RSPB - giving nature a home
Search
Close
Skip to content
Shop | Community
Log in | Sign up
  • About the RSPB
      About us
    • Our history
    • Our mission
    • How the RSPB is run
    • RSPB Media Centre
    • RSPB job vacancies
    • At home & abroad
    • International
    • England
    • Northern Ireland
    • Scotland
    • Wales
    • Get in touch
    • Contact us
    • RSPB offices
    • Connect with us your way
      Our activities
    • Gardening for wildlife

      Gardening for wildlife

      See our ideas to keep you connected to nature during coronavirus

    • Connect with us your way

      Connect with us your way

      From our regular emails to your favourite social media, there’s more than one way to keep in touch with nature

    • Martin Harper Blog

      Martin Harper Blog

  • Our work
      Nature conservation
    • Conservation and sustainability
    • Projects
    • Landscape scale conservation
    • Centre for Conservation Science
    • Satellite tracking birds
    • RSPB News
    • RSPB News
    • 'Our work' blog
    • Our positions and casework
    • Our positions
    • Casework
    • State of Nature report
      Featured news
    • Mindful mornings

      Mindful mornings

      If you can’t get outside, why not bring the outside in by downloading our bird song radio app?

    • How nature can help protect our homes

      How nature can help protect our homes

      Following the floods this winter, watch how one area is using nature as a natural protector.

    • Casework

      Casework

      Catch up with the RSPB’s own nature detectives on the case as they look to save some very special places.

  • Birds & wildlife
      Wildlife guides
    • Identify a bird
    • Bird A-Z
    • Other garden wildlife
    • Guide to birdwatching
    • UK conservation status explained
    • Nature's Calendar
    • Nature's Home magazine
    • About Nature's Home magazine
    • Birds and wildlife articles
    • RSPB Podcasts
    • Nature's Home blog
    • Advice
    • How you can help birds
    • Gardening for wildlife
    • Ask an expert
    • Wildlife and the law
    • How to report crimes against wild birds
    • Bird songs
    • Which bird song is that?
    • Most popular bird guides this month
    • Which bird song is that?

      Which bird song is that?

      Find out how to identify a bird just from the sound of its singing with our bird song identifier playlist.

    • Who to contact if you spot an injured or baby bird

      Who to contact if you spot an injured or baby bird

      Read more advice about what to do if you find a bird that needs help

    • In for a duck

      In for a duck

      It’s nesting season for our waterfowl too but what are the rules you need to follow for ducks, geese or swans?

  • Get involved
      Activities
    • Big Garden Birdwatch
    • Help nature at home
    • RSPB Competitions
    • Dolphinwatch
    • Community & advice
    • Join our local groups
    • How green are you?
    • RSPB Community
    • Get involved blog
    • Volunteering & fundraising
    • Volunteer
    • Fundraise
    • Help nature thrive as a corporate partner
    • Our grant funders
    • Campaigning
    • Climate change effects on nature and wildlife
    • Protecting wildlife sites
    • Campaign with us
    • Five actions to Revive Our World
    • Let nature sing
    • OxCam Arc
    • Your Actions for Nature
    • Top activities to do
    • Help nature at home

      Help nature at home

      Great ideas on how your garden, or even a small backyard or balcony, can become a mini nature reserve

    • How green are you?

      How green are you?

      See some of the ways you can get into green living.

    • Campaigning

      Campaigning

      See our toolkit for ways to campaign with us to protect nature and save wildlife.

  • Reserves & events
      Reserves A-Z Events, dates & inspiration
    • Events
    • COVID-19 information
    • Dates with nature
    • Places to visit blog
    • #ThanksToYou
    • Find a reserve
      Top reserve this month
    • Marshside

      Marshside

      This fantastic wetland site is located north of Southport town centre and has some of the best wildlife in the region.

    • Lytchett Fields

      Lytchett Fields

      The reserve has seen more than thirty species of wading birds.

    • Arne

      Arne

      Heathland home to more than 2565 species.

