Escape into a mosaic of protected habitats – from ancient oak woodland to fens – only 40 minutes from Glasgow.
Take a stroll along Loch Lomond’s shoreline and you’ll find oak woodlands that are rarer than tropical rainforests. The moss is bejewelled with dew, tree trunks encrusted with lichen and the floors carpeted with swathes of Bluebells. In spring, the song of Redstarts and Tree Pipits swells in the cool, damp air, as these rare woodland birds stake out their part of this precious habitat and try to find a mate. Loch Lomond is more than a picture-postcard view. It’s a tapestry of protected areas, providing a vital home for some of Scotland’s most precious wildlife.
We spoke to Paula Baker who has been Site Manager at RSPB Loch Lomond for 14 years.
Site Manager at RSPB Loch Lomond
Paula has managed the nature reserve since the RSPB took on the site in 2012 – deciding how best to look after the land for wildlife, while also opening it up to visitors.
I knew this was a special location as soon as I arrived for my job interview – just walking down from the village to the loch shore. At that time, there was only one footpath, surrounded by ancient oak woodland; everywhere else was completely just walking off-piste! Now, I can look out of the window of the offices we have here and see Ben Lomond. I’m often reminded by people just how spectacular it is compared to their own office views.”
The River Endrick pours into the southern end of the loch, a mosaic of wetland habitats at its mouth. The area is a natural flood plain, with the river freely spilling over its sides, forming pools, creeks and marshland, buzzing with invertebrate life. The wet grasslands here provide prime nesting and feeding sites for wading birds, like Redshanks and Snipe, and are studded with the citrine yellow blooms of rare Tufted Loosestrife.
Loch Lomond is no less impressive when coated in silver snow and ice. Rare Greenland White-fronted Geese graze in the fields after migrating over 2,000 miles from the Arctic for Scotland’s comparatively milder climes. Look out for their distinctive white blaze behind their orange beak.
With a global population of only around 16,000 Greenland White-fronted Geese remaining, the loch’s shores are home to roughly 1% of their numbers in winter. They’ve suffered steep declines – historically due to unsustainable levels of hunting – however, it’s now thought that the biggest threat to their future is climate change, which impacts their nesting grounds and breeding success.
In 1976, Loch Lomond was recognised for its international importance – its fenland plants, its marshes and woodlands, and its geese – and was designated as a Ramsar site. This is an international designation to protect the world’s most important wetlands and their species. The habitats and wildlife here are also recognised on a UK level, with multiple Sites of Scientific Interest (SSSI) overlapping with the RSPB reserve.
Parts of Loch Lomond were first designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA) in 2000, recognising the area’s importance for Greenland White-fronted Geese at a European level. This means the Scottish Government is required by these laws to take appropriate steps to avoid pollution or deterioration of the site, or any significant disturbance affecting the birds for which it is designated.
I think the designations just highlight how important places are. Without them we probably wouldn't get as much funding; we probably wouldn't get as much visitor interest to protect the rare wetland habitats and their species. I think it makes it clear to people that this is the cream of the crop for wildlife. And of course, some of those designations have got a huge amount of weight behind them, so we hope it will always reduce the risk of harmful development.”
Discover the UK's natural treasures, the species that call them home, and why they need protecting.
With the entire population of these geese wintering in the UK and Ireland, we have a responsibility to treasure these remaining birds, and to ensure their habitats stay protected.
The RSPB’s Loch Lomond nature reserve covers 237 hectares of land within a wider network of protected areas.
By cutting the vegetation with a specialised tractor, our Wardens keep the habitat in good shape, creating more varied feeding conditions for both wading birds and wildfowl. Ensuring the White-fronted Geese have plenty of feeding opportunities on their wintering grounds means that they’re ready to partner up and breed as soon as they touchdown in Greenland on their return migration.
The team are now trying to restore natural processes on this site, rather than always needing to manage the land mechanically. In 2023, after many years of assessing how they’d impact the landscape, the team led the first licensed Beaver re-introduction on an RSPB nature reserve in Scotland.
Beavers are keystone species, which means that where they go, they have a positive influence on other wildlife and habitats. As people who run a wetland nature site, we like to do things to try to keep water in places and do things to put sluices in, lots of man-made things. But Beavers are amazing ecosystem engineers; it's their instinct to create places that are wetter and better – which is vital, as climate change is one of the biggest threats to our landscapes.”
While the geese prove Loch Lomond is a landscape worth crossing continents for, you won’t need to go the distance to discover this natural treasure. Only 20 miles outside of Glasgow, enjoy breathtaking views and rare wildlife at this gateway into the wild.
This is a really important special place with lots of interesting species and habitats. And we want people to experience that. My job has been to balance that with how we can have the least impact on wildlife. Now, we have a nature hub, plus all the trails.”
“I think one of the best things is that every time you come here, there'll be something different; it changes so much throughout the seasons. It's not that you have to learn about every bird and every flower - just being in any green space at all can shape you”