A delight for birdwatchers

The Mandrel benefits from being close to the coast and being surrounded by farmland, both offering a great variety of birdlife. The RSPB nature reserve at Nigg Bay is a short drive away.

The Tarbat peninsula is a key stopping off point for many species during their autumn migration.  

The huge door-windows in the house offer panoramic views over the neighbouring arable farmland and the house acts like a giant hide for keen birdwatchers. As well as migratory geese and other species, the annual farming calendar brings birds in the wake of the farm machinery as the crops are sown and harvested. Birds to be seen from the window include golden plovers, sandpiper, grey partridge, wheatears, sparrow hawks, gulls, pink-footed geese and greylag geese. 

The Tarbat Ness headland - the car park next to the lighthouse is only a mile from the house - is a great place for watching seabirds.  Even if you are not an avid birdwatcher, an hour spent on the rocks every evening watching the waves and the birdlife is a wonderful part of a holiday at The Mandrel. Look out for gannets, terns, oystercatchers, kittiwakes, auks, shearwaters and skuas. The headland is a particularly good location for little auks after strong northerly winds.

Jutting out to sea, the headland is also on the migratory route for birds such as warblers, redstarts and pied flycatchers.

Spend an evening on the rocks below the lighthouse and you will usually see a seal in the water too.