Wood of Cree

Address: RSPB Wood of Cree, A714, Newton Stewart DG8, UK

Grid ref: NX381708

The Wood of Cree is the largest ancient wood in southern Scotland. In spring, it comes alive, with bluebells on the ground and the sound of pied flycatchers and warblers in the air. It is also the perfect place to see willow tits, as well as barn and tawny owls.

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
Picnic area
Viewing point
Nature trails
Shop off-site

Accessibility

How to get here

By train

Barrhill is the nearest station, approx. 13 miles from reserve.

By bus

Newton Stewart, 4 miles (6.4 km) away, has the nearest bus stop.

By bike

This reserve is on Route 7 of the National Cycle Network.

By road

Travel north along the minor road from Newton Stewart through Old Minnigaff. Turning left past Monigaff church, continue along the minor C50 for a further three miles to the 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.

Get directions from Google Maps

RSPB reserves on Google Earth

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Downloads

Helping you find your way around. PDF, 874Kb

Wood of Cree trail guide

Contact Wood of Cree

RSPB Wood of Cree, A714, Newton Stewart DG8, UK
wood.cree@rspb.org.uk
01988 402130

What will you see?

Our star species

Pied flycatcher

It is easy to see how this bird gets its name on a spring walk around the woodland at Wood of Cree.

Redstart

Watch out for them in spring and summer shivering their reddish tails.

Tree pipit

You could see the display flight of the male tree pipit.

Willow tit

Although increasingly hard to find across the country, there is still a population at Wood of Cree.

Wood warbler

Listen for the song of the wood warbler coming from the oak canopy from late April into June.

In spring, the reserve has a bright carpet of bluebells and other woodland flowers. Woodland birds include pied flycatchers, redstarts, tree pipits, wood warblers, willow tits, buzzards and great spotted woodpeckers. There is a range of bat species including the rare Leisler's bat. Red squirrels, otters and roe deer can also be spotted.

Look for the purple hairstreak butterfly in the tops of the oak trees - if you don't want to crane your neck, the viewing area along the woodland trail (near the Pulhowan Waterfall) is a good place to see them at treetop height. Scotch argus is also an attractive butterfly to look for at this time, particularly along woodland rides. Listen for the elusive grasshopper warbler with its distinctive reeling song in the wood pasture around the Barclye trails.

During autumn, goldeneyes, whooper swans, teal and mallards arrive on the reserve.

Winter is a good time to explore the woodland as birds are easier to see when there are no leaves to get in the way! Roving flocks of tits may be accompanied by woodpeckers and treecreepers.

About Wood of Cree

Habitat

The Wood of Cree has an amazing range of habitats. The oak woodland is the main feature of the reserve - known as Atlantic oak woodland, or Scotland's rainforest, this habitat is home to many birds, mammals (especially bats), invertebrates and wildflowers. It is especially important for common redstarts, pied flycatchers and wood warblers, which arrive from Africa in May and make the reserve their home for the summer. Eight types of bat can be found on the reserve, including the scarce Leisler's bat.

Other important habitats on the reserve are the areas of wood pasture, open moorland, wet floodplain woodland, fen and grassland and scrub, each with their own particular wildlife associated with them, including black grouse, willow tit, whinchat, grasshopper warbler, cuckoo and otter.

Conservation

Woodland management is mostly aimed at removing areas of Sitka spruce and larch from certain areas of the reserve and trying to create a more diverse structure to the oak woodland. Past management had resulted in many even-aged trees, so we have been thinning these out in some areas to create glades and allow some trees to grow bigger.

Barclye is the newest part of the reserve where, with support from our partners, we've been planting trees to extend the woodland and create more wood pasture. We have planted more than 200,000 trees here and it will take many years for the woodland to properly develop, but it's already a fantastic part of the reserve to explore.

We have created another car park next to the Barclye section of the reserve and there are a number of trails through this part of the reserve, with a viewpoint on Mill Hill which gives panoramic views across Barclye and up the Cree Valley.

Site information

This nature reserve is important for wildlife, and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and a Natura 2000 site.

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