Forvie National Nature Reserve

15/06/2026

We have our first Arctic tern chicks of the year! It's always exciting (and very cute) to see new arrivals at the ternery. Always blows my mind to think this pom-pom could grow up to be one of the greatest travellers in the animal kingdom.

14/06/2026

It's bloggy time, kids. This week featuring a feast of seabirds, a touch of sunburn and some unpleasantly steamy waterproofs. That'll be summer then.

This week’s alliterative title is a neat summary of the past seven days on the Reserve, a capricious early-summer week where you really didn’t know whether to slap on the sunblock or ge…

13/06/2026

Our weekend wardens are on site all weekend. If you see them, please feel free to ask any questions.

Dog walkers, please remember it is now breeding season. We advise to keep dogs on the lead or at close heel to avoid disturbance of ground nesting birds and other wildlife. Thank you!

The Forvie Team

11/06/2026

During yesterday's seabird census, it was a pleasure to see three s**g nests on the cliffs. These wonderfully prehistoric -looking birds have been absolutely hammered by a series of easterly storms, starting with Babet back in 2023. It's thought that the east Aberdeenshire s**g population has dropped by 91% since then, so it's great to see at least a few coming back to breed here.

10/06/2026

When you wonder if you've angered the weather gods....didn't quite make it back before the rain came on!

09/06/2026

It's looking chicky-licious down the tern colony just now. Our black-headed gulls have just started to fledge but there are hundreds of gull and Sandwich tern chicks running around the colony just now. Let's hope this means it's going to be a successful season!

07/06/2026

This week's Forvie blog contains a soap-opera of swans, a sighting of a shark, and a murder in the name of love. Surely nobody can complain about a lack of variety here.

Having put the commentator’s curse on things last week with an unguarded comment about the impending ‘long hot summer’, it was inevitable that the first week of the new season wou…

06/06/2026

Hi folks! Our weekend wardens are on site all weekend. If you see them, please feel free to ask any questions.

Dog walkers, please remember it is now breeding season. We advise to keep dogs on the lead or at close heel to avoid disturbance of ground nesting birds and other wildlife.

Thank you, The Forvie Team.

05/06/2026

A peaceful walk along the estuary was interrupted by complete chaos overhead. The local oystercatcher flock had taken exception to a fishing osprey and no fewer than 13 birds were circling and dive-bombing it, all accompanied by hysterical oystercatcher ' ker-pleep-pleep-pleep' calls. It's not uncommon for the terns to mob the ospreys (even if they are only after fish) but it's the first time we've seen the waders have a go, too.

04/06/2026

We've just seen the reserve's rarest plant in flower. Meet the purple milk vetch - which is only found in a roughly 2x2m patch on the estuary footpath. I think it may even be the only site for it in the whole of north Aberdeenshire.