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  • Baron's Haugh

Baron's Haugh

All covid rules and restrictions have now been lifted in Scotland. We will continue to make our reserves and centres as safe as possible for all. Please help protect yourself and each other by using covid sense, washing or sanitising your hands, wearing masks if appropriate and giving everyone space to enjoy their day. Thank you and we hope you enjoy your visit.
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Address
RSPB Baron's Haugh, Manse Rd, Motherwell ML1 2PZ
Grid ref
NS756553
What3Words
belt.space.faced

Baron's Haugh is an important community nature reserve in Motherwell and is a real gem for wildlife and for visitors too. Spend time in one of the four hides, looking out at the ducks and swans on the haugh, or take a walk through the woods.

Plan your visit

Opening times

Open at all times.

Entrance charges

Free entrance to RSPB members
Yes
Adults
Free, but donations are very welcome.
Children
Free, but donations are very welcome.

Facilities

  • Car park
  • Pushchair friendly
  • Viewing point
  • Nature trails

Accessibility

  • Full accessibility information (external website)

How to get here

By train

Alight at Airbles Road. Turn right onto main road then turn right at the second mini roundabout and follow to the bottom of the road, turning left then right to the reserve entrance.

By bus

A number of buses stop around the neighbouring Airbles estate.

By road

From Junction 6 of the M74, take the road to Motherwell. Bear right at the next traffic lights sign posted to Wishaw. Turn right at the third mini-roundabout, and follow the road to the junction, turn left then immediately right to enter the reserve.

Sat nav POI file: If you have a satellite navigation system that can accept POI files, please see our POI page for a download link and instructions.

Other ways to get there

The reserve can be accessed by foot and bike from a number of different points around Dalzell Estate. The walkway along the River Clyde also runs past the reserve.

Get directions from Google Maps
View on What3Words
RSPB reserves on Google Earth

Group booking information

Groups are welcome at the reserve at all times. If RSPB involvement is sought in your visit, please either call the RSPB south and west Scotland regional office on 0141 331 0993 or email baronshaugh@rspb.org.uk.

Schools booking information

Schools groups are welcome at the reserve. For more information about visits and to make a booking, please contact baronshaugh@rspb.org.uk.

Contact Baron's Haugh

  • RSPB Baron's Haugh, Manse Rd, Motherwell ML1 2PZ
  • baronshaugh@rspb.org.uk
  • 0141 331 0993
  • Find us on facebook

What will you see?

Our star species

    Gadwall male

    Gadwall

    Gadwalls are attractive, subtly-marked ducks which feed on the surface of the water.

    Perched Kingfisher illustration

    Kingfisher

    Listen for their piercing, high-pitched whistle as they fly in an electric-blue blur.

    Nuthatch illustration

    Nuthatch

    This interesting woodland bird is a recent colonist of southern Scotland.

    Sand martin

    Sand martin

    Sand martins cross the Sahara on their spring journey north from their African wintering grounds.

    Male wigeon

    Wigeon

    You can watch large flocks grazing on vegetation here from autumn until the following spring.

Nature spectacles

Late summer into autumn is a fantastic time to see big groups of lapwing on the wetland. The causeway hide is probably the best place to see this spectacle and whilst you're watching the lapwing you might get lucky and see a water rail scuttle past in front of the hide. In winter the wetland comes alive with an array of wildfowl species such as whooper swans which migrate to the reserve and other areas of the UK from Iceland. 

Baron's Haugh is also a particularly good place to see very enigmatic species, namely otters, kingfishers and nuthatches. For up-to-date information on the best places to see these species, please email us, or keep your eyes peeled on our blog.

Seasonal highlights

  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Autumn
  • Winter

Spring heralds arriving summer migrants such as warblers and sand martins, while numbers of wintering and breeding wildfowl such as teal and tufted ducks remain. Toads spawn in the pools and spring flowers including bluebells and lesser celandines burst into life. You may see and hear woodpeckers drumming and nuthatches calling in the woodland. 

In summer, ducklings feed around the pools and dragonflies and butterflies flitter and buzz in the open areas. Towards the end of the summer, passage waders such as ruff, green sandpiper and black-tailed godwits start to arrive to feed on invertebrates in the exposed mud.

