Nature at Loch Lomond Shores

We have beautiful woodland walks for you to enjoy exploring at Loch Lomond Shores.  You can access our woodland walk via the pathway opposite Sports Direct’s side entrance.  In Spring, look out for nesting birds and budding leaves.  In Summer, look out for bats and moths and in Autumn, keep a lookout for fungi and stunning autumn colours.  Find out more about the native woodland on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park website.

We have two beaches at Loch Lomond Shores.  Our main beach is accessed on the path past SEA LIFE Loch Lomond, while our other beach is in the promontory, which is accessed via the entrance to our woodland.  As well as a whole host of beach activities on our main beach, you can feed the ducks, skim stones or simply enjoy a picnic or BBQ using BBQ stands and picnic tables set on the beach.

From Loch Lomond Shores, you can see right across the loch to Ben Lomond, which is one of Scotland’s most climbed Munros and has a summit over 3000 ft. Close by, you can also see the iconic Maid of the Loch berthed just a short walk away.  A perfect spot for photographers all year round, Loch Lomond is also an ideal location to view the Aurora Borealis when conditions are right.  Aurora Watch is one organisation which provides alerts for Aurora activity.

In addition to easy walks around Loch Lomond Shores, Balloch is also part of the John Muir Way, a 134-mile walk from coast to coast, which allows you to enjoy sections of the walk from Balloch.  For those looking for something less arduous, they can stroll to Cameron House Hotel, or Balloch Park and the village of Balloch, so they can enjoy more of the local landscape.

The surrounding countryside of Loch Lomond is home to endangered red squirrels, different species of deer, badgers, stoats, pine martens and bats.  Otters can also be found lochside.  The Great Scottish Squirrel Survey takes place each September, if you want to take part.

You can find out more about what to look out for on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park website.

As well as being home to the Loch Lomond Bird of Prey Centre where you can see over 30 species of bird, we generally have ducks and swans all year round as well as visiting birds throughout the year.  In Winter, we have Greenland white-fronted geese as well as pink-footed geese, along with thrushes.  In Spring and Summer, Loch Lomond has Ospreys, woodland summer birds, and hirundines (the swallow and martin family).  While in Autumn we have thrushes, flocks of meadow pipits and gathering hirundines.  The RSPB Loch Lomond Reserve is an excellent place to visit for more information.

Loch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch and is around 36 kilometres long and 8 kilometres wide at its widest. It has a maximum depth of around 153 metres – to give some perspective, a Premier League football pitch is only 105 metres long! The Highland Boundary Fault runs through Loch Lomond and separates the Highlands and Lowlands. You can see the fault line from the top of Conic Hill.

Loch Lomond is home to 22 islands and 27 Islets. Many of the islands are privately owned, and three are protected by conservation agencies: Inchcailloch, Bucinch, and Ceardach. Loch Lomond’s Inchmurrin Island is the largest freshwater island in the British Isles. Inchconnachan is home to a colony of wallabies that were introduced to Loch Lomond in the 1940s by Lady Arran Colquhoun. Recently, unconfirmed reports estimate that around 60 of these creatures still inhabit the island.