Ailsa Craig viewed from mainland.

Introduction

Ailsa Craig is an ancient volcanic plug which sits in the Firth of Clyde (S.W.Scotland) about nine miles west of the town of Girvan on the Ayrshire coast. In turn, Girvan is about fifty five miles S.W. of Glasgow.

The name translates from Gaelic into English as ‘Fairy Rock’.

Landscape view of Ailsa Craig (top left) from Isle of Arran

Information on Ailsa Craig-Tranche 1

The island is uninhabited and covers an area of two hundred and twenty acres. Circumference is two miles and height one thousand one hundred and twenty feet.

Formed from the plug of a Paleogene volcano, between 66 million and  23 million years ago. For more information on Scotland’s geology refer this post.

The island is now, effectively, a bird sanctuary being home to thousand of birds as explained below. Other wildlife found around the island include grey seals, porpoise, dolphin and minkie whale. Large basking sharks can be seen during the summer months.

Historically, the island is best known as a source material for curling stones. There are reports that the very smooth, blue hone granite is used in 70 pct. of the world’s curling stones.

Curling on Lake of Menteith

Information on Ailsa Craig-Tranche 2

Gannet is the dominant bird species on the island numbering about 40,000. Other species include Herring and Lesser Black Backed Gulls, Great Black-Backed Gulls, Oyster Catchers and Fulmars. Historically, there were many thousands of puffins on the island but these were eliminated by rats from the mainland. With rats now culled the Puffins have started to return with 100 nesting pairs recorded so far.

Image below shows Puffins on Isle of May.

Information on Ailsa Craig-Tranche 3

• Kays of Mauchline, Ayrshire have the sole lease to remove the world’s only known source of the following three  granites: Common Green Granite, Blue Hone Granite and Red Hone Granite. Extraction of between 1600 tons of Common Green granite and 400 tons of Blue Hone granite is an activity that takes place as required.The granite is transported to the mainland by boat to be stored and subsequently transformed into finished curling stones.
• The island is home to a working, but unmanned, lighthouse. The former keepers’ cottages became derelict and were put up for sale in 2018.

Ailsa Craig viewed from mainland.

Ailsa Craig is a mecca for bird watchers and naturalists. There are boat trips (by prior arrangement) from Girvan. The paddle steamer, Waverley sometimes includes Ailsa Craig in its itinerary.

A good subject for photographers who can capture the island in the ever-changing light conditions. Sometimes the island disappears completely when shrouded in mist. Joke: ‘If you can see Ailsa Craig it’s going to rain, if you can’t see Ailsa Craig it is raining!’.

Images of Ailsa Craig obtained during recent trip on P.S. Waverley.

Video Clip of Eastern side of the island.

View of South West

Another View of South West

More information on Scotland

Visitors are directed to the 800 page book entitled Visitors’ Guide to Scotland, ISBN 978-1-9161332-0-4. This publication covers many aspects of Scotland including islands and wildlife. The book is available via Kindle.