It’s been a hectic few weeks for the staff at ART as we’ve been heavily involved in scale sampling, electrofishing, crayfish monitoring and worst of all, moving office at a really inconvenient time of the year. This was forced on us by new owners at Auchincruive who wanted our old office for conversion to housing. We were given about 2 months to find suitable accommodation and move, all during Covid 19 and restriction to our movements.
Anyone that knew our old office set up will realise that moving 20 years of accumulated paperwork, equipment, sheds and trees was a big time commitment but we’ve managed it and just in time. Our lease at Auchincruive ends tomorrow evening and we will be handing the keys back by lunchtime. While finding a suitable alternative space wasn’t easy, we have stuck out and found a perfect sport that we are all happy to move to.
Our new offices at Braeside, an idyllic location near Mauchline and a stone’s throw from the River Ayr. Brewster stands waiting on an invite inside….Hmmm, he will need to behave himself in future.
Our new office and storage are at Braeside near Mauchline. It will serve us perfectly and what we’ve lost in office space we have gained in storage but we have no garden so can’t continue to grow trees for planting out at the moment. We have several hundred trees we lifted and potted that will be planted this winter but after that, we may be looking for a small patch of ground to bring our seedlings on. At least now we have a large storage building that can accommodate all our equipment and will free up my home which often had Trust equipment cluttering up my driveway and taking over the kitchen.
This is the large office where Muir and Gillian grabbed the best two desk spaces while Struan and I were sorting out the storage.
The smaller office is treated to morning sunshine and is perfectly adequate fr two of us.
Our new phone line was wired up today and just needs BT to make the final connection and broadband will be a wireless service beamed in and designed to speed up connections in rural areas. Both phone and broadband may be operational by the end of play tomorrow with any luck.
As the location is beside a private residence and parking is limited, we are only accepting visitors by appointment but please do come and see us if you have anything you’d like to discuss. Give us a call and we will be happy to make you welcome.
Our old phone number will continue to work for a couple of weeks (diverted to mobiles) but after that the new number will be all we have so make a note of it. Mail will continue to reach us even if sent to the old address but please make a note of our new contact details and let anyone else know that you think may need them.
Ayrshire Rivers Trust, Braeside, Burnbrae Lodge, Near Mauchline. KA5 5 HE Tel: 01290 518130
Good luck in your new office!!
Please can you tell me if there are any coarse fish in the lower reaches. Walking the lower stretch above the tidal weir in Ayr, i could have sworn i saw dace or roach dimpling the water surface the other day opposite the College.
No there are no coarse fish in the River Ayr as far as we are aware other than a few perch in the middle and upper reaches but winter fishing for these fish is not permitted due to the risk to salmonids spawning.