The Annick Water (previously also spelled as Annack, Annoch (1791) or Annock) is the largest tributary of the River Irvine.

An independent survey in the Bourtreehill (1999) area revealed a strong colony of freshwater shrimp, a crustacean known only to live in relatively clean water.

On 27 January 2009 a BP tanker train carrying liquid fuels (diesel and heating oil) from Mossend to Riccarton was derailed near the bridge over the Stewarton to Kilmaurs road at Peacockbank Farm.

Scroag or scrog is a crab apple or gnarled treestumps in old Scots and this 'nickname' well describes the area where the mill stood.

During a particularly long feud between the Cunningham and Montgomery families in the 16th and 17th centuries, the fourth Earl of Eglinton was murdered at a ford on the Annick at Bridgend in Stewarton.

The river can be dangerous and a gravestone in Dreghorn Parish Church records the death by drowning of a young lad from Perceton in Victorian times.

Marchantia polymorpha, the Common Liverwort grows on the bare bedrock dykes of the Annick near Cunninghamhead Mill, this plant being much rarer than the name suggests.

The riverside vegetation includes Butterburr, Reed-Canary Grass, Rushes, Water Forget-Me-Not, Brooklime-Speedwell, Giant Hogweed, Hemlock Water-Dropwort, Willows and Alders.