RSPB - giving nature a home
Search
Close
Skip to content
Shop | Community
Log in | Sign up
  • About the RSPB
      About us
    • Our History
    • What we do
    • 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

    • Our History

      Our History

      Discover how a campaign against feathers in fashion sparked a global force to save nature with more than a million members

  • 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
    • Policy and Insight
    • Policy and Insight: England and Westminster
    • Casework
      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 and wildlife
      Wildlife guides
    • Identify a bird
    • Bird A-Z
    • Other garden wildlife
    • Guide to birdwatching
    • What is the Red List for UK birds?
    • Nature's Calendar
    • Nature's Home magazine
    • About Nature's Home magazine
    • Birds and wildlife articles
    • RSPB Podcasts
    • Nature's Home blog
    • Birds and Wildlife 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
    • Bird migration

      Bird migration

      Migrating birds have travelled thousands of miles just to get here. Find out why.

    • 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
    • Nature on Your Doorstep
    • RSPB Competitions
    • Dolphinwatch
    • #MyClimateAction
    • 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
    • Campaigning in Scotland
    • Campaigning in Wales
    • Campaigning in England
    • Campaigning in Northern Ireland
    • The nature and climate emergency
    • Protecting wildlife sites
    • Campaign with us
    • Top activities to do
    • Nature on Your Doorstep

      Nature on Your Doorstep

      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

  • Reserves & events
      Reserves A-Z Events Find a reserve
      Top reserves 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 kids
    • Fun factoids for all the family
    • Games and activities
    • Kids stories
    • RSPB kids competitions
    • For families
    • Big Wild Sleepout
    • Wild Challenge
    • Nature reserves for families
    • Robin Robin
    • Cameron's Cottage
    • Your Support
    • About Cameron's cottage
    • 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
    • Nature is stronger with you on its side. Become a Life Fellow today.
    • Renew your membership
    • Donate
    • Philanthropy & Major Gifts
    • Our appeals
    • Make a one-off donation
    • Make a regular donation
    • In Memory Donations
    • Plant a celebration tree
    • In Memory Booklet
    • Leave a gift to nature in your Will
    • Why Include a Gift to Nature in Your Will
    • How to Include us in Your Will
    • Information for executors & solicitors
    • Download your free guide
    • 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
  • Troup Head

Troup Head

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 Scotland Troup Head, Banff, AB45 3JJ
Grid ref
NJ822665
What3Words
activates.stressed.storms

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

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
  • Nature trails

Accessibility

  • Full accessibility information (external website)

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
View on What3Words
RSPB reserves on Google Earth

Schools booking information

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

Contact Troup Head

  • RSPB, Loch of Strathbeg, Crimond, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire AB43 8QN
  • strathbeg@rspb.org.uk
  • 01346 532017
  • Find us on facebook

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 illustration

    Gannet

    Look for stunning gannets around the cliffs.

    Guillemot illustration

    Guillemot

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

    kittiwake adult

    Kittiwake

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

    Puffin, adult in summer plumage

    Puffin

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

    Razorbill, summer plumage

    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.

Seasonal highlights

  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Autumn
  • Winter

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.

Please note there are livestock on neighbouring land and you may encounter them on your visit here.

RSPB Scotland welcomes responsible access, in line with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.

Activities and events

Activities for children and families

For more information on events and to book tickets, please visit events.rspb.org.uk/trouphead

Leisure activities

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

For more information on events and to book tickets, please visit events.rspb.org.uk/trouphead

Share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

You might also be interested in

Loch of Strathbeg RSPB reserve, views of the beach

Loch of Strathbeg

As Britain's largest dune loch, Strathbeg is a vital wintering and staging post for pink-footed geese.
RSPB Giving Nature a Home Campaign

Sealife Guardians

Help fund the urgent work needed to protect our wonderful sealife. Your donation will make a huge difference.
RSPB Giving Nature a Home Campaign

Sealife Guardians

Help fund the urgent work needed to protect our wonderful sealife. Your donation will make a huge difference.

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
  • Email

Partnering with

The RSPB is a member of BirdLife International.

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