We recently spent a really lovely morning out at the RSPB visitor centre and nature reserve at Loch Leven. There was plenty to keep our kids entertained for a few hours and the cafe had lovely views out over the loch.
There is a large carpark, costing £3 for a day’s parking, a cafe, shop & visitor centre and toilets. The cafe was really nice and served a wide selection of cakes and sweet treats, as well as lunches. The toilets were fab and had family toilets with easy to reach toilets and sinks for little ones.
The site is split into two areas- a woodland area and the wetlands. Inside the shop there are maps and spotting guides for each of the areas detailing walking routes and things to spot while out and about.
We started in the woodland area which was full of bird feeders and screens with animal shapes cut out from which to spot some wildlife. Now my trio are anything but quiet yet we managed to spot lots! We saw quite a few red squirrels, which excited everyone and raised the noise levels even more! We also spotted lots of different woodland and garden birds. Obviously the wildlife here are used to the sounds of small kids and the wooden screens provide them with enough cover that they are happy to come and eat amongst the noise!
Amongst the trees there are a number of little animal statutes and activity card ideas to entertain kiddos, as well as a hobbit house and magnifying lens. Back at the visitor centre there are pond dipping kits, adventure backpacks and bug hunting kits which you can borrow to use while exploring the site.
On the other side of the visitor centre there is a tunnel under the road which leads you across to a circular walk which takes in the wetlands. The stairs down to the tunnel have an amazing wildlife artwork painted on the them by Chris Rutherford (the artist behind the artwork at Colinton Tunnel) which is really cool to see from the bottom of the steps looking back up.
Along the wetlands walk there are a number of wooden screens and bird hides to visit. In the visitor centre and inside the hides they have boards with recent sightings on them so you can see what kind of wildlife you should be looking out for.
It is definitely worth the drive out for a visit with kids as there is plenty to keep them entertained with little cost involved. We will be back to take part in some of their trails and perhaps some of the workshops that they run throughout the year.
Key info
Parking: You can park all day in the large carpark for £3
Toilets:
Available at the visitor centre
Cafe:
Available above the shop and has beautiful views across the loch
Top Tips
The visitor centre offers really reasonably priced workshops, trails and events for children (& big kids!) There is a brochure on site with all upcoming events and they have a really active facebook page detailing all current offerings.
There is an app you can download which has bird songs on it so you can identify different birds from their songs.
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