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.
wondering wanderers
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It’s ten days since we were sitting on the ferry heading away from Rum. We had our cat, our dog, as many possessions as we could pack in and a whole load of hopes, wishes, frets and crossed fingers in the car on the car deck. Ten days later we’re back in the caravan on Rum again for...
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I had thought I would wait until we are actually settled, but there is every chance we will be internet-less for a few weeks so better to blog now. Last Thursday evening I spotted a house to rent on the local-ish facebook buy/ sell / swap group so I got in touch with the landlord and after a bit...
Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles
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Taxa per tetrad recorded from 2000 to 2018 are shown here: Some of those red squares really do have no plants, the only land being bare rock just above the high water line. More usefully, in terms of targets, the following tetrads have >5% land and <50 taxa recorded post-1999 : Tetrad...
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This post concerns vascular plant & charophyte records only. Looking at records to date at the hectad level gives some idea of where to concentrate in this final year of recording for Atlas 2020. VC 104 comprises part of 51 hectads (10 km squares of the British National Grid). No hectad is 100...
Scottish Islands Explorer
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Gigha has attracted people over the years. However, the population declined from 700 in the 18th Century to 100 at the end of the last. Following the community buyout in 2002, there was a 50% increase. Now the trustees are looking for younger people to settle and have appointed a 19-year-old to...
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Two photographers, Gordon Macrae and Aaron Simpson, have their work featured in the current BBC's Your Pictures of Scotland. One sheep on Lewis showed an interest; the other, on Skye, continued to graze.Scottish Islands Explorer - worth looking at the photos in the current issueDigital Edition:...
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Lismore has attracted people over the centuries, but archaeologists have recently found proof, backed by radiocarbon dating, of burials back in the 7th and 10th Centuries. A tradition maintains that St Moulag founded a monastery there in 562, a year ahead of St Columba doing similar on Iona. A...
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You can get a little further north than Baltasound in Unst, but not that far. It's not easy to find a six-bedroom property in Britain with a guide price lower than £78k. Go to Zoopla for details.Scottish Islands Explorer - remains reasonably-priced at £4.95 a copyDigital Edition: even lower at £9....
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The West Highland Free Press has drawn attention to a decline in the numbers of secondary pupils seeking qualification in Gaelic and of those wanting to apply for places at Sabhal Mor Ostaig (above) on Skye.Scottish Islands Explorer - at least uses the services of a Gaelic ConsultantDigital Edition...
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The Schools Hebridean Society was established in 1962 and above are members of the expedition to Mingulay in 1980; below is the camp at Rhenigidale in 1974. It's now history and yet over 3000 places were filled by young people and leaders during the organisation's 27-years of existence. The founder...
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Here is a typical view of bracken on the Isle of Skye. It gives a clue given to the name chosen by competition for the new accommodation and leisure resort to be built at Portree. See the West Highland Free Press for the winning entry.Scottish Islands Explorer - items revealed in each issueDigital...
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Here is a two-bedroomed country house on the Isle of Scalpay, Harris, that appears to have ideal attributes for creative people or to be to continued in its current use asa self-catering property. Full details with a fine gallery of images can be clicked onto here. The asking price is for offers...
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The Fair Isle Bird Observatory has been 'lost to fire' when it was engulfed in flames yesterday morning.. No one was injured, but the smoke was visible from Sumburgh, Shetland, 30 miles away and from where extra firefighters were flown. The details are on the BBC Website and the photograph of the...
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The photograph of a Rum sunset - from Karen Thorburn Photography - is reassuring of the natural order of things; The Press and Journal image and account of the fire on Rum some four days ago is a reminder of the fragility of habitat when a cigarette is discarded.Scottish Islands Explorer - aims to...
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Panter & Hall, Pall Mall, London, will have a new exhibition opening next week - Painting the Light - featuring the work of Charles Simpson. Click here to view and to see how he has captured many island scenes, including Iona Light (above) and Distant Ferry (below).Scottish Islands Explorer -...
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Although it's only March, perhaps the time of the year has come to consider camping in the spring, summer and autumn months? Campsites in Scotland gives insights and ideas. Eviedale in Orkney is above and Skye Camping below.Scottish Islands Explorer - likes tents, pods and caravans for authentic...
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As 2019 has progressed, residents of North Hoy and Graemsay, Orkney, have been enjoying the benefits of the treatment, enhanced by new technologies, of their water supplies. Read about this vital issue in The Press and Journal.Scottish Islands Explorer - its supplies come from various...
Marc Calhoun
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The great skua is an impressive beast. I have seen a sky full of 100,000 puffins suddenly become empty as a skua swooped through on the prowl. I have been attacked by them on several occasions, most notably on St Kilda, Rona, and Hermaness (Unst). For their first attack they like to dive in from...
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When first he rounded Pabay MorAnd met the mountain waves aloneThere was fear till there was fear no moreWild Atlantic sonThis is the first verse of Pabay Mor; a beautiful song that eloquently invokes the ever-present challenge of the sea in the lives of the Hebrideans. I have been to this...
Volunteer on Eigg
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Spring was in the air but then things have taken a dramatic change. Temperatures have plummeted and the wind has been blowing, even a touch of snow! The volunteer house has had its spring scrubbing and ready for the first volunteers to arrive. And the volunteer places have all been filling up fast...
