Wildlife
Status of Park
Culzean Country Park covers nearly 600 acres (260 hectares) of a very diverse countryside, twelve miles south of Ayr. The 5km of coastline is a mix of wooded cliffs, rocky shore, sandy bays and dunes backed by a well wooded estate, part of the designed landscape which complemented the clifftop Castle. The farmland, deer park, gardens and ponds add to the mosaic of habitats in the property.
Until 1970, just after the designation of the ground of Culzean Castle as Scotland’s first Country Park by the Countryside Commission for Scotland, the wildlife of Culzean was very under-recorded. With the setting up of the Ranger Service recording of wildlife and habitat management became a priority.
Culzean has two wildlife designations:
SSSI. The section of coastline between Barwhin Point and Swallowcraigs is designated as part of the Maidens/Heads of Ayr coastal Site of Special Scientific interest. The main interest is that the cliffs support some of the best deciduous woodland in southern Scotland (re-notified 29 September 1989).
Listed Wildlife Site. Following a survey of the site in 2001, the Scottish Wildlife Trust Wildlife Sites Team considered Culzean Country Park to be of significant wildlife interest and confirmed it as a Wildlife Site. It is designated primarily because of the considerable numbers of breeding birds, plant species and mammals, which the Park supports.
Wildlife Notes
You can keep up-to-date with the wildlife at Culzean by reading the Wildlife Notes. Situated at the Visitor Centre and also in the Aviary at the Swan Pond these notes are regularly updated by the Ranger Naturalist staff. Whether you are just an interested amateur out for a wander or have something specific in mind you wish to find then the wildlife notes should direct to the best areas of the park for the time of year.
Regular events such as the flowering of certain plants (snowdrops and Bluebells being the most obvious ones) are recorded as are the arrival dates of Swifts and Swallows in the summer. Keep an eye on the boards for any additional news worthy of excitement – for example the sudden appearance of a flock of Bramble finch in the Park or a Kingfisher on the Swan Pond.
Before you head out into the Park why not check out the boards to see where the wildlife can be found and see if you can find it for yourself!
Seasonal Wildlife
Winter is a wonderful time to visit Culzean whether it is to watch the roe deer with their nearly full grown fawns feeding in the woods, migratory waterfowl on the Swan Pond or to catch a glimpse of a red squirrel high up on a tree. Birdwatchers will find over-wintering songbirds such as bullfinch, goldfinch, bramble finch, redwing and fieldfare and the occasional waxing to name but a few. The Swan Pond is alive with goldeneye, tufted duck, and little grebe as well as resident swans, mallard, and moorhen. Teal, wigeon and pochard may also be seen as occasional visitors. The coast is often worth a visit in winter with waders feeding along the foreshore and seabirds, divers, and ducks (in particular large numbers of eiders) offshore.
Snowdrops and daffodils signal the arrival of Spring followed soon after by great swathes of bluebells. As more and more flowers appear insects emerge and are quickly on the wing, providing some much needed food for hungry bats newly awoken from their winter slumber. Whilst the early nesting tawny owls are already feeding hungry young chicks, chiffchaffs, blackcaps, willow, sedge and grasshopper warblers begin to appear announcing their return from migration by their distinctive songs.
The advance of the seasons into Summer brings many plants into flower. Nowhere is this burst of colour more welcome than on the coastline where spring squill, thrift, rockrose and birds-foot trefoil crowd for space on rocky outcrops. The starfish, urchins, chitons and crabs in the rockpools begin to grow at an amazing rate as the waters warm up and more food becomes available. Mackerel and herring return to coastal waters providing food for gannets, seal, otters, porpoise and the occasional minke whale.
As the day length gradually shortens and the temperature drops, suddenly signs of Autumn are everywhere. The trees begin to show the first signs of changing colour and the rut begins in earnest in the Deer Park. Attention in the woodlands turns from birds and flowers to fungi. Everywhere you look fungal fruiting bodies are erupting from the ground, dead wood, and even live trees! Hedgehogs busily attempt to eat as much as they can to fatten up for the winter and, unusually, may be seen out in daylight hours. Migrant birds leave – the swifts leaving first in August, followed by swallow and martins and the warblers by October – but we are soon welcoming the migrants which overwinter with us – the waterfowl, waders and songbirds which spend their summers in Scandinavia and northern Europe.
If you take the time, keep your eyes peeled and ears wide open there is always wildlife to find at Culzean whether you are in the woods, looking out over a pond, or exploring the rocky shore.
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