Water Vole Trapping (Updated 23/09)

It has been around 10 weeks since we stocked Darley and Slaphouse Burns with water voles. Since then mink tracks appeared on a raft on the middle Slaphouse about 3 weeks ago and today on 2 rafts on a tributary of the Darley Burn. Despite our best efforts we failed to...

More Trout Photos

Further to Brian’s post, I thought I’d add some photos of trout caught on two small burns near the source of the River Ayr last week. The first two are from the same burn but different locations and they couldn’t be more different in appearance. The...

A few fishy photos ~ updated

A few snaps of fish caught whilst electrofishing. The first three photos are from upper Stinchar burns, the lower two from an Ayr tributary. The picture below shows two salmon parr but there is a major difference between them. The bottom one is more highly coloured as...

Loch Doon waterfalls

I was in the Loch Doon area today; and what a wild day it was. I always like to have a look at the Carrick Lane waterfall which is located just above Loch Doon. It is a scene as highlandesque as you will get in Ayrshire! The burns were big today and the Carrick Lane...

Moving on

It was with much regret that I had to inform Peter Kennedy, Chairman of ART, that I would be leaving the Trust at the end of the year to take a position as Biologist to the Spey Foundation. I have throroughly enjoyed my time in Ayrshire but when the opportunity of a...

Purclewan Burn improves

The Purclewan Burn, a Doon tributary which joins just downstream of Dalrymple is a typical Ayrshire lowland burn. It flows through mainly agricultural ground and for many years suffered from diffuse pollution from farm stock access, dairy farming and road run-off. In...