  • Fun & Learning
      For teachers
    • Supporting resources
    • Wild Challenge
    • School outreach visits
    • Big Schools Birdwatch
    • Sign up for the newsletter
    • School trip ideas
    • For families
    • Big Wild Sleepout
    • Wild Challenge
    • Nature reserves for families
    • For kids
    • Fun factoids for all the family
    • Games and activities
    • Kids stories
    • RSPB kids competitions
    • Latest kids' activities
    • Wild Challenge

      Wild Challenge

      Nature is an adventure waiting to be had. Get out, get busy and get wild!

    • Fun factoids for all the family

      Fun factoids for all the family

      Find out more about the nature and wildlife outside your window.

    • Youth membership

      Youth membership

      As well as a free gift and magazines, you’ll get loads of ideas for activities to try at home.

  • Join & Donate
      Join us
    • Choose a membership
    • Family membership
    • Youth membership
    • Gift membership
    • Discover RSPB Life Fellowships
    • Renew your membership
    • Our 2020 film
    • Donate
    • Our appeals
    • Make a one-off donation
    • Make a regular donation
    • Memorial donations
    • Plant a memorial tree
    • In memoriam booklet download form
    • Thank you
    • Leave a gift in your Will
    • Other people's gifts
    • Legacy donation FAQs
    • Legacy administration
    • Legacy booklet download form
    • Thank you
    • Other ways to help
    • Gift Aid
    • Support us when you shop
    • RSPB Images
    • RSPB second-hand binocular scheme
    • Win with the RSPB
    • Payroll Giving
    • Stamp out albatross deaths
  • Login to your account Sign up for an RSPB account
  • Shop
  • Community
  • Home
  • Reserves & events
  • Reserves A-Z
  • Coll

Coll

Following the latest mainland lockdown and island restrictions many of our facilities are currently closed. 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.
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
gallery image
Address
RSPB Coll, An Sabhal, Isle of Coll PA78 6TB
Grid ref
NM167563
See our reserves Covid-19 updates page for which sites are open and other important details.

Well-known for its sandy beaches that rise to form large dunes, Coll is a spectacular Scottish island. It's remote, but a visit is worth it for the abundance of farmland birds, not to mention the peace and quiet. It's also one of the best places to see corncrake.

Plan your visit

Opening times

Covid-19 update: The reserve is accessible in line with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.  The information centre remains closed at this time.

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

  • Visitor centre is closed
  • Car park
  • Guided walks is closed
  • Viewing point
  • Nature trails

Accessibility

  • Full accessibility information (external website)

How to get here

By road

Coll is six miles (9.6 km) west of Arinagour, Isle of Coll, on the B8070.

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

Coll is reached by ferry from Oban, Landing at Arinagour on Coll. Contact Caledonian MacBrayne, tel: 08705 650000

Get directions from Google Maps
RSPB reserves on Google Earth

What will the weather be like?

11 degrees, Cloudy

Downloads

Find your way around the Isle of Coll with these suggested well-worn routes. PDF, 756Kb.

Isle of Coll reserve guide

Contact Coll

  • RSPB Coll, An Sabhal, Isle of Coll PA78 6TB
  • 01879 230301

What will you see?

Our star species

    Barnacle goose adult

    Barnacle goose

    Large numbers of barnacle geese arrive on Coll in the autumn.

    Corncrake illustration

    Corncrake

    Listen in spring and summer for the repetitive, rasping call of the male corncrake.

    Standing Lapwing illustration

    Lapwing

    Watch the nesting lapwings here chasing predators that may come too close to their nests.

    Redshank, summer plumage

    Redshank

    Keep an eye out for the redshanks' towering display flights over the wet meadows in spring.

    Greenland white fronted goose

    White-fronted goose

    White-fronted geese which breed in Greenland migrate to Coll for winter.

Seasonal highlights

  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Autumn
  • Winter

Corncrakes start arriving from their wintering grounds in south-east Africa in spring. Large numbers of breeding waders - lapwings, redshanks and snipe - start displaying and nesting. See the last of the barnacle and Greenland white-fronted geese as they leave for their summer breeding grounds in the Arctic.

