King James VI of Scotland and several of his courtiers once spent an uncomfortable night in North Berwick, peering from behind gravestones as 94 witches and six warlocks celebrated a black mass in the harbourfront church of St Andrew. Times change, but the tactics don't.

Four hundred years on, the Royal Burgh is once again relying on a form of wizardry to lure visitors to its craggy corner of the Firth of Forth.

The £3m Seabird Centre, which opens on May 21 is the most sophisticated exploitation yet of the fetish for nature worship that has made "green" tourism one of the growth areas in the British holiday market. Its attractions include remote cameras, that will beam "broadcast-quality" images from the world's largest gannetry back to huge screens stationed in the centre's basement. Like the Royal snoopers of 1590, we can observe the rituals without intruding on them.

The centre is the brainchild of Bill Gardner, a North Berwick electronics expert who carved a small niche for himself in BBC history by devising the system that illustrates the Corporation's weather forecasts. It seemed to him the resort could do more to exploit its 90,000 neighbours on the Bass Rock than offer bumpy six-mile boat trips and puffin ashtrays.

Money and technology were the main impediments, but now funding from the Lottery has taken care of one and the microchip revolution the other. Two cameras have been planted on the Bass Rock's square mile of basalt and one on the smaller, nearby Fidra. Viewers will be able to rotate and zoom in or out as gannet behaviour dictates. The centre's technical team has leaned heavily on the expertise of an Alaskan organisation, Seemorewildlife.com, which periodically pumps live pictures of bears and eagles on to the internet.

"For the first time ever people will be able to enjoy a close-up, comfortable view of this amazing bird," says centre director Tom Brock. Amazing? Gannets? The thought may not have struck you before, but don't take his or my word for it. Dr Bryan Nelson spent the best part of three years living on the 350ft-high basalt plug and retains a deep respect for Britain's largest seabird.

The zoologist found that millennia of breeding on overcrowded ledges has forced gannets to evolve a sign language. "Tapping the centre of the nest with the beak while stretching the wings and calling loudly means 'I am the owner of this site,' " explains Dr Nelson. Other phrases in the gannet lexicon include neck-stretching ("I am about to fly off for a short while") and beak-fencing ("Welcome home, dear ").

Tele-viewers bored with all this domesticity can always savour the gannets' 70mph power dives into the Firth of Forth. The centre has more than ornithologists' hopes riding on it. Strategically poised 20 miles east of Edinburgh between two sandy bays and several fine golf courses, North Berwick has survived the flight to overseas sun better than most: day trippers still love the pillared High Street and the ladders that dangle like frayed stockings between back gardens and beaches.

Nostalgia is a limited market, though, and the centre's sponsors, which include East Lothian Council, are gambling that their initiative will nudge North Berwick back into something like the tourist mainstream. Brock predicts that the prospect of studying gannets (and kittiwakes, guillemots, puffins and the rest ) will draw a further 60,000 to North Berwick over the next 12 months. His confidence is shared by the Inver ness-based Tourism and Wildlife Forum.

"Never forget that many Americans and Europeans live hundreds of miles from a coast," advises its Scottish manager, Duncan Bryden. He estimates that by 2003, marine wildlife tourism will be worth an annual £90m to the Scottish economy. The Centre's building itself, designed by Edinburgh architects Simpson & Brown, is clad in sinuous stone and larch and resembles a bird's wing or a tadpole, depending on your point of view. Before viewing the video screens, visitors can enjoy exhibitions and specially-shot seabird films in a 55-seater auditorium. Afterwards, they can wander out into the immediately adjacent precincts of the infamous and now ruined St Andrew's church.

Here they can reflect that James VI was the first man to take an interest in the wildlife of the Bass Rock. Sailing back from Denmark with his new queen, Anne, he was startled to see a sieve manned by hares float from the shadow of the island. A hypersensitive soul, he was still enough of a zoologist to work out later that they had probably been witches in disguise.

Birdwatching Britain

RSPB reserves

The RSPB has 140 reserves. Tel: 01767 681284/ www.rspb.org.uk

Loch Garten

Where: Abernethy Forest, near Aviemore, Scotland (01479 831476).

Birds: Ospreys, Scottish crossbills, crested tits, red squirrels.

Times: Open daily 10am - 6pm, April to August.

Cost: Adults £2.50, concessions £1.50, children 50p, family tickets £5.

Bempton Cliffs

Where: Cliff Lane, Bempton, East Yorkshire. Tel: 01262 851179.

Birds: Best UK breeding seabird reserve, more than 200,000 species including puffins, gannets, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and fulmars between April and mid-August.

Times: Open March to November 10am - 5 pm; December to February, weekends only 9.30am - 4pm.

Cost: Adults £3, children £1.50.

Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

Widfowl and Wetlands has nine reserves. Tel 01453 890333.

Welney

Where: Hundred Foot Bank, Welney, nr Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. Tel: 01353 860711.

Birds: Hooper swans, avocets, common cranes and sandmartins.

Times: Open 10am - 5pm in summer, 4pm in winter.

Cost: Adults £3.50, concessions £2.75, children £2, family

ticket £9.

Slimbridge

Where: Gloucestershire. Tel: 01453 890333.

Birds: Bevick's swans, white-fronted geese, kingfishers, lapwings, waders and exotic winterfowl.

Times: Open daily 9.30am - 5pm.

Cost: Adults £5.75, concessions £4.75, children £3.50, family tickets £15.

Wildlife Trust reserves:

The Wildlife Trust lists more than 2,000 sites. Tel: 020 7921 5400.

Isle of Eigg

Where: Scotland. Tel: 0131-312 7765.

Birds: Golden Eagle, Redthroated diver, snipe and otters.

Times: Open 10am - 5pm.,

Cost: Free.

Skomer Island

Where: West Wales. Tel: 01437 765462.

Birds: Puffins, buzzards, short-eared owls.

Times: Open daily 10am - 6pm.

Cost: Adults £6, 16-18 year olds £3, children free. Return boat trip from Matin's Haven: adults £6, children £5.