The Scottish Seabird Centre – Seals and Winter Shorebirds

Scottish Seabird Centre

The Scottish Seabird Centre stands on the rocks at the end of North Berwick's harbour. Its own car park is free from 1 October to the end of February and pay and display the rest of the year (from £3.50 an hour at the time of writing). The Town Recreation Park car park on Dunbar Road, about 15 minutes' walk away, is free all year. The Centre opens every day: 10am to 5pm in October, February and March, 10am to 4pm from November to January. It shuts on 25 and 26 December, closes at 3pm on 24 and 31 December, and opens at 11am on 1 January. The Discovery Experience costs £13.50 for adults, £9 for children aged 3 to 15 and £38.50 for a family of two adults and two children at the time of writing, with 25% off for a same-day train or bus ticket. Last entry is an hour before closing. Inside, live cameras look out over Craigleith, less than a mile offshore, and the Bass Rock beyond, and you can steer some of them yourself. Grey seals start to pup on Craigleith in November, with a few adults and pups there until late December. The Bass's gannets leave by the end of October and start to come back in late January. The Centre's boat trips out to the Bass Rock stop for the winter in early autumn, so until spring the cameras are the way to see it close. Turnstones, redshanks, purple sandpipers and eiders feed on the rocks below through the winter. The daily Wild Island Watch, at 11am and 2pm at the time of writing, starts on the cameras and goes out to the scope deck with the staff. The Seabird Café is free to enter, with lunch and a view to the Bass; last hot food orders are 45 minutes before closing. Dogs on short leads are welcome everywhere, and the Centre is wheelchair accessible throughout.

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