Birdwatching in Ayrshire
Welcome to the Ayrshire Birding web site. This page contains any local bits of news and gossip that might be of interest to birdwatchers in Ayrshire, locals and visitors. The Ayrshire Birding web site contains a wealth of information, articles and images on Ayrshire's birds and butterflies. To explore the site click on the various options on the floating menu on the left. To submit any news please contact the site maintainer (preferably by email).
Demise of the “Recent” Sightings
From October 2005 to April 2008, Mike Howes and I have been trying to keep a recent sightings section going that collates the various sources of bird sightings. However, for various reasons this hasn't been updated as often as we'd like — and there is nothing worse than going to a web site and seeing old stuff being peddled as “news”. We've therefore decided to bring it to an end. The old records will be accessible (for historical interest) from the Old Sightings menu option. I think Mike deserves praise for doing the tedious collating for so long; I had the easy part - I wrote a program to do the bulk of it!
Kevin Waite, 27 October 2008Updates to the Site
Some photos of the Grey Phalarope at Saltcoats for the Photo Gallery and Species List by Brian Orr and Angus Hogg. Brian Broadley has sent in the latest issue of the BTO Ayrshire Atlas Newsletter (PDF).
Kevin Waite, 24 October 2008SWT Guided Walk at Shewalton
The Scottish Wildlife Trust is holding a guided bird walk on Saturday 15th November at their Shewalton Wood reserve in Irvine. The walk is aimed at beginners and is completely free. Meet at the reserve car park (NS 337 356) at 10am. The walk should last for two hours. All are welcome (i.e. you don’t need to be a member of the SWT).
Iain Hamlin, 12 October 2008Updates to the Site
Eagle-eyed Craig in Illinois had spotted that a recent security update by our web host had resulted in a strange error appearing when trying to look at the photos in the Photo Gallery. This prompted me to make a change to the way the photos are handled. Now clicking on the thumbnail opens the image with a control bar allowing you to move through all the pictures. (For those of a web-disposition, this has the extra advantage of better image caching and search-engine indexing.) So please check out the new Photo Gallery and let me know what you think.
Kevin Waite, 3 October 2008Building Bird Monitoring in Scotland
BTO Scotland are currently running a project called Building Bird Monitoring in Scotland, in conjunction with SOC, which aims to help people with an interest in birds to contribute to bird surveys. We are running various training courses around Scotland, and as part of this we are having a local event in Ayrshire on Saturday 8th November at Monkton Community Church Hall. It is free to people who would like to take part in BTO/SOC surveys. The focus of this course will be the Bird Atlas and the Wetland Bird Survey. If you are interested please contact Robin Anderson at BTO Scotland: robin.anderson@bto.org or 01786-466555.
Graeme GarnerField Ornithologist
BTO Scotland
29 September 2008
Updates to the Site
North Ayrshire RSPB have provided details of their winter indoor programme and trips
(although unfortunately not in time for their first meeting and trip of the season). Tony Scott has sent in a summary of next
May's trip to the Auvergne. The Ayrshire Bird and Butterfly Report 2007 is now published: see
here for details on price and outlets.
Update to the Ayrshire BDAP
I have updated my article on the Ayrshire Biodiversity Action Plan to incorporate some very helpful feedback received on the initial draft (thanks to everyone who responded). Please send any comments you may have on the new version.
Dave Grant, 23 August 2008Garnock Flood Improvements
Local birders will shortly be working with the Scottish Wildlife Trust to draw-up a new management plan for the Garnock Floods reserve. Depending on the input of local birders, this new management plan may involve several major improvements to the site: for example, new, improved wader scrapes, a hide, better hydrological management, an improved grazing regime, etc. If anyone would like an input into the plans for the reserve, then please send me an email.
Iain Hamlin, 27 May 2008BTO Bird Atlas 2007-2011
This project aims to map the distribution and relative abundance of all Britain and Ireland's birds during both the winter (November-February) and summer (April-July) seasons. This is going to a tough, but rewarding job, to ensure complete coverage of Scotland. We hope that all Scottish birders will help out. Recording is relatively straightforward with both paper and online recording forms. Full details can be found at www.birdatlas.net or by contacting the Scottish organiser.
Bob Swann, Atlas Scottish Organiser, 20 July 2007Ayrshire Bird Rarities Committee (ABRC) Form
Should you be in the fortunate position of seeing a rare bird within the county then you'll be asked to submit a Sightings Form to the ABRC before the sighting is “accepted”. A PDF version of this form is available here for you to print, fill-in and then return to the Recorder. Using this standard form makes things a lot easier for the Recorder and the committee. For a list of what species the ABRC needs a form please consult the Ayrshire Species List looking for species marked with a § (Ayrshire rarity) or ‡ (Scottish/British rarity). This list is also published in the latest edition of the Ayrshire Bird Report.
Kevin Waite, 31 December 2006VitalWeb: Professional Web Development from Ayrshire, Scotland