In summer, corncrakes are in the hay/silage fields, with breeding waders on the machair. The reserve is full of breeding birds - seabirds can be seen offshore including razorbills, guillemots, puffins, Manx shearwaters and terns. This is also a good time to see large numbers of basking sharks and otters.

The first of our wintering population of barnacle and Greenland white-fronted geese start arriving back in October. The reserve is busy with passage birds - fieldfares and redwings are often seen with wading birds such as dunlins, black-tailed and bar-tailed godwits and golden plovers all migrating south. 

Large numbers of barnacle and Greenland white-fronted geese can be seen on the fields. Divers and long-tailed ducks are offshore and flocks of twites, skylarks and rock doves can be seen feeding on the stubble fields. Hen harriers and merlins hunt over the moorland.

About Coll

Habitat

Coll is a remote and quiet island made up of a variety of habitats including farmland, wetland, sand dunes and machair.

The shallow sandy shore is a great place to see terns feeding on sand eels and in the winter you may come across an otter fishing for flat fish. In July the machair is a spectacular display of wild flowers which insects use to feed on, if you are very lucky you may come across the great yellow bumblebee. From late March the wading birds on the wetlands have started displaying and by late April they are in full swing, the best time to hear them is at dusk.

The farmland is working system where both agriculture and wildlife coexists. Skylarks are plentiful, swallows feed over the hay meadows and corncrakes are in every patch of rough grass.

Conservation

Coll’s corncrakes breed on in-bye fields. We have already more than quadrupled their population on the reserve to a maximum of 66 calling males. Small adjustments to farming practice made in partnership with local farmers are largely responsible for this success. Other birds of the in-bye fields which benefit from corncrake conservation include skylark, twite and reed bunting, while the fields host important wintering populations of barnacle and Greenland white-fronted geese. We use grazing to maintain feeding areas and undisturbed roost sites for the geese.

The sand dune habitats protect such notable species as sand lizard, belted beauty moth and the extremely rare short-necked oil beetle, Meloe brevicollis. We are working to maintain their condition, using low intensity grazing with cattle and sheep.

The reserve’s upland habitats include heather moorland, bog and unimproved grassland. We are working to maintain these for their plant life, raptors and passerines such as twite.

Site information

Coll is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), as well as a Natura 2000 site.

Latest blog posts

read our blog

Share this

  • Facebook Facebook Created with Sketch.
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

You might also be interested in

White-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla. Photo by Ian McCarthy.

Glenborrodale

The rugged Ardnamurchan peninsula is home to wood warblers, redstarts and spotted flycatchers.
RSPB Giving Nature a Home Campaign

Birds without Borders

Breeding populations of long-distance, trans-Saharan migrant birds have declined sharply since the 1970s.
RSPB Giving Nature a Home Campaign

Join us - legacy

Become an RSPB member by signing up here.

We spend 90% of net income on conservation, public education and advocacy

Quick links

  • Contact us
  • Online Community
  • Vacancies
  • Media centre

Information for

  • Teachers
  • Policy makers
  • Farmers & landowners
  • Scientists

Our work in

  • England
  • Scotland
  • Wales
  • Northern Ireland
  • International

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

Partnering with

BirdLife_logo

The RSPB is a member of BirdLife International. Find out more about the partnership

Fundraising Regulator logo OSCR logo

© The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales no. 207076, Scotland no. SC037654

  • Terms & conditions
  • Cookie policy
  • Privacy policy
  • Charter and statutes
  • About our site
  • Modern Slavery Act

Cookie Preferences

Accepting all non-essential cookies helps us to personalise your experience

Edit settings
Accept all

Essential cookies are required

These cookies are required for basic web functions

Enable analytics cookies

Allow us to collect anonymised performance data

Enable marketing cookies

Allow us to personalise your experience

Save settings
Read our cookie policy