Musselburgh Lagoons

Musselburgh Lagoons

A truly top-quality birdwatching site now with a variety of long established and newer wader scrapes to visit which attract large numbers of gulls, ducks and waders particularly at high tide. There are also excellent sea watching opportunities, plus grassland, woodland and the boating pond. The mouth of the Esk river, just to the west of the Lagoons is also worth scanning.

This very short guide can only list a few of the species likely to be seen but the area is well known for Scoters (Common, Velvet, Surf, White-winged, and Stejneger’s). Grebes include the Red-necked and Slavonian. A good variety of ducks appear on the sea (including Long-tailed Duck and King Eider) and on the lagoons. Watching from the sea wall also regularly produces good lists of gulls, waders and divers. The lagoons are particularly good for waders having hosted rare or scarce sandpipers (e.g. White-rumped, Pectoral, Marsh, Buff-breasted), with Jack Snipe, Avocet and Spoonbill amongst the very many other waders visiting. Winter can bring Short-eared Owls in numbers to Musselburgh and Twite.

Three hides serve the old scrapes at Levenhall Links, and five surround Lagoon 8 (the ‘new scrapes’). Lagoon 6 (also a new scrape) is at the east end of the site (Morrison’s Haven). There is a good network of paths throughout the site and parking is as shown on the map above. Public toilets can be found at Shorthope Street, Musselburgh.