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 Tarbat Ness headland is a migratory route for birdlife. Follow the link for a map of the best places to see particular species. Spend an evening on the rocks below the lighthouse and you will usually see a seal in the water too. 

The huge door-windows offer panoramic views over the neighbouring 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 who follow in the wake of the farm machinery as the crops are sown and harvested.

Birds which we have seen from the window include golden plover, sandpiper, grey partridge, wheatear, sparrow hawk, pin-footed geese, greylag geese, gulls, gannets and terns.