Scottish Seabird Centre

📌 North Berwick, East Lothian
★★★

The Scottish Seabird Centre occupies a striking building next to North Berwick harbour, its roof curving gracefully like a gannet’s wing. The main surprise is that there’s much more to it than meets the eye, and we hear there’s been a major refurbishment for 2020 (along with a major price hike). On our 2017 visit, descending a flight of stairs from the ground floor shop and café took you to an excellent, interactive visitor centre all about the bird life of nearby Bass Rock, Craigleith and the Isle of May. You can pan and zoom several HD webcams installed on each of the islands to watch their respective (spring and summer) populations of gannets, puffins, shags and other seabirds nesting and going about their daily lives; there’s also an immersive “flyway” experience about migration, a 52-seat theatre, and a couple of small fish tanks. The centre perfectly accompanies a boat trip to any of the islands (joint tickets are available), and if you don’t have time to go on a cruise, then you can see some of what you’re missing out on here. Great for kids and worthwhile for adults too.