Milton Loch and Woodlands is owned by Boat of Garten Community Company and managed by the Company’s Wildlife Group (BoGWiG).
More about the site
Enjoy a peaceful stroll around the woodland and listen to the bird song. Go down to the dipping pond and hunt for mini beasts. Sit in the hide and see if you can spot the Herons and Mallards, maybe even the Otter. Relax on one of the benches, have a picnic or read your book. Take your time and you may see the Roe Deer who regularly come down to feed in the woods. However you spend your time here, enjoy it.
Though we do not know exactly when the loch was dammed, we do know that prior to the railway coming in the 1860s, Milton was a population hub, with a watermill and a sluice gate established to control water to the Drumuillie mill. The land underneath the trees and grassland that we see today was formerly a rubbish dump.
The land belonged to the Seafield estate who gifted it to the Community Council and ownership was transferred to the Community Company in 2019.
A range of breeding and migrant birds use the site including Willow Warblers, Reed Bunting and Blackcaps. Treecreepers, Blue Tits, Chaffinches and Robins can often be seen in the trees along the pathways. On the loch, look for Mallards and Tufted Ducks, sometimes joined by Wigeon, Teal and Goldeneye. The herons from the heronry are often seen patiently waiting or stalking through the reeds. In Autumn and Winter, the loch is an important staging post for Whooper Swans.
Information provided by John Davison and Steve Goodall.