3. Watch Red Kites on CCTV (Clatteringshaws)

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Location: Clatteringshaws New Galloway Nr Castle Douglas Telephone: 01644 420285

Clatteringshaws Visitor Centre    ATTENTION - The visitor centre is closed for improvements to access and will reopen on 16 April 2011. Forestry Commission Scotland apologise for any inconvenience caused. This is beautifully situated beside Clatteringshaws Loch and offers wonderful views across the water to Merrick (southern Scotland's highest hill) and the Rhinns of Kells range. The centre (open April-October) is well equipped with a gift shop and tearoom, which offers soup, snacks and home baking etc. There is also an interactive wildlife exhibition and CCTV footage of red kites. There is a picnic area beside the centre. Kites Kites appear only very rarely at Clatteringshaws, but you are guaranteed to see them on the CCTV footage! Other birds Buzzards, kestrels and ravens are fairly common, with an occasional peregrine and osprey in summer. Common gulls nest nearby and are often seen around the loch, as are common sandpipers and ringed plovers. Mallards and greylag geese can often be seen on the loch. Other attractions A few hundred metres from the centre is Bruce's Stone, near the site of the battle of Moss Raploch, where in 1307 King Robert the Bruce rested after defeating the English. There is also a reconstructed iron age roundhouse close by the centre.      Bruce's Stone                                                 Reconstructed Iron Age round house How to get there Clatteringshaws is 6 miles west of New Galloway on the A712, just a mile or so east of the north end of the Raiders' Road forest drive.     Telephone: (01671) 402420 E Mail : galloway@forestry.gsi.gov.uk