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.
Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles
-
The Melilot from Lower Breakish has survived well in water and continues to develop: Melilotus from Lower Breakish I noted these long stipules Stipules and looking at the illustrations by Sybil Roles that accompanied Clapham, Tutin & Warburg (1965) this clearly suggested Melilotus altissimus (...
-
In no particular order…. Following on from my last post Seth has toured the north of Skye recording Crocosmias, adding records for C. pottsii (Potts’ Montbretia) and sowing confusion about some other specimens. See his blog post. With an addition of my own, Potts’ is now recorded...
-
It took me a long time to register that some of the Montbretia in my patch is not Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora (C. aurea x pottsii) but one of the parents – Crocosmia pottsii (Pott’s Montbretia). Duncan told me a couple of years ago that the latter was frequent in the southern part of...
-
Leathad Beithe forms the south side of Talisker Bay, the western half lying in tetrad NG32E where, apart from a handful of records, the only plants recorded were from a day in June 2013 when I looked at the sea cliffs from below having walked around the point from Talisker Bay. This meant there...
-
I spent two days helping record plants in VC105. Here are a few of the things I saw: Who knows? Some poor beastie that had been parastised/infected. Willow Redgall Sawfly (Pontania proxima) galls on Salix x fragilis (Hybrid Crack-willow) Euphorbia peplus (Petty Spurge) The only VC104 record for...
Treshnish Farm
-
I flew over a croft at Langamull to record the results of several years of hard graft, preparing a growing area in the middle of a devastated patch of felled forest.The Heather is in full flower as seedheads of earlier flowers turn.We catch the 8pm ferry from Oban back to Mull, as the MV Isle of...
-
Farmer and Daughter took some Herdwicks to the Salen Show. They brought home a few rosettes. Unfortunately I missed the judging so didn't get any photographs of them in the ring.
-
The good weather in early August has enabled me to fly the drone, and Farmer to continue the battle with the Bracken, which is a back breaking activity involving bouncing around on the quad bike with the weed wiper on the back, or on the tractor with the mower. It does seem like a never...
Scottish Islands Explorer
-
A student, Karen Fleming, has reconstructed the head of a female druid, Hilda, who lived in Stornoway at some time between 55BC and 400AD. It's certainly worth turning to The Press and Journal to find out more and to discover where you, too, can virtually encounter the 60-year-old.Scottish Islands...
-
The latest edition of the magazine should soon be in the shops and it's the last one, his 57th, to be produced by John Humphries, who has decided to retire. The publication started in Shetland, moved down to Sussex, up to Suffolk and should soon be in Stornoway, to be published by Fred Silver....
-
A Liberal Democrat MEP has declared that 'a mackerel war' with Iceland is imminent . There have been three 'cod wars' since 1958 involving the UK and its northern neighbour. I recall that The Guardian sent a staff reporter to cover one of the occasions. Apparently nothing was happening, but he...
-
Now this electric motor-home is the first of its type on Orkney, where motorists are leading the way in purchasing vehicles that need charging more than filling. If you want a figure for the number on the roads there - 200 or 2% of the total, a high uptake. Take in the report on the BBC website....
-
Cameras and binoculars were probably safely in hand when a driver went to observe the otters at Kylerhea Pier, Skye. Unfortunately the car's handbrake failed to grip and the Volkswagen ran away. The details of this car 'escaping' is on the BBC website.Scottish Islands Explorer - likes to explore in...
-
There is something appealing about islands where people, within living memory of others, spent their lives. Gordon and Ina Watters were residents of Fara in Scapa Flow, Orkney, until the 1960s. Nearby is Cava, or Calf, Island where the last two residents remained until the 1980s. ...
-
If there's one photograph that I cherish, it's the rare view of Muckle Flugga, Shetland, from the north, on the very difficult-to-access, Out Stack or Ootsta an ultimate part of Scotland. The photographer? - of course, that venturer to the remote, Andy Strangeway.Scottish Islands Explorer - much to...
-
There are plans for the development of Ulva House - to create an interpretative and educational centre together with self-catering accommodation - by the community that now owns the island. The Press and Journal has the details.Scottish Islands Explorer - always planningDigital Edition: constantly...
-
This is Hasselwood Rock, adjacent to Rockall. The skerry is apparently one metre high in low water, is 13 metres across and extends for 130 square metres. In June 1904, the SS Norge, a Danish passenger ship, struck the rock leading to the deaths of 635 people.Scottish Islands Explorer -...
Marc Calhoun
-
The Continuing Adventures of Hjalmar BjorgeSeason 4 - Episode 4 - The FlannansExploring the Isles of the West Cruise July 10-19, 2019Tuesday morning (July 16) the forecast looked good for the Flannans. So we left Carloway and set a course to the west. After three hours of steaming...
-
The Continuing Adventures of Hjalmar BjorgeSeason 4 - Episode 3 - Rona, Sula & CarlowayExploring the Isles of the West Cruise July 10-19, 2019Thursday morning saw us bid goodbye to Ness as we set a course north to Rona. It was a grey, overcast day, but the sea was calm, which made...
-
The Continuing Adventures of Hjalmar BjorgeSeason 4 - Episode 2 - Shiants to RonaExploring the Isles of the West Cruise July 10-19, 2019At 7 am Tuesday the ship's big alarm clock (AKA the generator) broke the morning silence. Well, what silence there was - the birds had been serenading...
