We’ve picked out just a few of our amazing animals – along with where and when to see them – to help you explore our wild places and discover the wild things that call them home!
Basking Sharks
When to see them: Summer
Head for Ayrshire’s coasts between May and September and you might just find yourself sharing its waters with the second biggest fish on the planet – the mighty basking shark. Don’t worry – these gentle giants only feed on plankton, but seeing them glide through the water, mouths agape, is a humbling, epic experience.
Bottlenose dolphins
When to see them: Spring/summer
One of the best places in Europe to see dolphins, Scotland is home to a large number of these playful creatures. Seeing them frolic in the Firth of Clyde is a magical experience.
Common seals
When to see them: Year-round
While you can see these beautiful creatures sunning themselves on the coasts or gliding through the later year-round, undertake an adventure between late September and late November and you might just catch a glimpse of a pup! When it comes to cuteness, these beauties take the prize for Ayrshire wildlife!
Golden eagles
When to see them: Year-round
One of the UK’s largest bird of prey, these giants of the sky have a wingspan of more than two metres! Watching one of these majestic birds soaring through the sky before diving and snatching prey from the sea is a breath-taking experience.
Orca
When to see them: Summer
Catching a glimpse of the “whale of the kingdom of the dead” as it scythes through the sea is something you won’t easily forget. These massive mammals – the largest member of the dolphin family, despite their name – are rare but can be spotted off the shores of Ayrshire in summer. Ayrshire wildlife doesn’t get much wilder!
Red deer
When to see them: Autumn
The red deer stag – majestic, noble and powerful – is one of the undeniable symbols of Scotland. Explore Ayrshire’s forests in the autumn for the chance to see in an incredible (and violent) spectacle as the stags battle for dominance and the right to mate with the females – but be sure to keep your distance!
Red squirrel
When to see them: Year-round
Home to 75% of the UK’s population, there’s no better place than Scotland to see these pretty wee animals. Much smaller (and fluffier!) than their grey counterparts, you can spot them dashing around the forests of Ayrshire year-round. Taking a trip to seek them out? Bring hazelnuts – these wee beauties love them!
Puffins
When to see them: Spring
These comical wee birds bring their lovably clownish faces back to Ayrshire each spring, where they never fail to enthral visitors with their antics. Once widespread on our wee neighbour Ailsa Craig, (there was said to be at least a quarter of a million breeding pairs in the 1860s!), rats brought to the island by shipwrecks devastated the colony. By 1935, Puffins were all but extinct on the island. The offending rodents were removed in the early 1990s and today Ailsa Craig is once again home to a burgeoning colony (or puffinry, circus, burrow, or improbability) of puffins.
Like what you see?
Make Troon Yacht Haven your berth and enjoy all this and more around the marina.
