Gartcosh Nature Reserve
A walk at Gartcosh train station.
Gartcosh Nature Reserve is just over ten minutes walk from Gartcosh . It was established in 2007 to protect the largest Scottish colony of great crested newts from nearby development.
This was the site of Gartcosh Steel Works (founded in 1865 as Woodneuk Iron Works) but after the works closed in 1986 the land lay undeveloped for long enough to create an important local ecosystem. Over twenty ponds now sit in the meadows ostensibly for the newts but they've also become a haven for dragonflies with over nine species known to live here. If we'd known this before visiting we might have gone on a warm summer evening rather than a damp November afternoon!
The path network is good and varied around the reserve with very little muddy areas even for our rainy season visit. We spent about forty minutes here and only explored about half of the reserve.
