Troup Head Nature Reserve
The cliffs at Troup Head, near Pennan, provide a home to hundreds of thousands of seabirds including: puffins, fulmars, shags, kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills.
During the summer months over 150,000 breeding seabirds are present at the site.
Troup Head is also home to Scotland’s only mainland gannet colony. The gannet population in the area has exploded since 1988, when there were only four nests, to now over 1,500.
The reserve also offers views across the Moray Firth, where whales, dolphins, porpoises and seals are often seen.
The views from the sea are particularly extraordinary, and the sight of up to 150,000 seabirds, with all the cacophony of noise, commotion and hurly-burly that such a large seabird gives rise to, makes for a thoroughly memorable experience not to be missed.
A visit to the reserve will inspire people and help them realise the incredible value of Scotland’s coastal and marine national heritage, and the need to protect it.
The reserve, which covers a 4km stretch of land between Fraserburgh and Macduff, has been designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA) and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI); and was bought by the RSPB Scotland two years ago.
There are currently no facilities other than an informal car park and footpaths at Troup Head, although work to upgrade the existing parking facilities and to provide interpretation and information on the reserve will soon be underway.
Entrance is free to the reserve, although donations are welcomed, and is open at all times.