Waxwing, ©Angus Hogg, 2017

Shag, Lady Isle, ©Dave Grant, 2017

Great White Egret, Hunterston, ©Angus Hogg, 2017

Glossy Ibis, Beith, ©David Lynn, 2017

Now that Spring is over and we are enjoying the summer rain (hmm!), it’s time to update the Photo Gallery with the latest submissions. Again wetland birds were the stars (Dave Grant’s Shag on her nest on Lady Isle is particularly striking) but we also have the incoming migrants and even a late Waxwing. Angus’s lovely photos of the Great White Egret at Hunterston made it onto the Ayrshire Species List.

My thanks go to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg, David Lynn, Jamie McPike and Bob Ross for sending in photos for the Photo Gallery.

The Arran Bird Report for 2016 is now available. It can be obtained from:

It is priced £5.00 + £1.50 p&p

Tony Scott has sent in the latest issue of the The Stonechat, the SOC Ayrshire Branch‘s newsletter.   You can get it here .  Note: this is a 12MB PDF document as it contains a lot of high-quality images.

You may remember the project to describe all the best places to watch birds in Ayrshire.  That was over a decade ago (!) and things change.  So it was great to receive an update from Mike Howes for the entry for Craigdullyeart and Corsencon in East Ayrshire now that access restrictions have been removed after the completion of open-cast mining.  If you have any updates for other sites please let me know and I’ll update them.  My thanks to Mike for sending it in.

Waxwing, ©Angus Hogg, 2017

October Chiffchaff, Crosshill, ©Angus Hogg, 2017

Glaucous Gull, Troon, ©Dave Grant, 2017

Little Grebes, Rozelle, ©Jamie McPike, 2017

Water Pipit and Meadow Pipit, Pow Burn, ©Angus Hogg, 2017

It’s time to update the Photo Gallery with the latest submissions. While most are wetland birds, we did have a small bunch of Waxwings around and a late Chiffchaff to brighten up urban birding. Down at the coast we had a few Little Egrets, Water Pipits and (for Ayrshire) rarer stuff like Velvet Scoters. Angus Hogg managed to get a photo of a Water Pipit and Meadow Pipit together as an identification aide: but which is which? And winter wouldn’t be the same without some interesting gulls: Dave Grant managed to get some nice photos of a juvenile Glaucous Gull on one of the rare days when the sun shone! Sadly, no new photo entries to the Ayrshire Species List.

My thanks go to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg and Jamie McPike for sending in photos for the Photo Gallery.

Green Sandpiper, ©Jamie McPike, 2016

Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits, ©Angus Hogg, 2016

Goldcrest, ©Goldcrest, 2016

Female Goshawk, ©Angus Hogg, 2016

Bridled Guillemot, ©Dave Grant, 2016

It’s time to update the Photo Gallery with the latest submissions. Jamie McPike makes it two-in-a-row in getting an entry onto the Ayrshire Species List with his photo of a Green Sandpiper at Doonfoot. Angus Hogg has a pair of photos from somewhere in South Ayrshire: one is of a Jay collecting an acorn; the second is of a female Goshawk about to collect said Jay! He also sent in a nice photo of our two Godwit species to help hone your ID skills. Finally, Dave Grant’s photo of a Goldcrest is amazing given this little creatures aren’t known to pose for a shot. Dave also sent in a few pictures from his trip to Ailsa Craig, include one of a Bridled Guillemot in the colony – an ornithological game of hunt the spectacles.

My thanks go to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg and Jamie McPike for sending in photos for the Photo Gallery.

Tony Scott has sent in the latest issue of the The Stonechat, the SOC Ayrshire Branch‘s newsletter.   You can get it here .  Note: this is a 14MB PDF document as it contains a lot of high-quality images.

The Summer 2016 issue of The Gannet, the club newsletter of the RSPB Central Ayrshire Local Group is now available: click here to download it .

The 15th of August edition of ITV’s Border Life programme features field work on Ailsa Craig by Dave Grant (birder of this parish) as part of his Ph.D research into anti-microbial resistance in gulls (I think I got that right).  The whole programme is interesting but you can skip to the exciting gull footage (Surely some mistake? – Ed.) at around the 4 minute mark.