St. Abb's Head National Nature Reserve

The basics

During the warmer months, the reserve’s Nature Centre offers information on the area’s flora, fauna, history, and geology. Still, you can explore St. Abb’s Head anytime: the coastal trail forms part of the 30-mile (50-kilometer) Berwickshire Coastal Path. Besides a short all-abilities route, walking trails generally start with the 2-mile (3-kilometer) Discovery Trail. You can extend this with the 1-mile (1.5-kilometer) Lighthouse Loop, which circles the 19th-century lighthouse, or the 0.5-mile (750-meter) Mire Loch Loop, which bears inland around an attractive lake.

Things to know before you go

• Rugged landscapes plus wildlife, including nesting seabirds, gray seals, dolphins, and porpoises, make St. Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve an excellent choice for photographers, hikers, and animal lovers.

• Drones are forbidden from April through July, and permission is required at other times of the year.

• The lighthouse is closed to visitors, but its cottages are available for rent.

• There are cafés in St. Abbs village plus bathrooms at the reserve, although the bathrooms are only open Friday through Sunday.

• St. Abb’s Head has accessible parking and bathrooms. The Nature Centre is wheelchair accessible and offers a short all-abilities path to a viewpoint, but the clifftop paths and seabird viewing spots are hard to reach in a wheelchair.

How to get there

The St. Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve sits above the pretty fishing village of St. Abbs, about a 10-minute drive up the coast from Eyemouth, a 20-minute drive from Berwick-upon-Tweed, or an hour’s drive southeast of Edinburgh: there’s paid parking and free bike racks on site. The best public transit option is the 235 bus, which runs from Berwick-upon-Tweed to St. Abbs via Eyemouth at irregular daily intervals.

When to get there

The St. Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve is open daily year-round, but the Nature Centre is only open April through October, 10am–4pm: bathrooms, including the accessible bathrooms, are only available Friday through Sunday. May through July is the most popular time to visit, with nesting seabirds, more temperate weather, and wildflowers; October through December is the breeding season for gray seals.

Scotland for bird lovers

Scotland’s wild, remote landscapes offer birders a world of choice. Golden eagles, puffins, and more frequent the Isle of Mull and Isle of Skye; the skies over Gretna Green can turn black with “murmurations” of starlings over winter; the Scottish Owl Centre is home to over 40 species; white Cairngorms National Park delivers capercaillie, ptarmigan, snow bunting, and more.