The Boat of Garten Trails Leaflet highlights routes of eight waymarked trails starting in the village. The shortest trail is the Heron Trail which starts at the Station and heads to the Milton Loch circular walk (1mile, 1.6km, 30 minutes).
Welcome to Milton Loch Community Woodland:
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. However you spend your time here, enjoy it.
This 14 acre woodland (and loch) has been managed by the Boat of Garten Wildlife Group (BoG-WiG) on behalf of the Boat of Garten Community Company since it was gifted by Seafield Estate in 2019.
Although it is not known 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.
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.
We recommend keeping to the all access path particularly in spring and summer to avoid disturbing the breeding wildlife on the rest of the site. Once through the gate you will see the Ark of Caledon on the left (see noticeboards for info about Willow Weaving). The circular path continues round with plenty of seats should you wish to take a break.
If you approach the hide quietly you may see a Corra-ghritheach (Gaelic for Grey Heron) hunting on the edge of the loch, or flying over returning to its nest in the top of trees. The path also takes you to a dipping platform, if you bring a net you can investigate the water dwelling life (with care). Look out for brook lampreys, which grows up to 15cm long. Lampreys are not the prettiest creatures with a large flexible lip that acts like a sucker, a long cylindrical body (like an eel) and a single nostril located on the top of the head in front of the eyes.
The cache can be found without disturbing the wildlife on the loch (and without getting wet feet). Plenty of swag has been left for kids (and adults) to swap.