Basking sharks 

These gentle giants are a common sight in the waters off of Irvine beach. Their name comes from a habit of swimming lazily and near the water’s surface in summer months, giving the impression of basking in the sun. In fact, they are feeding, by scooping water into their big gaping mouths and filtering out tiny plankton. They filter around 2,000 cubic meters of water through their mouths every hour!

Sand martins

These tiny songbirds, measuring just 12cm from beak to tail, can be seen in the summer months when they fly all the way from the Sahel region of Africa to nest. You can spot them zipping about, catching insects in mid-air.

As hinted by their name, sand-martins nest in winding tunnels that they bore into sheer banks of sand, out of reach of predators. They are social and tend to nest in colonies, with hundreds of nesting holes close together. One such 'sand martin bank' can be found in the Gailes Marsh, inland from Irvine beach.

Isle of Mann Cabbage

This hardy, scraggly plant adorns the sands of Irvine Beach dunes with pretty yellow flowers in summer months.

Its strong stalk holds it firm against the force of coastal winds. It can reach half a meter in height and nearly a meter in diameter.

Marram Grass

It is hard to picture coastal sand dunes without spikes of Marram grass poking out of them. Unlike the grass on your lawn, this grass is adapted for a hardy life on the coast. If you look closely, the ‘spikes’ are actually rolled up leaves, which protects them from drying out.

Their roots are also important, holding them fast against the coastal winds and, at the same time, helping to keep the very sand dunes that they live on from washing or blowing away.