Amelia's photos with the keyword: Girvan

RNLB Elizabeth and Gertrude Allan May 5th 2018 saw the official naming ceremony for Girvan’s new Shannon class all-weather lifeboat RNLB Elizabeth and Gertrude Allan. The Shannon class is the first of the RNLI’s all-weather lifeboats to be powered by water-jets rather than traditional propellers, making it the most agile and manoeuvrable lifeboat in the charity’s fleet. Shannon class lifeboats are built in-house by the RNLI and the £2.1 million cost of Girvan’s new lifeboat was funded by the John & Elizabeth Allan Memorial Trust. Capable of 25 knots, the new lifeboat is 50% faster than RNLB Silvia Burrell, the Mersey class all-weather lifeboat she has replaced.

Ailsa Craig is an island of 240 acres in the outer Firth of Clyde, 16 km (8+1⁄2 miles) west of mainland Scotland. The microgranite has long been quarried to make curling stones. The island is now a bird sanctuary, leased by the RSPB until 2050. ] Huge numbers of gannets nest here. Rats were probably introduced via shipwrecks; supposedly, a coal boat that sank offshore was the first culprit and caused great harm to the nesting bird populations, with the puffins proving vulnerable to the extent of extinction as breeding birds. After a long campaign using pioneering techniques, the rats were eradicated in 1991, and now puffins are once again raising young on the island with many other benefits accruing to both the fauna and the flora.

We went to Girvan mainly because the harbour looked interesting, and I wasn't disappointed. Folks in Ayr wondered why we went there.