Local area birdwatching · Scotland

Birdwatching in Aberdeenshire

By Does Your Duck Quack · Planning updated 27 October 2026

Choose Loch of Strathbeg for wetland birds, Fowlsheugh and Troup Head for seabird cliffs, or Forvie and the Ythan for estuary and dune habitats. Strathbeg combines a dune loch with wet grassland and pools, with Pink-footed Geese, Whooper Swans and Teal among its colder-month birds. Fowlsheugh’s cliff ledges are associated with Guillemots, Razorbills and Kittiwakes, while Troup Head adds the Gannet colony to a different section of coast. Forvie’s dunes, heath, coastal cliffs and estuary provide another mix, including spring Eiders and terns and winter waders. Inland, Muir of Dinnet offers woodland, heath and freshwater lochs around Burn O’Vat and Loch Kinord. St Cyrus adds a coastal combination of dunes, meadow and estuary. Longhaven Cliffs provides a further summer seabird walk among granite headlands, but its steep paths and the operator’s section-closure notice shape the permitted route. The county’s cliff, estuary, loch and woodland visits therefore have distinct public arrivals and seasonal interests, rather than forming one continuous coastal circuit.

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Social preview photograph: Water and grazing fields at Loch of Strathbeg with the old drainage windmill beyond. sylvia duckworth / Geograph; converted to WebP, display may crop · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized and converted for the preview.