You can’t keep a good plant down…….. (or weed come to that!!)

This will be my last posting for a short while. Service will be resumed as soon as possible!

A nice easy misplaced quote in the title – especially if you remember what day yesterday was!

We’re looking out from Ayr Beach at the mouth of the Doon past Greenan Castle and the Heads of Ayr.

Took these shots down at Ayr Beach this morning with a fairly strong wind gusting about and the Firth of Clyde showing white horses……

…… and the birds trying to cope!

It is actually quite difficult to get a photograph of a Coal Tit at the feeder since they tend to dash in, grab a seed and dash off again. We’re preparing for the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch this Saturday. Hopefully it will be a little better than last year when the birds chose that day not to bother coming to our feeders!

We’re feeling quite pleased that this little fellow keeps coming back; at least we think it’s same ‘fellow’.

I’m sure that Jackie will allow me the luxury of occasionally posting photographs from her bailiwick!

We were out looking at birds yesterday at Hogganfield Park yesterday. We had hoped to catch sight of a ruddy duck which is another import from the USA. We didn’t see any!!

If you look closely at the first photograph you will see that a good part of the water is actually solid – birds landing on ice are really quite amusing.

I haven’t bothered to enumerate the birds, but I specifically took the second photograph to let you see why the tufted duck gots it’s name.

This monument at Kingswell Bridge between the A77 and the M77 is a group C Listed architectural feature.

I used to drive past it on an almost daily basis and eventually decided to do a little digging on it

The monument is a memorial to members of the Corbett family and stands in the West side of a small fenced off wooden enclosure. To the east of the monument is a sub-rectangular depression c. 5m long which is overgrown, but may represent the remains of a small family crypt. The monument consists of a grey marble cross which is mounted on a large marble block which itself stands on a plinth of four staggered rectangular marble blocks. The cross is inscribed on the North, East and South sides, with a lightning conductor attached on its West side.

The east-facing inscription, carved in relief, reads:

In Loving Memory of
Alice May Polson
wife of A. Cameron Corbett
Born Nov 28 1867 Died July 10, 1902

The south-facing inscription reads:

Arthur Cameron Corbett
Sub Lt. Royal Naval Air Service
Born 6th March 1898
Killed in action 4th December 1916

John Polson Corbett
Lt Grenadier Guards
Born 9th October 1924
Killed in action 18th July 1944

The north-facing inscription reads:

Also of her husband
Archibald Cameron Corbett
First Baron Rowallan
Born 23rd May 1856
Died 19th March 1933

The inscription on the surface of the east-facing marble plinth carved in relief reads:

I Lay in Dust Life’s Glory Dead
and from the Ground There Blossoms Red
Life that Shall Endless Be.

The Westin Turnberry Hotel was built as the Station Hotel, Turnberry in 1906 and served by the Glasgow & South Western’s light railway from Ayr to Girvan (built to serve the hotel). It was, from the first, intended as a golfer’s hotel and was built overlooking the 1901 built golf courses.

Be warned though, if you want a single occupancy of the best suite in the high season it will cost you over $1100 per night.

Still around Maidens harbour, the first photograph shows the boats lined up along the quay. The harbour is not flushed by any river running into it, so it silts up terribly which has, I understand, sunk any plans there were to convert it into a marina – too expensive to do and to maintain.

The second photograph shows the extension breakwater from the harbour, which, as is easily visible, needs repair work done if it is not to break up.

This was another photograph taken from Maidens and I included it to show the contrasting light effect from the same place at the same time depending on which direction you faced.

This is a view of Ailsa Craig, aka Paddy’s Milestone since it lies approximately halfway along the voyage between Belfast, Ireland and Glasgow, Scotland.

Taken at Maidens as the Oystercatcher flew off the beach over the sea.