.scot www.nnr Male stonechat Male Bottlenose dolphin Bottlenose cliffs, along with peregrine falcons. peregrine with along cliffs, Fulmars nest on sheltered nooks towards the top of the the of top the towards nooks sheltered on nest Fulmars like desert cacti. cacti. desert like is easily recognised by its fl eshy leaves, which store water water store which leaves, eshy fl its by recognised easily is with white cascading sea campion, while white stonecrop stonecrop white while campion, sea cascading white with Sea pink, or thrift, forms low cushions in crevices, together together crevices, in cushions low forms thrift, or pink, Sea soils and unreliable water supplies, can survive. survive. can supplies, water unreliable and soils place where only specialist plants that can cope with thin thin with cope can that plants specialist only where place Today they form the backdrop to the Reserve and are a a are and Reserve the to backdrop the form they Today around 8,000 years ago, they were left high and dry. and high left were they ago, years 8,000 around the sea battered these cliffs and then, when the ice melted ice the when then, and cliffs these battered sea the formed 375 million years ago. During the last ice age ice last the During ago. years million 375 formed The cliffs at St Cyrus are all that remains of vast sea cliffs cliffs sea vast of remains that all are Cyrus St at cliffs The frequently basking in the sand dunes. sand the in basking frequently The cliffs The whitethroats. Common lizard can also be seen seen be also can lizard Common whitethroats. birds too, such as stonechats, yellowhammers and and yellowhammers stonechats, as such too, birds Towering cliffs Towering of invertebrate life attracts large numbers of insect eating eating insect of numbers large attracts life invertebrate of grasshopper species on the Reserve. This huge diversity huge This Reserve. the on species grasshopper have all been sighted offshore. sighted been all have too. If you’re lucky you can see all four of Scotland’s Scotland’s of four all see can you lucky you’re If too. porpoise, minke, humpback and killer whales killer and humpback minke, porpoise, The abundance of plants encourages invertebrates encourages plants of abundance The banks at the mouth of the river, while dolphin, dolphin, while river, the of mouth the at banks grey seals, which occasionally bask on the sand sand the on bask occasionally which seals, grey soils produced by the volcanic rocks. volcanic the by produced soils You may also be lucky enough to see common and and common see to enough lucky be also may You and eastern England but grow here thanks to the fertile fertile the to thanks here grow but England eastern and more common on chalk and limestone soils in southern southern in soils limestone and chalk on common more the lack of fruit and vegetables on board ships. board on vegetables and fruit of lack the Others such as meadow saxifrage and hairy violet are are violet hairy and saxifrage meadow as such Others C, which is why sailors used to eat them to make up for for up make to them eat to used sailors why is which C, The fl eshy, oval leaves of scurvy grass are rich in vitamin vitamin in rich are grass scurvy of leaves oval eshy, fl The absolute extreme of their northern range. northern their of extreme absolute owers of night-scented Nottingham catchfl y, at the the at y, catchfl Nottingham night-scented of owers fl buffet them. buffet here, with many, such as the delicate pinkish-white pinkish-white delicate the as such many, with here, high tides, drying winds and stinging sands continually continually sands stinging and winds drying tides, high More than 300 different plant species have been found found been have species plant different 300 than More have amazing staying power when you consider that that consider you when power staying amazing have owered scurvy grass. These strand line-hugging plants plants line-hugging strand These grass. scurvy owered fl from the wind. the from beach are the lilac fl owering sea rocket and white white and rocket sea owering fl lilac the are beach with the cliffs and sand dunes providing vital shelter vital providing dunes sand and cliffs the with Among the fi rst plants to grab a place at the top of the the of top the at place a grab to plants rst fi the Among Plants and insects are superbly protected at St Cyrus, St at protected superbly are insects and Plants The beach The What makes St Cyrus so special? so Cyrus St makes What Getting there The Reserve is 4 miles/6.4km north of Montrose, off the A92, and some parking is available. Welcome to St Cyrus National Nature Reserve, There is a bus service from Aberdeen and Montrose to St Cyrus managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. nearby St Cyrus village. At the end of Beach Road, past National Nature Reserve With its breathtaking displays of wildfl owers and the church, a steep path leads down to the Reserve. unbelievable variety of insects and birds, St Cyrus The Visitor Centre, housed inside the old lifeboat station, is one of the richest and most diverse nature reserves has toilets and is open daily from April to October, and in Britain. Monday to Friday, from November to March. Set at the mouth of the River North Esk, the Reserve Need to know sweeps around the sandy shore of the Aberdeenshire Please give wildlife a fi ghting chance by making sure you coast, just north of Montrose. From its towering volcanic don’t trample on plants or start fi res. At certain times of the cliffs, to swathes of beautiful beach, set off by an ever- year parts of the Reserve may be closed to protect changing landscape of sand dunes and fl ower-rich breeding birds. Please keep dogs on a short lead or under grasslands, this is a stunning landscape. close control at sensitive times, and respect any notices you see. Owners must clear up after their dogs at all times. For more information please contact: The Old Lifeboat Station, Nether Warburton, St Cyrus, Montrose DD10 0AQ. Tel: 01674 830736 www.nnr.scot Support this NNR at www.nature.scot/donate-nnr VISIT Scotland's National Nature Reserves 0 9 i A Alford A944 ABERDEEN A939 Aboyne A93 Ballater Banchory Braemar Stonehaven Inverbervie 3 Edzell A92 A9 A90 St Cyrus Beautiful beach Brechin NNR Montrose Kirriemuir A90 Photos by Lorne Gill/SNH. ISBN: 978-1-85397-892-0. © Scottish Natural Heritage 2015. MLG2K0916 200347_St_Cyrus.indd 1 05/05/2016 14:15 .scot www.nnr Male stonechat Male Bottlenose dolphin Bottlenose cliffs, along with peregrine falcons. peregrine with along cliffs, Fulmars nest on sheltered nooks towards the top of the the of top the towards nooks sheltered on nest Fulmars like desert cacti. cacti. desert like is easily recognised by its fl eshy leaves, which store water water store which leaves, eshy fl its by recognised easily is with white cascading sea campion, while white stonecrop stonecrop white while campion, sea cascading white with Sea pink, or thrift, forms low cushions in crevices, together together crevices, in cushions low forms thrift, or pink, Sea soils and unreliable water supplies, can survive. survive. can supplies, water unreliable and soils place where only specialist plants that can cope with thin thin with cope can that plants specialist only where place Today they form the backdrop to the Reserve and are a a are and Reserve the to backdrop the form they Today around 8,000 years ago, they were left high and dry. and high left were they ago, years 8,000 around the sea battered these cliffs and then, when the ice melted ice the when then, and cliffs these battered sea the formed 375 million years ago. During the last ice age ice last the During ago. years million 375 formed The cliffs at St Cyrus are all that remains of vast sea cliffs cliffs sea vast of remains that all are Cyrus St at cliffs The frequently basking in the sand dunes. sand the in basking frequently The cliffs The whitethroats. Common lizard can also be seen seen be also can lizard Common whitethroats. birds too, such as stonechats, yellowhammers and and yellowhammers stonechats, as such too, birds Towering cliffs Towering of invertebrate life attracts large numbers of insect eating eating insect of numbers large attracts life invertebrate of grasshopper species on the Reserve. This huge diversity huge This Reserve. the on species grasshopper have all been sighted offshore. sighted been all have too. If you’re lucky you can see all four of Scotland’s Scotland’s of four all see can you lucky you’re If too. porpoise, minke, humpback and killer whales killer and humpback minke, porpoise, The abundance of plants encourages invertebrates encourages plants of abundance The banks at the mouth of the river, while dolphin, dolphin, while river, the of mouth the at banks grey seals, which occasionally bask on the sand sand the on bask occasionally which seals, grey soils produced by the volcanic rocks. volcanic the by produced soils You may also be lucky enough to see common and and common see to enough lucky be also may You and eastern England but grow here thanks to the fertile fertile the to thanks here grow but England eastern and more common on chalk and limestone soils in southern southern in soils limestone and chalk on common more the lack of fruit and vegetables on board ships.