Local area birdwatching · Scotland

Birdwatching in Scottish Borders

By Does Your Duck Quack · Planning updated 27 October 2026

A Scottish Borders visit can focus on the sea cliffs at St Abbs Head or on smaller inland wetlands. Summer watching at St Abbs Head includes Razorbill, Kittiwake and Guillemot on the cliffs. Its routes offer different settings: the Discovery Trail and longer Lighthouse Loop cover the coastal landscape, while the Mire Loch Loop takes the walk inland towards freshwater. Grassland and the loch broaden the reserve beyond its seabird views. Near the Tweed, Bemersyde Moss provides a more concentrated wetland watch. Its narrow strip of marsh, willow scrub and open water is viewed from a hide reached by a short boardwalk from the roadside layby. The Trust identifies Wigeon, Goldeneye, Teal and Shoveler as winter birds. South of Selkirk, the public viewing arrangement at Hare Moss uses a path from the entrance to a small-lochan hide. That route provides a way to watch without stepping into the soft wetland. Reed Bunting, Willow Warbler and Great Tit are named in the combined Hare and Dunhog Mosses profile, which gives no individual seasonal windows. Hare Moss is the public viewing option described for that combined reserve.

For a summer colony visit on the Borders coast, plan around St Abbs Head’s summer seabird cliffs and the guide’s safe public walking routes.

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Social preview photograph: Rocky cliffs above the sea at St Abbs Head. Jonathan Hutchins / Geograph; resized and converted to WebP · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized and converted for the preview.