July 2024 Photos

Little Stint, Doonfoot, ©Hayden Fripp, 2024

Little Gull, Maidens, ©Hayden Fripp, 2024

Tree Pipit, Loch Doon, ©David Lynn, 2024

Reed Warbler, Loch of the Lowes, ©Dave Grant, 2024

With birds quietening down after a busy Spring, I can catch up with submissions to the Photo Gallery. As well as a lovely collection of great photos, Hayden managed to also get an entry in the Ayrshire Species List with his picture of a White-billed Diver. I’m sure he won’t mind me saying it isn’t going to win any photographic prizes but it will probably convince the various records committees! (And for those of us still needing this species, it leaves us very envious!) We have photos for most of the species on the Ayrshire List but there are gaps that could be filled, e.g. anyone got any old slides of Roseate Tern from Lady Isle? Or a nice picture of that family of Hawfinches that kept appearing on your bird table…? Please send them in.

My thanks to Hayden Fripp, Dave Grant, Angus Hogg and David Lynn for sending them in.

May 2024 Photos

Hovering Kestrel, ©Dave Grant, 2024

Sanderling flock, ©Dave Grant, 2024

Male Black Grouse, ©Dave Grant, 2024

Little Egret, Troon, ©Bruce Kerr, 2024

Cuckoo, ©Angus Hogg, 2024

After the excitement of a certain New World visitor it’s back to our bread-and-butter birds, and what better way to pass a wet Sunday afternoon than to update the Photo Gallery. My thanks to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg and Bruce Kerr for sending them in.

Back in Time

Recently I was looking through the web-site of the Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society and came across a number of documents published by the Society about birds in Ayrshire stretching back to 1948. I thought these might be of interest to readers of this site and so, with kind permission of the Society, I have included links to them below. Note, these are pretty big PDF documents.

Some Observations on the Status and Distribution of Birds in Ayrshire, 1949-1960 by R. Macalpine Ramage.
Birds of Ailsa Craig by John McCrindle.
A Check-List of the Birds of Ayrshire. 1966 by G.A. Richards.
The Wild Birds of Ayrshire Today. 1948 by Cmdr. G. Hughes-Onslow.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

A bit of excitement as Ayrshire’s first Yellow-rumped Warbler (aka Myrtle Warbler) turned up in a birder’s garden in Kilwinning. Cue the twitch. It was surreal standing with a bunch of birders in a back garden watching it while the neighbours were putting out their bins (and not the Leica kind). Here’s the first photo received, this from Dave Grant. Expect to see more of this obliging bird…

Dave has put together an identification sheet from photos taken of the Kilwinning bird that will help you should you join the twitch. Click on the icon below.

The Myrtle Gallery

As expected, more photos of this obliging bird have come in. My thanks to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg, Bruce Kerr and David Lynn

Yellow-rumped Warbler, ©Dave Grant, 2024

Yellow-rumped Warbler, ©Angus Hogg, 2024

Yellow-rumped Warbler, ©Dave Grant, 2024

Yellow-rumped Warbler, ©Angus Hogg, 2024

Yellow-rumped Warbler, ©David Lynn, 2024

Yellow-rumped Warbler, ©Bruce Kerr, 2024

Yellow-rumped Warbler, ©David Lynn, 2024

Yellow-rumped Warbler and friend, ©David Lynn, 2024

Ayrshire Bird Report 2021

Welcome to the 2021 Ayrshire Bird Report. With the completion of yet another bird report, and it seems like we might even manage to get the report back on track by 2025. Of course, none of this would be possible without help from a great variety of people, and particular thanks must go to our local recorder, Fraser Simpson, for his assistance with numerous queries regarding records.

The report is available for free as a PDF download by clicking here.

Angus Hogg and Dave Grant, Editors

Ayrshire Bird Report 2020

Welcome to the 2020 Ayrshire Bird Report: the COVID Special Edition. With the completion of yet another bird report, and it seems like we might even manage to get the report back on track by 2025. Of course, none of this would be possible without help from a great variety of people, and particular thanks must go to our local recorder, Fraser Simpson, for his assistance with numerous queries regarding records.

The report is available for free as a PDF download by clicking here.

Angus Hogg and Dave Grant, Editors

January 2024 Photos

A quick update of the Photo Gallery seemed in order given we have a new entry for both the Ayrshire Species List and the Rarer Birds List thanks to Andrew Russell‘s photos of the adult White-tailed Eagle that has been frequenting Hunterston (except when I’m there!). My thanks to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg, Bruce Kerr, David Lynn and Andrew Russell for sending them in.

November 2023 Photos

A dark, dreich day meant I had no excuse but to catch up on submissions to the Photo Gallery. My thanks to Dave Grant, Bruce Kerr and David Lynn for sending them in.

Red-throated Diver Recovery

Red-throated Diver, Beith, ©David Lynn, 2023

David Lynn came across this “very feisty individual” at Loanhead quarry in Beith and managed to catch it. Hoping it was just bedraggled he took it to the nearby Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust. Happily, after some TLC it made a full recovery and was successfully returned to the Clyde.

Storm Petrel Ringing Recovery

I recently bumped into a fellow dog-walker, Vivienne Glew and her dog Baillie, who told me that she had recovered a moribund Storm Petrel that had dropped into the sea near Irvine harbour mouth. While the bird didn’t last long, Vivienne did notice that it was ringed. She sent the details off to the Natural History Museum and the BTO returned the following ringing info:

Ringing Scheme: London
Ring Number: 2694931
Species of bird: Storm Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus)

This bird was ringed by D Manley as age at least 1 year, sex unknown on 12-Aug-2015 00:30:00 at Annagh Head, Bellmullet, Mayo, Ireland (54deg 14min N -10deg -7min W).
It was found 2883 days after it was ringed, 379 km from the ringing site, direction ENE.

My thanks to Vivienne and Baillie for such an interesting chat.

Ayrshire Birding

For people interested in wild birds in Ayrshire