Girvan Pier and Ailsa Craig

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.