Category: North Lanarkshire Council

The Langriggs of Cumbernauld Village date back to medieval times. Once typical of early Scottish villages each property on Main Street had their own long narrow plots of land or ‘riggs.’ These Langriggs stretching out behind the homes were used by the villagers to carry out their particular trade. Some grew food or kept livestock, whilst others contained small outbuildings…

Mosswater Local Nature Reserve is owned by North Lanarkshire Council and the best way to access the reserve is by foot from Hope Park Drive, north of Blackwood round-about. After several years of work to improve this site for wildlife and people, Mosswater has been designated a Local Nature Reserve (LNR). The young woodland and floodplain grassland to the north…

Managed by North Lanarkshire Council, this wetland pond with its surrounding meadows and woodland is a great place for wildlife watching. Today the pond and woodlands are a ‘Special Site of Interest for Nature Conservation’ but were once an old farm and quarry that supplied materials to the nearby weaver’s village of Condorrat. There is a circular walk round the…

Set in the hills to the south-east of Cumbernauld, Palacerigg Country Park is owned by North Lanarkshire Council. Established in the early 1970s, Palacerigg has been developed around the objectives of conservation, environmental education and countryside recreation. More than 40 hectares of what was once a bleak upland farm have been planted with hundreds of thousands of native trees and shrubs.…

Managed by North Lanarkshire Council, Broadwood Loch is a man-made loch with surrounding woodland, grassland and lowland peat bog habitats. The wildlife ponds are home to damselflies and dragonflies and swallows can be seen swooping overhead in summer. There is a circular walk round the loch. Highlights Listen for the drumming sound of great spotted woodpeckers as you stroll through…

Managed by North Lanarkshire Council, this site has plenty of open greenspace as well as areas of wildflower meadow, spruce plantation and hedgerows. The park is full of history, and there’s plenty of wildlife to see from roe deer and badgers to butterflies and bees. There is a children’s playpark and a path leading to Andy Scott’s Arria sculpture. This…

Managed by North Lanarkshire Council, this mixed woodland features ancient trees alongside invasive sitka spruce. The land has a mining history and is also the site of one of Cumbernauld’s lowland raised bog habitats, with a number of ponds ideal for wildlife-watching. The woodland is a haven for insects such as hawk moths. Pine martens, once persecuted to near-extinction, are…

Managed by North Lanarkshire Council, Ravenswood is a rich mosaic of open marsh, meadow, grassland, wildlife ponds and woodland. You can spot wildlife all year-round including insects, song birds, diving birds and mammals. There is an ‘outdoor classroom’ at the main entrance, created by our Nature Ninjas and Wild Ways Well participants.   Highlights Listen for the cry of buzzards…