Ardnamurchan Area Blogs
Blogs (web logs) provide an ideal opportunity to explore the traditions, culture and wildlife of Wild Lochaber. We have put together a collection of local blogs and provide the titles and text snippets to give a taste of each entry with direct links to the main blog entry on the host website. We hope you will find time to explore the full articles and further information on the host blog sites.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions for blogs you would like to see here.
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I have worked with all types of farm animals during the last 60 years and the two most attractive are goats, they are intelligent, clean, efficient milk producers, small, friendly, affectionate and safe around small children. Milking twice a day got too much for me in my seventies...
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Swim with the marine wildlife of the Galapagos and you will never, ever forget it. Our holiday with SwimTrek was not cheap. Yet the experiences of this week will flash across my fading memory years from now.If you're considering it there were a few practical aspects of this ...
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Twenty years ago we were staying in a Canadian Alpine Club hut in the Rocky Mountains, the occupants were international but all European. The log hut was situated in a alpine meadow, there were vast supplies of firewood for the stove, rocking chairs and rough hewn tables, it was perfect. Then came...
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These blog posts flit between North Northumberland and Kilchoan. Today it's a possible pine marten sighting in the West Wood between Harbottle and Sharperton. Elliot the Red Squirrel Group trapper and ecologist has a blurred image on one of his camera traps, it might just be a pine marten.Two...
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The B8007 is the sinuous single track road linking the villages of Salen and Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. This 19 mile, often tortuous, tarmac strip does a lot to protect the remoteness and largely unspoiled environment of the peninsula. Particularly at the eastern end, the combination...
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For me there is no doubt that wildlife watching on the water, in canoe or kayak, is far better than on land. It is almost as though the forna doesn’t expect you to be there. As less people venture on the water than on land we are the ones being watched. As you are in […] The post...
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Some few thousands of years after the end of the last ice age (10,000 bp) a great wood extended across Scotland from the valleys of the Cairngorm plateau to glens of Lochaber in the west. The climate was warmer and drier, soils were better drained and less acid. Pine trees thrived.Trees of many...
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The earliest ancestors of my hens were domesticated in S.E.Asia over 5,000 years ago, these Red Jungle fowl lived in the jungle undergrowth and woody scrub that provided food, shade and shelter. Watch your hens and you will see many behaviours that originated in woodland.Woodland eggs in the new...
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Many thanks to those of you who voted in support of the Coquetdale Red Squirrel Group funding bid with the AVIVA Community Fund ( 25/10/ 2018). Your votes got us through to the final but we failed to win the £10,000 needed.Feedback from the AVIVA judging panel said that the project was innovative...
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In December 2017 the total number of breeding sheep in the UK was 14.7 million plus 18.6 million other sheep; wether lambs, hoggs, non-breeding ewes and rams. UK farm livestock numbers Dec. 2017December is when our sheep population is at it's lowest."Peak sheep" June 2019Lambing begins in...
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If you have been paying attention you will know that we had a dinner in a "pop-up" restaurant in my workshop (Cafe Atelier) back in October. Demand for another impromptu meal means that another is on the cards perhaps a, "Post- Brexit Apocalypse Dinner" on 30th March the day after Britain...
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A triathlon coach once told me, "early training gets easier after Valentine's Day because that's when we start noticing the mornings getting lighter again".He's right. Early morning trips to the pool are much easier after 14th February. But why? The Winter Solstice falls between 21 and...
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The Ferry Stores, here at Kilchoan, are giving holiday makers and locals alike the chance to spoil the one you love (or would like to love). Pop into the Ferry Stores and buy some raffle tickets, in aid of the Church Restoration Fund. Tickets are selling at £1.00 per strip (of tickets… Staff...
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Wondering when Shrove Tuesday is or as it is now more likely to be known “Pancake Day”. Officially it’s not until March, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying pancakes in the office. We are lucky that one of the ladies in the office, brought in her electric girdle, sugar...
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A new swim for 2019 on the HighlandOpenwaterSwim.com calendar.We swam it a week ago to get a feel for what it's like and to spot any problems. We found a few, which I'll mention, but on the whole it's going to be a superb event.First, take a look at the video and you'll get a feel for what it's...
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The Jewel in the crown We are so excited to be restoring this property back to its former glory. Spring 2019 will see Keeper’s cottage join our holiday let portfolio, and we think it will be very popular with our guests. From its position located high on the hill just outside the...
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Rich, full of flavour and perfect comfort food. Ingredients 500g of Ardtornish Venison Mince 2 tbsp of olive oil 1 Ardtornish onion, finely chopped 1 Ardtornish carrot, finely chopped 4 rashers of good quality smoked streaky bacon 2 sprigs of rosemary,...
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What better way to kick off the Year than an evening with our national dish and our national poet. No other food can lay such a strong claim as Haggis, Neeps and Tatties to being the soul food of a nation, a meal that binds us together as we celebrate what truly makes us Scottish....
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It will be at Glenuig on 16th February.This weekend the tides were almost the same as they'll be on the day of the swim, so three of us did a recce.The video of the swim is below. Oh and if you're a kayaker please come - we need support kayakers!The tide will be coming in so we'll swim with...
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Why have they used my Dad's photo on my bus pass? Oh. Yeah. Right.After 2018's year of monthly challenges to mark my 60th year on the planet comes official recognition of this event in the form of my National Entitlement Card, otherwise known as my Bus Pass.I've used it twice,...
