A great variety of birds use the Loch as a breeding and wintering site which is home to wigeon, teal, pochard, goldeneye, water rail, mallard, tufted duck, geese, cormorants, great crested and little grebe, grey heron, grasshopper warbler and reed bunting.
In winter, Hooper and Mute Swans can be seen on the Loch, occasionally joined by Bewicks, and pairs of Mutes nest in the dense bull rushes that fringe the water.
Rare winterers such as scaup and arctic tern are also occasionally sighted, as are otters, which have returned to the loch in recent years.
All around the cottages bird song can be heard. Song thrushes are seen regularly as are woodpeckers. And Roe deer are constant visitors in the grounds.
The grounds are planted with species rhododendrons and there are ancient oak, birch, ash and iconic Scots pines.
In order to protect this rare habitant and historic landscape, fishing in this nature reserve is not permitted.
Martnaham Wood is an ancient woodland site with a canopy dominated by oak and birch, abundant hazel in the understorey, and a typical woodland flora including sanicle, bluebell and dog’s mercury. The woodland supports a wide variety of fungi, mosses and liverworts, including the only Scottish record of the mushroom Mycena picta, formerly thought extinct in Great Britain.