Troup Head

Address: RSPB Scotland Troup Head, Banff, AB45 3JJ

Grid ref: NJ822665

The high cliffs of Troup Head provide a spectacular setting for Scotland’s largest mainland gannet colony. There are also thousands of kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills here, along with several other species, including puffins. You may even be lucky enough to see porpoises, minke whales or dolphins offshore.

Plan your visit

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

No visitor centre
Car park
Toilets off-site
Accessible toilets off-site
No Refreshments
Nature trails
Shop off-site

Accessibility

How to get here

By train

Huntly railway station is 31 miles (50 km) away by road.

By road

Troup Head is found between Pennan and Gardenstown on the B9031, east along the coast from Macduff. RSPB Troup Head nature reserve is signposted off the B9031. You will also see a sign for Northfield Farm at this turn off. Follow the RSPB brown signs until you reach Northfield Farm. Continue through the farmyard and onto a rough track until you reach the Troup Head reserve car park.

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

A footpath runs from Crovie, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Troup Head. The cliffs can also be viewed from the sea by boat trips run by local companies out of Macduff.

Get directions from Google Maps

RSPB reserves on Google Earth

Any enquiries should be made to the East Scotland Regional Office. Phone on 01224 624824 or email esro@rspb.org.uk.

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Contact Troup Head

RSPB Scotland Troup Head, Banff, AB45 3JJ
strathbeg@rspb.org.uk
01346 532017

What will you see?

Our star species

In spring, tens of thousands of seabirds return, including gannets and the puffins that nest in burrows or crevices. In summer experience the sights, sounds and smells of the bustling seabird city crammed onto the cliffs. Offshore, bottle-nosed dolphins, porpoises and other cetaceans are often present.

Gannet

Look for stunning gannets around the cliffs.

Guillemot

Although ungainly on land, underwater they become agile and manoeuvrable.

Kittiwake

Visit Troup Head in spring and early summer and your ears will be filled with their unmistakable calls.

Puffin

Keep an eye out for puffins in spring and summer from the viewing points on the cliffs.

Razorbill

Razorbills spend most of their lives at sea in the Atlantic, only coming to land to breed between March and July.

Nature spectacles

Troup Head provides the visitor with a bracing coastal walk and a stunning seabird experience.

The sight, sound and smell of more than 2000 pairs of gannets, along with thousands of other kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and puffins speaks for itself. The birds can be viewed from the clifftop walk, and local operators run boat trips for an alternative view from the sea.

Look for the returning seabirds as they find their nest spaces. Admire the early clifftop flowers – spot the blue blossoms of the spring squill.

Listen to the amazing noise of the seabird colony. Watch out for dolphins and porpoises out to sea. Spot a grey seal, or maybe a common seal. Enjoy the summer flowers as the thrift and campion blooms.

Look out for migrating birds coming in off the sea. Enjoy the peace as the birds depart for the winter.

Look out for the first gannets and fulmars returning in mid-January.

About Troup Head

Habitat

Troup Head is a coastal reserve offering the visitor a walk over clifftop grassland full of wildflowers to view a wonderful seabird spectacle. Colonisation by gannets, starting in 1988, increased its significance as a birdwatching site, making it until recently Scotland’s only mainland gannet colony. The cliffs overlook the Moray Firth, providing a chance of seeing bottlenose dolphins and other cetaceans.

Conservation

We are safeguarding the sea cliffs for breeding seabirds, and aim to maintain or increase numbers. Work includes minimising disturbance during the breeding season and preventing erosion to the cliff edge.

We are enhancing our cliff-top grassland and farmland for birds, plants and invertebrates.

Keeping tabs: We are liaising with all relevant bodies to ensure seabird monitoring both continues and expands. Since acquiring the site, we have developed the seabird monitoring programme year on year. We now annually monitor specific plots to ascertain a productivity figure for gannet, fulmar and kittiwake.

Our work at Troup Head helps inform the international debate on fisheries and climate change. We will work with Fowlsheugh nature reserve to provide a focus for marine policy issues.

Site information

Troup Head is a coastal cliff top reserve about 4km in length. Twenty-nine hectares of cliff-face rise to more than 90m and support more than 38,000 seabirds.

The reserve is part of the larger designated Troup, Pennan and Lion’s Head Special Protection Area (SPA). It forms part of the Gamrie and Pennan Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is also listed for geological reasons.

Activities and events

Leisure activities

Independent visitor boats sail from Macduff during the summer, giving a unique view of the reserve.