Baron's Haugh

It has taken us 4 years to get to this point, but work is finally underway to deliver the wetland project at Baron's Haugh! The length of time it has taken to plan and develop this project reflects the significant challenges we have been facing at the reserve and the complexities of how the reserve functions alongside the river. To explain some of these challenges let me take you back in time a little... 

Back when…

It has been a very busy few months for the staff and volunteers at Barons Haugh with the wetland project making big strides, infrastructure improvements getting up and running and several successful events taking place

Reserve Infrastructure

First off, we have completed the section of path which was started in spring 2022 and replaces the old staircase making accessible again a lovely area of woodland in the western part…

It has been a busy 2022 at Baron's Haugh with hard work happening both on and off reserve. Our staff and volunteers have done a power of work repairing our stock fencing to ensure we can graze the wetland, our paddocks have begun their transformation into species-rich wildflower meadows and we have started taking small steps to improve the infrastructure around the reserve. Behind the scenes there has also been a lot happening…

Baron's Haugh has really burst in to life over the past month as we move into summer. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in our meadows where we have seen our work over the past couple of years begin to bear fruit (or flowers as the case may be...). These meadows, located just north of the wetland, have for many years provided grazing for cattle but not much in the way of wildlife due to the lack of diversity in…

It has been a very busy couple of months for the staff and volunteers at Barons Haugh with survey season kicking off and some infrastructure improvements.

First off, it was great to complete a new section of footpath in the western part of the reserve to replace an old decaying staircase. This makes it easier to access the river from the top of the reserve and creates a nice new path through the woodland, worth a wander…

It has been a busy winter at Baron's Haugh with work carrying on a pace at the reserve as things have started to open up and there are less restrictions on what we can do, fingers crossed this continues to be the case.

Much of our work over the past few weeks has focussed on the wetland and ensuring the fencing is improved to enable more grazing on the Haugh. This is vital for the quality of the habitat, ensuring…

I have been the warden at Baron’s Haugh for two years now, and it is safe to say it has been an eventful period! I have been lucky enough to see some amazing wildlife such as otters kingfishers and little egrets, work with some wonderful volunteers and also learn from locals about the history and wildlife of this fascinating nature reserve. The past year however has of course been difficult, as the team here, like everyone…

Hello everyone!

To those who don’t know me, my name is Sam and I’m the assistant warden at RSPB Baron’s Haugh. I’ve been enjoying photographing some of Scotland’s amazing wildlife for the past few years, and now felt like the perfect time to share why I enjoy it so much!

I’ve always loved wildlife… and when I got my first camera as a teenager, combining the two interests was the logical next…

Hi Everyone!

This week we continue our series of blogs from our volunteers, this time its Daniel from the Czech Republic. Enjoy!

Please introduce yourself and tell us how you heard about the RSPB?

Hello readers, I am Daniel from Czech. I moved into Scotland just about eight months ago to study Zoology and Applied Bioscience at the University of West Scotland. Since then I have had a chance to see only a small part of…

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all staying safe. Today, we are going to continue our series of blogs introducing some of the volunteers of Baron's Haugh. This time, we are introducing Rachael Hall, who started at the reserve towards the end of last year and has already proved herself a great asset to the team (I have never seen so much rhododendron cleared in such a short period of time!). Hello to Rachael!...

Please…

Hello Everyone! With the lockdown continuing Baron's Haugh is still closed, so we thought we would invite our volunteers to write a few blogs so you could get to know them a bit better. The Baron's Haugh volunteer team are absolutely vital in enabling us to do our work on the reserve, and we cannot thank them enough for everything they do.

First up is one of our newest, Elke Langenbucher. Elke has just started…

Well it seems like a lifetime ago now but a couple of weeks ago we had a very successful event at Baron's Haugh celebrating the fantastic dogs we get at the reserve and also discussing with owners how they can help ensure wildlife is not disturbed by dogs on site. This led to some great discussions and I am very pleased to say that all of the dog owners who stopped to chat to us were very aware of the importance and sensitivity…

Baron’s Haugh is an urban reserve, squeezed between Motherwell and the M74, with man-made noises all around. However in the summer, the reserve is also awash with birdsong, from the melodious blackbird, to the scratchy blackcap. The sound of the River Clyde is never far away, and splashes from the flooded haugh might signal the presence of an otter.

