From dawn to dusk, from January to December, in fair weather and in foul, its open, coastal landscape and wide skies are full of the sights and sounds of nature – and very little else.

Most famous of all Caerlaverock’s wild visitors are the vast flocks of Barnacle Geese that return each October from the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard to stay until April on the Solway’s saltflats and merses. Since the 1940’s, this population has recovered from fewer than 500 birds to more than 25,000.