Hands across the Sea

This photo is from inside Ayr's Carnegie Library, one of many which pay tribute to Andrew Carnegie's generosity in funding libraries in Scotland. Scotland gave the USA Andrew Carnegie; He gave us US dollars (amongst other things!)



This is part of the roof in one of the reading rooms which is used for meetings by Central Ayrshire Local Group of the RSPB. It may be an old building,but it's been well maintained and sympathetically adjusted to meet the modern library changing needs. It is nice to see the retention of older buildings for their original purpose is not totally lost.

Argyll

This photograph was taken this morning from the deck of a Royal Naval vessel in the Holy Loch off the River Clyde.

Our birding class had gone up to Faslane to meet up with a Police Sergeant who works there, but is also a well know birding enthusiast. He had arranged a 2.5 hour sail to allow us to get close to marine birds: he hadn't anticipated the weather we had. Not a large number of birds wanted to be flying in the conditions. However, in between the strong showers, we did get to see some.

Faslane itself is home to a huge population of Eider Ducks

We had also hoped to see Hen Harriers, black grouse and possibly short eared owls up on the moors, but they were being sensible and keeping their heads down.

But still a very enjoyable day!

Greenfinch

The bird feeders are being depleted at an incredible rate just now. The Greenfinches used the feeders for a while, then departed and now are back again.

We've also got a couple of Starlings who have managed to work out how to eat from the seed feeder, although the amount of energy used fluttering their wings as they feed must quickly burn up the food consumed.

The wood itself

I thought it might be a good idea to let you see what the wood itself looks like since it has been specific items you've seen up till now.

It is reasonably open with a good variety of tree species, so a large variety of birds are attracted.

Obviously this has both good points and bad, since some of the birds will prey on others. We witnessed this today in Culzean Country Park when we saw carrion crows kill two ducklings which were crossing open ground with their mother. She tried to protect them, but each time she turned to drive off one attacker another swooped behind her. Nature in the raw.

Wood of Cree 3

And yet one more waterfall to see. These, by the way, were before the recent rains came, but the burns were still carrying a reasonable volume of water.

Wood of Cree 2

The is a picture of more waterfalls further down the burn from the previous one. You can see how clear the water is in the stream below the waterfall.

Wood of Cree

Another picture from the Wood of Cree. A lovely little waterfall. I'll post a shot tomorrow from a different angle.

Bird Trip

Firstly, can I apologise for not posting for a few days, but I screwed up my desktop system right royally and I'm only starting to recover it.


Friday last we had a day out with a bird course in an RSPB reserve in Dumfries and Galloway. I managed to get a photo of this Great Tit, but we saw (and identified) a great many species.

We were on the course as we have just started birding and it is great to have people there who know where to look and what the various birds are.

I've a group of photos from the reserve (not birds) and I'll post a few in the following days.

Increasingly rare

Apologies for not posting yesterday - we went to a dinner last night and didn't get back till early this morning - straight to bed!

We're up North again and stopped in at the RSPB site at Boat of Garten to view the ospreys - very good they were too!

However we also managed to see an increasingly rare animal and even get a picture. Red squirrels (our native species) are increasingly being ousted by grey squirrels (the imported species) and many areas of Scotland no longer have any red squirrels left. There are considerable arguments going on as to the best way to ensure the red squirrel survival.

As an added bonus we also saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker eating peanuts from a feeder - most peculiar sight!

Udale Bay

Pink Footed Geese dominated the numbers and sound when we visited the hide here. Watching the geese trying to land without crashing into one of the others was fascinating.

However there were a good selection of Widgeon, Shelduck, Redshanks, Curlews and Dunlin.

Bad feather day?

Any other time I've seen a heron, I've always thought they looked very trim and smart, but this one seems to have got out of bed on the wrong side.

Birds of a feather .....

...... or in the case of this solitary moorhen, like their own company!

More Stormy weather

Today the weather is so wet even the ducks are taking shelter. So here's a second photograph from the same spot in Prestwick and at the same time of day as yesterday, but looking down the Firth of Clyde towards Ailsa Craig.

Ailsa Craig

Ailsa Craig from Dunure Harbour.