appear surprising but in actual fact scientists were often artists or musicians too. Nowadays, artistic expression and scientific curiosity are generally explored independently. Often, high school pupils have to choose between a science (like biology or physics) and a more expressive subject. However, this trend has been changing with evidence to suggest that…
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…
