Montrose Basin – Pink-footed Geese at Dusk
A few hours.
The route
Every autumn tens of thousands of pink-footed geese fly in from Iceland and Greenland to spend the winter on Montrose Basin, the wide tidal basin of the South Esk behind the town.
By day they feed out in the fields, and at dusk they come back to the water to roost in long, calling lines across the sky. It's a wonderful thing to see on a cold, clear afternoon.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Montrose Basin
An afternoon at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's visitor centre, with telescopes trained across the Basin, then a short walk to the Tayock Hide to watch the geese come home to roost as the light goes.
About three hoursAbout 1 mile on foot
Montrose Basin
An attraction
The Scottish Wildlife Trust's visitor centre stands on Rossie Braes, on the A92 a mile south of Montrose, looking straight out over the Basin. The car park is free, and so is the reserve. The visitor centre is £6.50 for adults at the time of writing, under-16s free. Inside, telescopes and binoculars line the big windows, there are hot drinks and a small shop, and the staff and volunteers will tell you what's been about that day. It's open every day from 10.30am to 5pm until the end of October, then on Fridays to Mondays only from November to mid-February, 10.30am to 4pm, and the car park shuts when it does. In autumn and winter the Basin holds great numbers of pink-footed geese, with wigeon, redshank and curlew on the mud and common seals often hauled out at low tide. The Bank of Scotland Hide, through the small gate to the right of the main gate, is open at all hours, even on the days the centre is shut. Dogs can go on the reserve walks but not into the centre.
5 min by car
Tayock Hide
It's 5 minutes' drive round the edge of Montrose to the Tayock Hide on the Basin's north-west shore. The small free car park is on the left of the A935 Brechin road out of the town, just after the sign for St Christopher's Caravan Park; there's a 6ft 6in height barrier. A circular path of under a mile, most of it fine for a pushchair, winds through young woodland to the hide, a plain timber shelter with no seats, open at all hours. In autumn and winter the Trust sends people here for the geese, which lift off for the fields around sunrise and come back to roost around sunset. Sunset is about 6pm in mid-October, 4pm in mid-November and 3.30pm at Christmas, so be at the hide a little before it. At low tide redshank, curlew and oystercatchers feed on the mud in front of you. Watch from the hide and the path rather than going down to the shore, keep a dog close, and bring a torch for the walk back.
If it rains
The visitor centre's windows and both hides are under a roof, so a wet afternoon still works; the path to the Tayock Hide is in the open.
Roo's Leap, a restaurant in Montrose.
The Funky Wee Teapot, a café in Montrose.
Photographs by Hilary A, Montrose Basin and Christian Stidsen via Google