Dec 28th Swan Lake

Swans are such elegant and beautiful creatures and mute swans in particular are abundant on our local estuaries and inland waters. They are inquisitive as they are used to being fed in places. But when they are resting or sleeping as this one is they are still a thing of beauty. In Xmas past they would have been the main bird on the table of the upper classes, nothing as common as turkey for them.

Mute Swan

Dec 13th Stair Weir

Another crisp day but the forecast for the middle of week is a bit grey and damp so take advantage of it. I think the birds are confused with the unseasonable mind weather, the blackbirds are chasing each other around the garden and a song thrush was singing its heart out at the top of a tree. Still a lovely day to walk the River Ayr. The weir at Stair is a salmon leap but they should be out of season and none to be seen today.

Stair weir

May 9th River Ayr the salmon are moving

The salmon have started to enter the rivers of south west Scotland. There are no reported catches yet for this River Ayr and looking at these conditions it will need some heavy water to get them moving. But they have been seen just upriver from this spot (near Enterkine viaduct) leaping the weir at Stair (the weir features in a winter snap of the day in this blog). Soon be time to dust off the salmon gear.

River Ayr salmon are here