West Coast Islands 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.
Scottish Islands Explorer
-
Taking the track above could see you led to the settlement on Gometra, although to become a permanent resident, you would have to be one of those people who likes to complement a remote vicinity with an off-grid lifestyle. Take a look here at what's on offer there.Scottish Islands Explorer - enjoys...
-
Here's the MV Jean Elaine at one of Britain's most remote islets, Sule Stack. Read here about her trip as well as the disaster that occurred there some 51 years ago.Scottish Islands Explorer - takes in the remoteDigital Edition: takes information the distance
-
The Times has an item about a proposal that the Scottish islands follow the recent engineering works in the Faroe Islands of linking islands to the mainland by tunnel.Scottish Islands Explorer - ways of improving accessibilityDigital Edition: getting around without impediments
-
There is something typically Hebridean about these images of Mealista, the deserted township on the extreme south-west coast of Lewis. They, together with an interesting account, appear on the fascinating website Uncover Travel. Take the journey with a finger movement and the click of a key....
-
The current Your Pictures of Scotland from the BBC has something of a 'sea and shore' theme running through it. Above is an image of the ferry approaching Iona, provided by Fiona Mackinnon. Below is a photograph by Ross Mason of one of the well-established residents of Sumburgh Head, Shetland....
-
The island of Arran has been referred to as 'a place like no other'. This observation is featured on the home-page of a new website launched by the local weekly newspaper, The Arran Banner, to promote island living. Click here to be transported to it.Scottish Islands Explorer - does...
-
The Notre Dame Disaster has been a further reminder to us of how quickly cherished places can be lost. The Fair Isle Bird Observatory was an iconic, much-loved facility that was completely destroyed by fire earlier this year. How has the small community coped? Shetland News takes an in-depth look....
-
The Press and Journal covers the release of two otters which are able to start new lives on the shores of Skye.Scottish Islands Explorer - regularly released into the world of publicationsDigital Edition: able to traverse the world immediately on being dispatched
-
Playing football on Eriskay brings its challenges and rewards. Take an in-depth look at an elevated ground through the BBC Website.Scottish Islands Explorer - needs paper not a pitchDigital Edition: dispenses with paper
-
The next print edition of Scottish Islands Explorer will appear in retail outlets on 18 April and subscribers should receive their copies during the early part of next week. However, for the full, electronic, digital version just click here, take a look at the first few pages and secure at £1.99...
-
The construction of the Ring of Brodgar, Orkney, during the Neolithic Era of some 5000 years ago was an act of mindful application for reasons which are not quite clear. The recent act of graffiti there is an example of a modern mindless attitude. The BBC website carries the story. Recent...
-
Recent dry weather and the incendiary nature of gorse in the Western Isles have led to wildfires disrupting everyday life - with power failures. Firefighters have been in action on Barra, Harris, Lewis and Great Bernera. See The Press and Journal for details.Scottish Islands Explorer -...
-
Brough Stores, in Yell, Shetland, closed over 20 years ago, but plans have been submitted to renovate the building for domestic occupation and for a small convenience retail outlet. Supplies will have to be ferried across to the village of Burravoe with its pier (below). Shetland News has the...
Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles
-
As well as filling the gaps i.e. visiting tetrads with no or few records, this year’s theme will be to look for missing hectad records i.e. those known in a 10km square before 2000 but not re-found. Last Wednesday Neil, Seth and I walked the Osdale Burn and went two-thirds of the way up...
-
I went to the Loch Dhùghaill area of Sleat today – more on botany this week later. But in this post I can report a Common Lizard (alive), 1 frog alive and 20 dead plus an adder that had recently been run over. I first found it looking like this: Adder and forgetting just how black they can be...
-
You may remember seeing my distribution maps like this: where the red squares represent tetrads with no post-1999 records. Some of these have less than 5% land and I had decided, slightly regretfully, to give them a miss and prioritise other matters. (Some have no land above HWMS or just a...
-
I made a shortish visit to the Brae area of Raasay today to update some old plant records i.e. try to re-find some more of the things I recorded before 2000. This was reasonably successful given the time of year, but I also spotted a couple of insects and a fungus worth mentioning. I have seen four...
-
I decided that I needed better images of the wintergreen at Kinloch and so on my way to Edinburgh for the BSBI Scottish Recorders Conference yesterday I went back with a camera more suitable for long-range photography and did OK: Orthilia Kinloch The serrated leaves are clearly visible and the...
Marc Calhoun
-
Regular readers of this blog will be aware I am fascinated by the old beehive dwellings. I am always on the lookout for these cells, and on two occasions became very excited when I saw what, from a distance, appeared to be beehives. But on closer examination they turned out to be something...
-
Sometimes when you're out for an island hike you encounter a surprise. A few years ago I made a circular walk on North Uist to see the souterrain of Taigh Talamhant (see the May 21, 2015 post). On the way back to the road I came across this amazing island fort in Loch na Caigainn, reached by a...
