Bays of Bute outing with beach clean – 6th Dec 2025

The plan for the day was to birdwatch at 3 bays, Kilchattan, St. Ninian’s and Ettrick and to finish with a beach clean round the Ettrick hide.  The weather was overcast, with a little light rain, but warm for the time of year and so our party of 12 headed out at 10am to Kilchattan Bay.

Low tide was at 6am, so the tide was well in, leaving little beach available to the birds.  Here we saw a selection of ducks – Mallard, Wigeon and Eiders, of waders – Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Curlew and a splendid Slavonian Grebe.  On the drive from Kilchattan Bay to St. Ninian’s one car spotted 3 Buzzards and another car saw a Sparrowhawk all in the area around Kingarth Hotel.  Further along, a Great Egret was seen flying south.

On arrival at St. Ninian’s Bay, the tide was high enough to cut off the peninsula, so we were restricted to the saltmarsh area.  Here we saw, amongst others, 4 Grey Herons, a Great Northern Diver offshore, Turnstone and a couple of Lapwing.  On walking back through Straad, 2 Redwings and a Song Thrush were spotted.

By the time we reached Ettrick Bay, where we had a brief stop for a packed lunch and coffee, the tide was fully in.  We did manage to see Ringed Plovers, Red-breasted Mergansers, Black-headed Gulls, and more Curlew and Redshank.  From here we headed to the Ettrick Hide where the group enthusiastically took part in cleaning the area round the hide. At this point the weather was beginning to take a turn for the worse, so we headed home in the rain, thankful that it had stayed dry for our outing.

We’d like to thank Beachwatch Bute for the loan of litter pickers and bags for the final part of our day, and in particular Sandra and Sue for their advice.

44 Species were seen today: