By Season
Choose a season Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter to get an idea of what wildlife can be seen across the Regional Park. More detailed information is available by location or by species.
Spring
Spring is a beautiful time across the Regional Park with an abundance of new growth and new arrivals.
As the sun’s warm rays strengthen, foliage bursts forth from budding trees and rolling hills. Colours make a welcome return across the landscape as wild flowers appear, such as the timid snowdrop and wood sorrel, to the bright, booming yellow of the daffodil.
This is best time of the year to hunt for all members of the amphibian family! The ponds become busy with frogs as they find a mate and produce spawn. A few weeks later the toads will follow so please watch out for them all as they make their way to and from the water.
The Regional Park is also home to farmers and their animals. Spring is a very busy time for them with lambing and calving happening round the clock – look out for the newborns especially at the Greenock Cut Centre and on the road to Muirshiel.
Come May, towards the end of Spring, the bluebells in Parkhill wood are making an appearance. Covering a wide area of the woodland floor, they soak up the sun’s rays just before the trees overhead are fully in leaf. The vivid blue colour of the flower is especially prominent in this part of the Regional Park and has to be seen to be believed!
Summer
By the time Summer arrives most migrant birds have arrived and their young have fledged. Look out for the aerobatic Hen Harrier as they hunt for their prey and return to feed their young on Muirshiel’s LIVE nest camera. Their prey species, the meadow pipit, is most numerous now, their young having fledged a little earlier. Keep your eyes peeled for both species as you wander up Muirshiel’s Mine track!
Beautiful butterflies can be seen now feeding on the increasing amount of wild flowers including ragged robin, clover and Scotland’s national flower, the thistle. Common Blues and the incredibly detailed small pearl-bordered fritillary are among the highlights of a stroll around Locherwood Community Woodland.
The ponds yet again come alive with dragonflies, animating them with their quick colours, as they dart and hover looking for prey. Can you spot all five species that exist in the Regional Park? Or, you could have a go at finding their smaller, more ornate cousin, the damselfly. Such intricate design and pattern, for such a small creature.
In the height of summer some of us feel compelled to visit the seaside, so why not bring the family to Lunderston Bay – the Regional Park’s only sandy beach! There is plenty to keep everyone entertained with rockpools and their inhabitants, look out for the sea slug’s eggs, they’re bright pink!
If you are not feeling quite so adventurous there are plenty of benches for that seaside picnic, where you can watch the seabirds dive such as the gannet and huge black-backed gulls!
Autumn
Toward the end of the summer the hills turn a fabulous burnt ochre colour as the bracken dies back.
As the year progresses, the woodlands across the Regional Park turn from lush green to the golden browns and oranges of Autumn. Fungi appear from the dark and damp corners of the forest floor, feasting on what no longer grows. Their fruiting bodies appear as toadstools and can be extremely colourful such as the bright fly agaric and its amanita family relatives.
Autumn for birds is a time of all change with summer visitors, such as the swallow and willow warbler, making room for those coming down from the North such as the fieldfare and snow bunting.
Look out for whooper swans and geese who become very busy travellers at this time of year. If you don’t see any fly over then come down to Castle Semple Loch to see Herbert – our resident whooper!
Winter
The sneaky stoat changes colour as the nights draw in, its fur turning a bright white. They are now known as ‘ermines’ camouflaging themselves for the coming snow. Look for them in dry stone dyes as they run and hide in the gaps.
The woodlands look a little bare without their leaves… but this makes it easier to see those birds that hide close to tree trunks such as the treecreeper and the noisy, great spotted woodpecker.
Look for the crossbills as they feed high in the conifers at Muirshiel, their strong bill gripping and pulling at the seed.
• Those going for moorland walks might see a field vole or two as their vast system of runs expands under the snowfall. This protects their burrows from the looming threat of predators above such as kestrels and owls.
• Look out for red grouse who can be heard calling across the moors.
