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During the settled spell of weather we have all enjoyed this week.. I set of on a sea journey to Ailsa Craig which lies ten miles off the coast of Ayrshire. Its not an undertaking for the inexperienced boaters so I dont recommend anyone trying it for themselves unless they know what they are doing.
My three companions went by Kayak as I went in a small 12 ft boat powered by an outboard engine. The kayaks were my rescue back up and not the other way around. If the wind blew up, they are far more seaworthy than my boat which can fill with water in breaking wave and swamp. The kayaks cannot fill with water and the paddlers can all roll back up if knocked over.
It takes approx three hours to paddle the ten miles to the island which is now a bird sanctuary. We were going to watch the wildlife, go round the island, land and then climb to the top. The day was perfect for our journey.
There are around 40,000 pairs of gannets nesting on the island and is the third largest gannet colony in the world. These are like huge streamlined seagulls that dive into the water, by folding their wings and dropping from a great height to catch fish deep under water.
The gannets nest of the south west facing cliffs which are almost 1000ft high. To give some scale to the cliffs at Eagle's Nest point.. you can just make out one of the kayaks on the sea just off these cliffs.
Photographs and words cannot describe the sight , sound and smell of so many gannets in the one place, you have to be there to experience it.
Every so often, a gannet will take off and head over the ocean.. followed by a couple of hundred of his relations.
Of course..its not only gannets that live there. Puffins are now returning to the island. They had all but left it a few years back, because rats were eating their eggs as soon as they were laid. Following a successful extermination of all the rats.. they are now returning and there are parhaps a couple of hundred nesting pairs now.
There are numerous gullemots, razor bills, kittiwakes and various gulls too. Here the gullimots and razor bills dance on the sea in front of a huge cave. To the left of the cave at water line is another of the kayaks to give some scale to the scene. The cliffs above the kayak have a nesting gannet on every square foot of rock ledge.
An journey to Ailsa Craig under your own steam is a true dream of an adventure.
If there is interest in the Ailsa Craig ... I can also post here, some of the background to the island which is very interesting, with its huge abandoned fog horns, railway line, gass works and granite quarry. The climb to the summit cairn is also a very worthy journey but steep and at parts.. quite exposed ..but well worth the effort.
