JTweedie
Well-known member
I had the day off work today and went to Ayr. I went to the harbour area first and spotted several Eider, Cormorants, Shags, Goldeneye and lots of gulls - Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed, Herring and Black-headed. I then saw a diver in the water but it kept coming up and then diving very quickly so I never got a very good view of it. I decided I'd try and get a better view later, so walked south along the beach towards an area that is mixed rock and sand.
In the scrub at the top of the beach, I saw Rock Pipits, Meadow Pipits, Twite (flock of about 20 of these), Stonechats, Pied and Grey Wagtails, Skylark. Further out on the beach, I saw several waders, including Redshank, Curlew, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Greenshank as well as Teal, Whooper and Mute Swans on the water and a Red-breasted Merganser in a pool. While I was walking among the rock pools, Carrion Crows were busy flying up then dropping clams onto the rocks to open them, sometimes only a couple of metres away from me, it was almost like they were showing off!
Later in the afternoon, I walked back to the harbour and managed to get a better sighting of the diver, this time joined by a pal - two Red-throated Divers! Also saw a Purple Sandpiper on the rocks, and a Common Seal popped it's head out of the water to do it's nosy!
All in all, a fantastic day, and I'll head back down in a couple of months to see Black Guillemot, Gannet and hopefully some terns and shearwaters.
In the scrub at the top of the beach, I saw Rock Pipits, Meadow Pipits, Twite (flock of about 20 of these), Stonechats, Pied and Grey Wagtails, Skylark. Further out on the beach, I saw several waders, including Redshank, Curlew, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Greenshank as well as Teal, Whooper and Mute Swans on the water and a Red-breasted Merganser in a pool. While I was walking among the rock pools, Carrion Crows were busy flying up then dropping clams onto the rocks to open them, sometimes only a couple of metres away from me, it was almost like they were showing off!
Later in the afternoon, I walked back to the harbour and managed to get a better sighting of the diver, this time joined by a pal - two Red-throated Divers! Also saw a Purple Sandpiper on the rocks, and a Common Seal popped it's head out of the water to do it's nosy!
All in all, a fantastic day, and I'll head back down in a couple of months to see Black Guillemot, Gannet and hopefully some terns and shearwaters.