Autumn is a great time to look for fungi in the woods and waders such as lapwing and snipe increase in number on the wetland areas. Migrating thrushes such as redwing and fieldfare arrive and feed frantically on berries to restore their energy after long flights.

In winter, resident wildfowl are joined by flocks of wintering ducks including wigeons and whooper swans and if the wetland freezes, birds congregate in large, dense groups on any remaining unfrozen areas. In some years, waxwings visit the reserve to feed on berries in the hedgerows.

About Baron's Haugh

Habitat

The reserve is primarily made up of different wetland habitats - open water, wet grassland and muddy edges and pools. These features offer homes for an abundance of different wildlife such as birds, amphibians and insects. We encourage the water level to fluctuate to create a dynamic, semi-natural environment.

Grasslands cover another fair chunk of the site and we manage these by grazing with livestock to create a varied vegetation community and enhance biodiversity. Cattle munch the grass and create tussocks and divets: all important elements for a range of different species.

In addition to these open, airy habitats, we also have extensive woodland which is home to tawny owls and nuthatches. Here we allow dying and dead wood to decay and in turn provide ideal conditions for fungi and lichen to flourish.

Conservation

For each of the habitats which occurs on the reserve, we have specific management objectives.

On the wetland, each year we manipulate the water level through the use of a tilting weir, which enables us to draw the level down in July and rise in October. In the summer, we drawdown the level to expose mud so that migrating waders can feed on the aquatic insects which hide beneath the surface. 

By the autumn, it is time for us to shut the sluice and allow the level to rise again so there is an abundance of water for the many different species of wildfowl which stay at the reserve over the colder months. We also remove a percentage of the marginal vegetation each year to stop it from encroaching too much and essentially swallowing the wetland and allowing the area to dry up.

In the grasslands we graze with cattle in several areas - in the paddocks where we target an improvement in the vegetation height and species make-up, in the wetland itself in pursuit of achieving ideal breeding habitat for wildfowl and on the parkland where we graze the grass level shorter.

Site information

Barons Haugh is 107 ha and has no designations. There are four hides to see ducks and swans on the haugh, or take a walk through the woods – in the spring you might hear woodpeckers and nuthatches, while in the winter whooper swans feed on the flooded meadows. If you’re lucky you may even see a kingfisher or an otter on the river.

Latest blog posts

  • A Busy Spring

    It has been a very busy couple of months for the staff and volunteers at Barons Haugh with survey season kicking off and some infrastructure improvements. First off, it was great to complete a new section of footpath in the western part of the reserv...

    Posted 16/05/2022 by Baron's Haugh Warden
  • Winter to Spring

    It has been a busy winter at Baron's Haugh with work carrying on a pace at the reserve as things have started to open up and there are less restrictions on what we can do, fingers crossed this continues to be the case. Much of our work over the past ...

    Posted 22/03/2022 by Baron's Haugh Warden
  • Planning for the Future at RSPB Baron's Haugh

    I have been the warden at Baron’s Haugh for two years now, and it is safe to say it has been an eventful period! I have been lucky enough to see some amazing wildlife such as otters kingfishers and little egrets, work with some wonderful volunteers a...

    Posted 24/05/2021 by Baron's Haugh Warden
  • Wildlife photography, the best of both worlds…

    Hello everyone! To those who don’t know me, my name is Sam and I’m the assistant warden at RSPB Baron’s Haugh. I’ve been enjoying photographing some of Scotland’s amazing wildlife for the past few years, and now felt like the perfect time to share wh...

    Posted 12/04/2021 by Baron's Haugh Warden
read our blog

Activities and events

Activities for children and families

We run a series of nature themed events as well as self-led activities at the reserve.

For more information on events and to book tickets, please visit events.rspb.org.uk/baronshaugh or email baronshaugh@rspb.org.uk.

Leisure activities

There is a complex of walking trails which take you to good wildlife viewing sites. Among these are the four hides which afford excellent views of the wetland habitats. The Clyde walkway cuts along the southern edge of the reserve and is an excellent spot for a stroll. There are a few benches located at good wildlife viewing areas - these places are particularly good for seeing otters and kingfishers.

 

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