Files on this page available as between 6 (cropped images) and 25 Megapixels.
The pictures on this page were taken from PS Waverley, from Turnberry Point, and on two trips organised by the Argyll Bird Club.
Hover your mouse pointer over the images to see what they are. Click for larger images.
Ailsa Craig is owned by the Marquis of Ailsa. It is now an RSPB Reserve, but there are no facilities of any kind on the island (the cottage is private). It is difficult of access in a northerly wind, and has rough walking, even round the coast. It is not normally possible to walk all the way round, as your way is blocked by a sea cave on the western side. At very high tides, it is difficult to get past the northern fog horn.
To reach the gannet colony is not for the faint-hearted. It demands very rough walking and climbing, across slippery grass and through chest-high bracken in the summer, with no paths, but across boulder-strewn scree, sometimes on all fours over dangerously steep slopes, and is not recommended.
To see the 40,000 pairs of gannets, it is easier to take a boat trip from Girvan round the island, rather than landing.
Since the rats have been eradicated, the puffins are coming back, and other birds have had increased breeding success. About 100 puffins have been seen in the summer of 2007.
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