Now, a new project is seeking to harness this unique sound environment…

It is traditional to end the year by re-capping on all the things that have happened over the past 12 months. This year we’ve had so much going on at Baron’s Haugh during November and December that it’s more than enough to fill this blog post!

We’ve been finishing a piece of work that began with the restoration of Cemetery Marsh: We’ve installed an interpretation panel and have been building a viewing…

Well, it certainly is autumn now, and we’ve had a couple of cold brisk days which have been contrasted with the blustery ones which have given us plenty to do over the last few weeks.

Storm Callum resulted in lots of damaged trees, some of the debris from which covered large sections of our path network, so it was all hands to the pump to keep the reserve accessible.

Clearing away a fallen limb in the parkland…

Summer may be almost over, but the bird-watching season continues, as Michaela Barton reports:

Wetlands really come alive in the autumn and winter months, with migrating birds stopping in to re-fuel on aquatic invertebrates.

RSPB Scotland Baron’s Haugh has proven to be a brilliantly successful spot for waders this year, with black-tailed godwits reaching their highest recorded number for the reserve since 2003. This…

On the 9^th of July I started in my new role as the Assistant Warden for Airds Moss and Baron’s Haugh, having previously worked on the Inner Forth Reserves. I’m excited to get stuck in to my new role so thought I’d give you a bit of a run-down of my days out on the reserves so far!

During my first week I was over at Baron’s Haugh meeting the very dedicated group of workparty volunteers, preparing…

Lots has happened since our last blog and I guess because of this, time has really flown by at the Haugh! How are we in April already?!…

So what’s occurring? Well, much of our time has been spent clearing up after severe flooding and generally making the reserve safe for visitors. Staff changes are once again at the fore and the Cemetery Marsh habitat creation project has been completed. Read on for more details…

Hi, my name is Kyle and I have recently started working with RSPB Glasgow as a social media volunteer. In the past few months, I’ve been creating Facebook and Twitter posts to help advertise various RSPB events going on throughout Glasgow and the surrounding areas; hopefully raising awareness of the many different ways that people can get involved with the charity and inspiring more people to join the RSPB.

Given…

Since the last blog in July things have been hotting up on the haugh. The water level is now nice and low which means there is loads of wet mud, just waiting for lots of different kinds of birds to probe for juicy insects.

August, September and October are busy months at the reserve for wading birds in particular because this is when they migrate. Not that waders are the only birds that move around of course; hundreds…

Hello there everyone, my name is Paul Gunn and I’m the new assistant warden for Baron’s Haugh and Airds moss reserves. I come to the role having spent the last 3 years within the RSPB as Community Greenspace Officer for the ‘Giving Nature a Home in Glasgow’ project and the year previous to this with Buglife as Parks and Pollinators Officer. These positions have seen me working all over Glasgow and a few sites in Stirling…

I put my best foot forward at the end of May, completing a 70km trail run in the Azores, fundraising as I went for Baron’s Haugh. The final tally fundraising – wise was £260 and thankfully I finished in one piece, just! However, our justgiving page is still live, so if you have an urge to donate to this cause, please feel free to do so by texting haug82 and your amount e.g. haug82 £5 to 70070. Thank you. …

Well, it’s been quite the place to be, Baron’s Haugh, if you’re a birder or interested in wildlife at all these past few weeks. We had the alpine swift a few weeks ago, and now we have not just one, but TWO great white egrets! They’ve been here since last Thursday when they were discovered by one of our very regular visitors, Jimmy, and thankfully they’ve hung around and afforded us some great views…

It’s always nice to start a blog with some exciting bird news, and this blog certainly has that! Over the past week or so, on and off, we’ve had an unusual visitor to the reserve, namely an alpine swift! As you can see from the photo below, this is different to the swifts we usual see at the reserve in the summer, mainly distinguished by its white front. It was wowing visitors flying fast over the paddocks looking for…