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.
Ardtornish Estate and Gardens, Self catering holidays Scotland
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Written by Sandy & Brian Coppins, Sandy is an internationally recognised lichen expert and recent visitor to the estate. Reference: Atlantic Hazel – Scotland’s special woodlands Lichens are amazingly varied in shape, form and colour. Ask anyone about lichens, and the usual answer...
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A good hearty winter comfort dish perfect for the cold and dark nights. Ingredients 2kg of Ardtornish beef short ribs 2 tbsp of Olive oil 2 Ardtornish carrots, finely chopped 1 Ardtornish onion, finely diced 4 garlic cloves 2 sprigs of rosemary 2 sprigs...
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Scotland has a rich and varied Halloween tradition. Over the years, traditional pagan rituals have largely been forgotten or adapted by the Christian church, into what we are familiar with today. But as this most mysterious of days approaches, there is no better time to have a closer...
Craigard Croft
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I am sitting at Janet's kitchen table in Holystone in the Coquet Valley, North Northumberland. We are working on a project submission to the Aviva Community Fund. The red squirrels in the forest here need funding to prevent their imminent extinction. You can help to save them!We...
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On Thursday evenings a small group of elderly men meet in the bar of the, " Kilchoan Hotel" for gossip, discussion of the latest outrage from Trump ....the undoing of enlightenment values, rejection of truth, rationality and science; beer and sometimes a meal. We also try to...
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Owlet's first night flightLast week as he was driving home past the barn "Raptor" saw a young owl on the road in his car headlights it was the third owlet to be hatched.Barn owls are usually 12 - 13 weeks old when they leave the nest so this one ( the last of the three) must have been hatched...
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Press & Journal 22nd August 2018While I was away in France a photograph taken by a holiday maker appeared in the Press & Journal of a pine marten and a "wildcat" together. The pine marten appears to be retreating and we ( my neighbours and I) are pretty sure that the photograph was...
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I found a dead, male barn owl this morning, under the beam in the barn where they normally perch and roost. It was so light weight almost as it were only feathers. When I weighed it on my kitchen scales it was a mere 216g a healthy adult male should weigh 360g.All white breast without any spots of...
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House sparrows There has been a steady decline in the population of UK house sparrows during the last 100 years, probably since the motorcar replaced horses on our streets. Changes in farming practice have had an effect too, particularly the lack of winter stubble after a swing to autumn sown...
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Fifty years ago I read a short account of a two person expedition into a remote and then inaccessible region of the Pyrenees, " the Enchanted Mountains" by Robin Fedden", then " The Pyrenees" by Hillaire Belloc and " Backpacking and Camping in the Pyrenees" my imagination was captured.When I...
Sunart Community Company
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Funding Granted to Carryout Longrigg Woodland Feasibility Study! (Tuesday, October 23, 2018 - 10:16)GREAT NEWS!!! Our application to the Scottish Land Fund to undertake a Feasibility and Viability Study of Longrigg Woodland was successful! We will be working with the team of consultants this winter to complete the feasibility study of the Woodland. This study will help us to identify various...
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Annual General Meeting Tuesday October 23rd, at 7.00pm in the Village Hall is the time and date for our Annual General Meeting. This is a time to review all the assets and activities which the Company has looked after over the last year. It is a good event for newcomers and others not yet familiar...
Simon Willis
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For me, this is the Autumn equivalent of Spring cleaning. This seems to be my season for a good clear-out.It happens when I put the cycling shirts and shirts away for another winter and get out the long tights and warm jackets. When I see kit I haven't used for a year or two I think, "will I...
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This is utterly amazing stuff. Nikwax TX.Direct wash in re-waterproofing. I know the internet is full of "unbelievable, brilliant products", but this one really is.Remember how your waterproof jacket shed showers when it was new? The rain 'beaded' on the surface and rolled off....
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It appears the business called "Ironman" is trying to flatter me into entering more of their competitions.Their All World Athlete programme is awarded to competitors who clock up the most points in a year. Or at their letter puts it, "the top 10% of your age group".Except I'm not. Their...
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On the 8th July 2018 Colleen Blair swam into history. You can watch it sixteen minutes into this episode of The Adventure Show on the BBC iPlayer.Others had tried and failed to swim The Minch, from the Isle of Lewis to the Scottish mainland. The 'Little Minch' between Harris and Skye had been swam...
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Visitors on Sanna BeachSome of this year's challenges I've had to go looking for. Others have just found me. September has been one of those months. It started great with a campervan trip to Benbecula, North Uist and South Uist. I spent two days as part of the team filming The Heb...
Otter Adventures
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In this second part of the blog about the Cumbrae Sea Kayak Symposium, I’ll look at the event as a whole and why you should attend a symposium. No matter what level you are at as a paddler there should always be something to learn. In part one of this blog I talked mostly about […] The...
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Last weekend I headed off to a sea kayak symposium for a chance to try sea kayak sailing and having one less than three hours drive from home was too good to miss… As well as being a small island west of Glasgow, Cumbrae is also the home to the Sport Scotland National Watersports Centre. [...
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As the summer season tails off, it is time to rest the arms and exercise the leg. Time to head back into the mountains and explore ready for next year. This is when I hope to be offering more guided family mountain walking adventures. Stunning location for a family mountain walking experience For...
