Baron's Haugh

All of Scotland’s wild places and green spaces are vital for the survival of its unique, amazing wildlife. If you plan to head out to these areas please respect and protect Scotland’s great outdoors. As guidelines change we are working hard to re-open our facilities. We ask that all visitors follow the latest Scottish Government restrictions on travel and group sizes and advice on physical distancing and hygiene. See below for reserve details and our dedicated Covid-19 updates page for the latest safety information (link below). Thank you for your continued support and patience in these challenging times. Stay safe everyone.

Address: RSPB Baron's Haugh, Manse Rd, Motherwell ML1 2PZ

Grid ref: NS756553

What3Words: belt.space.faced

See our reserves Covid-19 updates page for which sites are open and other important details.

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

Covid-19 update: The car park, hides and trails are open.

Open at all times.

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

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 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

What will you see?

Our star species

Gadwall

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

Kingfisher

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

Nuthatch

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

Sand martin

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

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.

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

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, please see our events section 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.

Marshside

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Baron's Haugh