Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

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iain
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Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by iain »

Recently, I walked from Ravenspark in Irvine, across Irvine Moor, through Bogside Racecourse and Garnock East, across the Garnock to Garnock West, through Ardeer Fen and along the country road to Dubbs Road in Stevenston. It’s a walk I’ve done many times, but this time I decided to take and post some photos.


This new housing estate was built on the site of the old Ravenspark Hospital.
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One of the few remaining bits of open sand on Irvine Moor, one of Irvine’s Common Good assets (i.e. one of the one’s the Council’s not sold off yet!). 120 years ago, this sand deposit was characterised by wildflowers and open sand. Nowadays, it’s choked with Broom and Gorse. We (our Stevenston-based conservation group) have gained permission and some part-funding funding to clear some of the Broom/Gorse and open-up some more sand again. If the first phase goes well, we’ll seek permission to restore much of the rest of the scrubby areas back to sandy heathland.
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An Oak tree on Irvine Moor. The acorn pictured has had an egg laid in it by the Knopper Oak Gall Wasp and so has developed into a gall.
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Looking south from the top of the railway bridge by Irvine Moor.
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Looking north from the top of the railway bridge by Irvine Moor.
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A view over Bogside Racecourse to the pine plantations on the Ardeer Peninsula.
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We teamed-up with the RSPB and the neighbouring golf course last year to create a couple of new sand pits at the edge of Bogside Racecourse. The golf course had a small sand pit/quarry there already and I had recorded over 20 species of solitary bee in and around it, so we decided to increase the amount of nesting habitat by creating some more open sand. Here’s one of the new pits.
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One of the older sand pits the golf course uses. The bees love nesting in the vertical sand banks. I wish I had the geological understanding to interpret those interesting layers of sand and pebble deposition!
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A couple of shameless solitary bees (Sphecodes pellucidus) in one of the sand pits.
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A female Andrena fuscipes, a heather-feeding solitary bee caught foraging near the sand pits.
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Lasioglossum villosulum – Lasioglossums are tiny solitary bees, which look like black ‘commas’ when seen collecting pollen from floweheads.
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The golf course must have created this homage to the Grand Canyon within the last year. The holes that pepper the banks were evidently made by Sand Martins. It looks like there was a colony of dozens of them this summer, but their nest holes have apparently been dug out by foxes – something I see quite often at Sand Martin colonies in Stevenston and Irvine.
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The former race track around Bogside Racecourse.
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The dilapidated gateway from Bogside Racecourse into Garnock East, part of the old ICI grounds.
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The track into the large wood at Garnock East.
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Some half-dead Ash trees lining the track.
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Ash canopy.
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Behind the Ash trees is some pretty nice mature Willow woodland.
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A line of Sycamores in the wood.
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Garnock East is fantastically overgrown. This is part of the tarmac road network around Garnock East, now barely recognisable as a road.
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There are many large, artificial ponds at the site, which I think were used as supplies of water in case of fire in the factory. Now they’re overgrown wildlife havens, with otters, Kingfishers, Mute Swans, Little Grebes, Water Rails, even the odd Marsh Harrier.
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A Small Copper at Granock East.
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A Red Admiral at Garnock East. It’s been a great year for them.
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A male Common Darter basking on a log at Garnock East.
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A bridge from Garnock East to the Ardeer Peninsula. Nothing says ‘Welcome to the Ardeer Peninsula’ better than a pile of rubble dumped by the landowner to keep everybody off the Ardeer Peninsula.
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The upper Garnock estuary near high tide.
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The impressive McGowan Bridge connects Stevenston to Irvine.
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A Ruby Tiger moth caterpillar crossing the road at Garnock West.
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Garnock West is a mosaic of scrub and wildflower-rich dune grassland in the former factory grounds.
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One of the old buildings at Garnock West.
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Turning over a large sheet of wood revealed a colony of Yellow Meadow Ants. They often nest under rocks and logs, but also frequently make nest mounds in short grassland and heathland such as that at Garnock West.
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Looking over Ardeer Fen to the old railway bridge.
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Orpine, a rare plant, growing on the road verge by Broom Farm.
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A lonely stand of Beech Trees between Ardeer Mains and Broom. Until recently surrounded by dense scrub, with the infilling of Dubbs Quarry these trees are sadly now standing in isolation.
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The end of my walk. This is the Dubbs Road entrance to Ardeer Quarry Local Nature Reserve.
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michaelm
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by michaelm »

Loads of great photo's there Iain, also very well described.
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by Hughie »

Brilliant, Iain.
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by 5siamese7 »

Hughie wrote: Sun Sep 03, 2017 11:53 amBrilliant, Iain.
Yes very good and you had a good day for it too. I'm glad the red admirals have had a good year but I've only seen a few. The bridge I believe was primarily blocked off to stop the bikers. Did you climb over the obstacle? Were there many wildfowl on the ponds? I know there had been a lot of disturbance there with guys with air rifles. Hopefully the new legislation has made a difference.
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by Vivc113 »

Loving the pix !!!
"Words are very.... unnecessary... they can only do harm".
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by 5siamese7 »

The ponds at the Garnock east I wonder if they have fish in them in particular pike. Maybe i'll take a trip down and have a go. I know that the ponds in the blackpowder wood contain fish because herons are usually about the place.
iain
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by iain »

5siamese7 wrote: Sun Sep 03, 2017 12:46 pm Did you climb over the obstacle? Were there many wildfowl on the ponds?
5siamese7, there were very few wildfowl on the ponds, but the second of the two pond photos I posted contains about one tenth of a cygnet at the extreme right hand side of the frame (honest!). The ponds have more emergent vegetation every year and so are becoming more popular with wintering wildfowl every year (certainly compared to what they were like 10 years ago).

Yes, I regularly climb the obstacle - it's a bit treacherous.
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by 5siamese7 »

Climbed that thing you must have good balance Iain. Mind you I suspect a trodden path has exhibited itself since my last visit. Did you meet anyone down there?
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by Bruce »

Fascinating - I’ve never been down that way. Must try that walk sometime. It’s a shame that the whole ardeer peninsula is pretty much inaccessible. I’d love to see Sustrans or someone like that opening up some paths in that area, giving a path from Stevenston to Irvine on that side of the railway line - maybe the route you took from Bogside to Stevenston.

Or maybe even a path down from Stevenston to The Big Idea, and re-opening the footbridge!
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by aland »

great photos, what is/was the mcgowan bridge, road or rail, i assume part of the ici plant
call me alan or al, labels are for tins of beans or soup not people. We are all Jock Tamson's bairns
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by 5siamese7 »

McGowan was a chairman of I.C.I. and hence the name of the bridge. The Lady McGowan was a ship owned by I.C.I. and named after his wife which took explosives manufactured at Ardeer all over the world. I am old enough to remember her and I knew some of the men that worked at the waff as the men called it. It was a kind of wee community where crewmen would take a rowing boat and go across the river to get a pint in a pub in Irvine. Sadly there was a drowning and I guess this practice was stopped.
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Re: Walk from Irvine to Stevenston via Bogside and the Ardeer Peninsula

Post by 5siamese7 »

aland wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2017 5:06 pm great photos, what is/was the mcgowan bridge, road or rail, i assume part of the ici plant
I think there was a bogey rail set up but mostly a road bridge.
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