Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve NTS

20/04/2026

Meeting some brand new lambs up the reserve with our new seasonal ranger! Some reservations… 🐑

01/04/2026

01/04/2026

How do we monitor our population of wild haggis? 🤔

We were incredibly lucky to join our rangers for the annual survey of our lowland haggis population at Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve NTS.

An elusive animal, haggis rarely emerge from their burrows and so not much is known about these creatures that call many of the special places in our care home.

However, as a priority species in our Plan For Nature, we’re working towards a goal of better understanding their behaviours and preferred habitats by 2032.

These efforts will support our species conservation activity, with the work also playing an important part in delivering government commitments for nature.

Have you had any haggis sightings at the places in our care? We'd love to hear your stories! 😍

21/01/2026

Would you like to come and work with us on this incredible nature reserve?!

There’s an opportunity for a Seasonal Ranger here at the mighty Grey Mare’s Tail this year running from the start of April through to the end of October.

Working within a small and dedicated team, it’s the perfect opportunity to get involved in hands on conservation work including species monitoring, practical management and engaging with visitors.

Find the details currently at the bottom of the page attached for how to apply.

If you think you’re the person for the job or know someone who is, please apply and share!

National Trust for Scotland

Castles and battlefields, gardens and glens, islands and wildlife… enjoyed and protected.

04/11/2025

We had a great time surveying the vendace earlier this year - definitely an iconic wee fish we have here!

A survey at Grey Mare’s Tail Nature Reserve confirms the rare vendace population at Loch Skeen continues to flourish.

02/11/2025

It’s definitely autumn at the Grey Mare’s Tail - your kit should include kit for all weathers, and a thermos of something hot! The autumn light is quite magical across the hillsides when you are up the reserve just now. 🍂

03/10/2025

Some pictures from the Grey Mare’s Tail walk on Sunday with Walk Moffat - the weather turned out really nice ☀️ and we had a brilliant group 😃

27/09/2025

A brilliant couple of days planting out the nationally endangered fern Oblong woodsia with a team from Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - the weather was grand and it was brilliant to get some green fingered conservation work in!

08/09/2025

And we are open! That’s the helicopter away.

There are now bags of heavy stone on and near the path; please don’t touch/climb/investigate them! They will be built into the path in short order: 🪨

05/09/2025

Access to the Grey Mare’s Tail:

On Sunday the Tour O’ the Borders bike ride will be closing the A708 road from 7.30am to til possibly as late as 3pm… after that we will be closing the car park as on Monday morning we will by flying stone and wood up the reserve by helicopter- we can’t have people on the reserve for that so we will be closing entirely. We should be done quite quickly on Monday though 🤞 and get opened up again as soon as we can! 🚁

Also! Moffat Mountain Rescue Team will be out on Saturday and Sunday on a training exercise, so don’t worry about the emergency vehicles.

14/08/2025

Moth morning this Saturday, 16th Aug, 9-11am.

The rangers have been making the most of the warm evenings to do some moth trapping around the Tail and have found some brilliant species! Some more familiar than others, with several new records and one that’s not been recorded here since the early 1990s - the Anomalous! The name says it all!

If you’d like to see some of these fantastic critters or just chat all things moths, drop in from 9-11am this Saturday.

04/08/2025

The Tail is on the tele! 📺

Ishbel did a piece with ITV news on the importance of moths! It’s on from around 18 minutes in and only available for 24hrs, catch it while you can! 🤩

Watch the latest from ITV News - You can catch-up with the ITV Lookaround programme on weekdays for 24 hours after it is broadcast on ITVX.