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
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Once the Church of Scotland supported a missionary / teacher on the remote island of Foula where the kirk (above) has few social amenities immediately around it. Few residents use the road to reach it on a Sunday and now the ecclesiastical authorities have announced the prospective closure of it,...
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The prospect of being able to fly from Kirkwall to the outer Orkney islands by electric plane could be a reality by 2021. Read the item on the BBC Website and quietly make plans to be there for some remarkably innovative flights.Scottish Islands Explorer - could the magazine be all-electronic by...
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Here's the most northerly Church of Scotland kirk in Britain - at Unst in the Shetland group. Although specific church closures have not been announced, the figure of 20 out of 31 to be decommissioned in Shetland has sounded alarm bells. That's one-third to remain. A clue to this is in another...
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Waterfalls are determined by forces of gravity - for there's not much that can stop them. However, Storm Callum performed remarkably on Skye as these pictures from the BBC Website show.Scottish Islands Explorer - aware of the pressures of the elementsDigital Edition: subject to other forces
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The history of Vallay contains elements of a 'tall story' or in this case lengthy shadows on the tidal flats that separate it from the rest of North Uist. However, Lucy Davies explores many down-to-earth aspects of the island in yesterday's Daily Telegraph Magazine. Interesting insights are...
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Bosta Beach, Great Bernera, Isle of Lewis, is depicted here by Murdo Alick Macleod and appears in Art UK. For a tour of the island in high-definition there is no better way than the Calco Macleod presentation on YouTube.Scottish Islands Explorer - explore this island in just 13...
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The Auld Haa Guesthouse will, like all other connected properties on Fair Isle, be receiving full power from the Scottish Power electricity grid from today onward. There will be no need to rely on the Northern Lights on some occasions! The full story is documented in Shetland News. The next stage...
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Mangersta, off the west coast of Lewis, has much to offer - from a secluded beach with surf to a sensational bothy that's safe. However, as the autumnal weather closed in, the seas proved too much for some surfers and the coastguards had to be called out. See the BBC website for details of the...
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The annual Angus Macleod Memorial Lecture will be given at 19.30 on Thursday 8 November at Pairc School, Gravir, South Lochs, Lewis by Dr Angus Macmillan on his late uncle and namesake, Angus Macmillan (above), who was acclaimed as The Hero of Buzancy. Click here for full details and then make a...
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There was an expected rise in the number of people taking in the Outer Hebrides during the benign Summer of '18. However, the increase in the number of corncrakes visiting was particularly appreciated - with 34 males appearing. See in the Stornoway Gazette an account of this influx.Scottish Islands...
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Boreray, the 500-acre island in the Sound of Harris, is the subject of a detailed analysis by Alastair McIntosh who visited in 2015. His interests were multiple, but he explores, in particular, the life of St Donnan, who died in 681; how the grandfather of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon...
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The early morning light of Skye is captured here by Andy Dines. His photograph won acclaim and is detailed in the Daily Record. The item is well worth reading … and the image to be enjoyed at length. Further stunning pictures from National Geographic are included in the feature.Scottish Islands...
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When Andrea Verni photographed the Shetland sunset in 2013, the image made an immediate and timeless impact. Now local GPs are prescribing looking at aspects of nature in order to help cure some medical conditions. So taking an evening stroll, collecting driftwood, listening to birdsong or, perhaps...
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The first Hebridean Dark Skies Festival is to be held on the Isle of Lewis from Friday 8 until Tuesday 21 February 2019. Read about the event on the BBC website and consider the paintings of Ron Lawson at the Alpha Art Gallery. His Hebridean Croft House is above and Mannal, Tiree below.Scottish...
wondering wanderers
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But I’ve heard people talking about Christmas. I know, you probably have too, in fact I suspect if you have been anywhere near a supermarket, high street, social media, a TV with adverts or a newspaper you have been hearing about it for weeks already. For a long while now Christmas for us has...
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It’s now over seven months since we returned to Rum after our winter off. We’ve seen the end of winter, spring, summer and the start of autumn. Davies has turned 18, Scarlett will soon be 16. With that changing dynamic and with all we learned while we were away, what bought us back and...
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I have always had a quick temper – whether it is really because of my hair colour or whether I developed it as a self fulfilling prophesy because people treated me as though they expected me to have a quick temper is a whole other debate for another day but I definitely have a low flash point...
Marc Calhoun
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When I last left you I was battling the midges of Gleann Shanndaig, a remote part of Lewis, three miles east of Kinlochreasort. After a night in the tent I packed up and, walking fast enough to keep ahead of the pursuing midges, set out to find the shieling site known as Airigh a' Clàir Mhòir.A bit...
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A few weeks ago I wrote of a wonderful campsite I had in Glen Shanndaig, on the isle of Lewis. It was an amazing place, where I'd pitched my tent below the ruin of a giant beehive cell. But I did gloss over something. There was a big downside to that spot. Something all who've hiked in the islands...
Treshnish Farm
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Always nice to have a day out together, and yesterday we headed off to catch the 8.40am ferry to Oban as we had some serious shopping to do. It was the day of the annual Tup Sale at Oban Livestock Market, just out of Oban on the road to Kilmartin. In days gone by before Tescos, before William...