Girvan sits inside the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere, and it has a gannet island ten miles offshore. For a small town, the wildlife on the doorstep is exceptional — and most of it costs nothing to see.
Sea and shore
- Gannets — Ailsa Craig holds in the region of 40,000 breeding pairs, which is well over a hundred thousand birds at the height of the season, and since avian flu hit Bass Rock and St Kilda it is thought to be the largest gannet colony in the British Isles. You do not need a boat: watch them diving off Girvan beach on any summer day.
- Puffins, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes — Ailsa Craig by boat, May to July. Puffins leave earliest, so come early if they are the point. The island's puffins were wiped out by rats and returned after an eradication campaign in 1991.
- Grey seals — Girvan harbour, the rocks at Ainslie Park, and around Ailsa Craig. Do not feed them.
- Harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphin and basking shark — the Firth in summer, with the Ailsa Craig crossing much the best chance. Basking sharks are the one people remember.
- Waders and wildfowl — Ballantrae's shingle spit and lagoon, the Stinchar estuary and Turnberry Bay, best in winter. Terns nest on the open shingle at Ballantrae in spring and summer, so keep dogs on leads there.
- Otters — the Stinchar and Girvan rivers at dawn, and Loch Trool. Patience required; most sightings are luck.
Hills and forest
- Red deer — Galloway Forest Park, with the Red Deer Range on the Queen's Way near Clatteringshaws the reliable place.
- Wild goats — the Wild Goat Park on the same road.
- Black grouse — the viewing platform on the Carrick Forest Drive near Loch Riecawr, early morning in spring for the lek. This is a genuinely special thing to see and worth the alarm clock.
- Red squirrels — the hide at Kirroughtree is among the easiest places in Britain to see them, and the woods at Culzean hold them too.
- Roe deer, foxes, buzzards and ravens — the old coach road above Kennedy's Pass.
Guided
The Girvan Geology Group and the Biosphere run guided walks through the season. The RSPB has reserves at Ailsa Craig, reachable only by boat, and at the Mull of Galloway, which has a visitor centre with live cameras on the cliff nests.
Watching well
Take binoculars — this is not a place where things come close. Wear muted colours, move slowly and speak quietly; small groups see far more than large ones. Keep dogs on leads near ground-nesting birds and livestock, and never approach seals hauled out on rocks.
See photography for the kit side of it.
