BATHING water quality at beaches on the North Ayrshire coast is continuing to approve, according to Scotland's environmental watchdog.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) test the designated waters across the nation each year throughout bathing season (June 1 to September 15) to generate a rating.

These cover four categories: excellent; good; sufficient and poor.

Now SEPA's most recent survey of the waters has shown the water at the beaches at Saltcoats/Ardrossan and Seamill to be considered "good" on this scale.

The rating will apply for the duration of the 2023 season.

These tie the highest rating across the county, with Largs (Pencil Beach) also receiving a "good" score.

That left only one other beach in North Ayrshire which had its water tested, with Irvine scoring "sufficient".

The rating in Saltcoats/Ardrossan sees the beach maintain its improved rating from 2022.

Prior to this, the water had been considered only "sufficient" each year from 2018-2021.

For Seamill, this is a first "good" rating since 2019.

Just before the pandemic hit, in 2020, Seamill's rating dropped to "sufficient" and remained there in 2021 and 2022.

Both waters show signs of matching the national trend with Scotland’s bathing water quality continuing to improve across the board, with 38 out of 87 (44 per cent) rated as ‘excellent’ for 2023, while only two recieved 'poor' ratings.

This is the highest number ever and highlights sustained improvements in bathing water quality, achieved through partnership projects.

Overall bathing water quality has seen ongoing improvements since 2015, when tighter standards first came into force.