diff --git a/requirements/locks/README.md b/requirements/locks/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..21d72631b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements/locks/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# ⚠️
+
+This directory contains auto-generated `conda-lock` environment files for each `python` distribution supported by `iris`.
+
+Please **do not** manually edit these files as they will be overwritten by the `refresh-lockfiles` GHA CI workflow.