Birds in their summer finery have kindly been submitted to the Photo Gallery. My thanks go to Dave Grant and Mark Turnbull for sending in the latest batch.
August 2025 Photos
Great Bustard?
You might have noticed in the Ayrshire Rarities List a mention of a dead Great Bustard from 1895 washed up on Irvine beach: our only, and probably last, sighting of this species. I had a dim recollection of this bird making its way to the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock, so with nothing better to do, I decided to see if they still had it.
Continue readingJune 2025 Photos
Dave Grant tells me that the Osprey he saw over Broomhill (see above) was ringed as a female chick in 2019 in Sutherland. It’s only been seen once before, around the Blair Atholl area.
A lovely, varied batch of photos has been submitted to the Photo Gallery. I find it fascinating how, since this site started over a quarter of a century ago, the quality of the photos has improved by orders of magnitude. We’ve gone from copies taken from slides where the caption is “Yes, that could be a bird” to stunning digital images. We’ve also got images that show the bird’s character and others that are just beautifully composed art. However, that doesn’t mean you have to be a top-flight photographer or have photos of mega-rareities to be considered: a snap on your phone of a Starling having a bath is always going to catch my eye. So, please send your photos in.
My thanks go to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg and Mark Turnbull for sending in the latest batch.
Western Sandpiper
We all know the story of the ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan; well, something similar happened in Maidens. The Little Stint that has been hanging around for months has changed into a Western Sandpiper following subsequent re-identification. This is a new species for Ayrshire and resulted in a bit of a twitch. My thanks go to Dave Grant, David Lynn and Kevin McCormick for sending in their pictures for the Photo Gallery.
March 2025 Photos
With Spring officially here, it’s good to clear my inbox ready for the usual deluge of breeding season bird photos. My thanks go to Dave Grant, David Lynn and Kevin McCormick for sending in their pictures for the Photo Gallery.
† Update on 7-Jun-25: this photo by Kevin McCormick was originally published as of a Little Stint. In light of the subsequent evaluation, it is now updated to be of the Western Sandpiper.
Ayrshire Rarities Checklist Updated
Angus Hogg has fully revised the Ayrshire Rarities Checklist to bring it up to date. In addition, he has written a comprehensive article giving the current state, the changes since the last revision, and what we can expect in the future. This is essential reading for anyone interested in our rarer birds. The article and checklist can also be found on the Species List option of the menu at the top of the page.
Ayrshire Bird Report 2022
The Ayrshire Bird Report for 2022 is now available online. This year saw first records for Ayrshire for Cattle Egret, and the first Ayrshire breeding records of Red Kite for over a hundred years. The year was also remembered for seabird colonies being out of bounds due to avian flu, resulting in a number of colonies not getting the attention that they normally received. The report starts with some interesting articles on the ongoing work with Lesser Whitethroat by Tom Byars, the Birds of New Cumnock Parish by Mike Howes, and the status of rare birds with less than 20 records by Angus Hogg. This is followed by the systematic list with records from over 200 observers.
The report is available for free as a PDF download by clicking here.
Angus Hogg and Dave Grant, Editors
January 2025 Photos
At this time of year the light can either be grim or stunning. So here are some pictures taken by David Grant and David Lynn when the light was in their favour. And I must apologise to Bruce Kerr and Hayden Fripp for missing out some pictures they sent at the beginning of August last year: especially as Hayden’s picture of a Quail also made it onto the Ayrshire Species List.
The full set of photos are in the Photo Gallery. My thanks to all of them for sending them in.
Birds of New Cumnock Parish: an Update 2010–2024
Michael Howes
January 2025
The publication of Birds of New Cumnock Parish by James ‘Jimmy’ Begg in 2010 was a welcome addition to Ayrshire birding literature. Being of the ‘old school’ I always enjoy reading small pamphlets and books that cover local birdwatching. These often include insights about changes to bird distribution, populations, breeding ranges and habitats not always easily included in larger, more general reports.
Blairbowie – Just One Field
Angus Hogg,
November 2024
Arriving in Ayrshire in 1969, with a somewhat vague interest in birds, my move to Crosshill in 1970 took me into an area which I quickly realised was home to a rich diversity of wildlife and, more particularly, birdlife. I could see and hear all sorts of farmland species from my house, from secretive Spotted Flycatchers breeding in the garden, to jingling Corn Buntings at nearby Garpin Farm. However, I soon became aware of a rather special location which I could watch from a minor road (B7045) between Kirkmichael and Minishant – Blairbowie.
