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 that strange lull time between Christmas and New Year when some people are already back to work but others are still off, TV and radio scheduling is not back to normal and you hit a point where despite the house being filled with all sorts of delicious special food you struggle to pull...
Volunteer on Eigg
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A very Happy Christmas and all the very best for the New Year! A huge thanks to all those that helped out in 2018 and look forward to another successful volunteer season meeting new faces and hopefully seeing some familiar ones too… See you in 2019!!
Scottish Islands Explorer
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"Look out, behind you!" could be applied to these three on Foula, the distant Shetland isle. They may not be aware that in 1582, when Scotland adopted the new Gregorian calendar with the rest of Britain, Foula retained the Julian version. A report in The Scottish Sun, of a year ago, explains what...
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When a photograph of the lighthouse at Lossiemouth, taken by Gillian Brown, looks like an oil painting, then you know the gallery of images in the BBC Your Pictures of Scotland makes excellent viewing. There is, however, a complete absence of island scenes. Maybe the 21 - 28 December selection will...
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Here's the place to wake on a Boxing Day morning. There will have been a party last night at Berneray with convivial company, for the Gatliff Hostels customarily draw an interesting number of individuals over the festive season. See how the organisation operates and resolve to pay a visit in the...
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There's still time to gift … a subscription to Scottish Islands Explorer and its digital edition. The cost is under tenner (£10 sterling) for six issues lasting a whole year. Just click on below and you will be taken to the portal for payment and presentation. Seasonal Greetings!Scottish Islands...
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Here are two photographs of Orkney - above from Orkney.com and below from McKinlay Kidd - that well depict feature aspects of the archipelago. However, for a gallery of images for which you can vote, go to The Essence of Orkney. It's promoted by The Orcadian and a number of sponsors.Scottish...
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Here's a distant shelter - one of the five bothies on Sula Sgeir - some 40 miles north of Port of Ness at the extremity of the Isle of Lewis. The 'gannet skerry' is renowned for the annual cull of its young birds, served as delicacies. Here also are the remains of a small temple, Taigh Bheannaich,...
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The Press and Journal has a report about the theft of a 7' long claymore from the Museum on the Isle of Canna. It's a mystery.Scottish Islands Explorer - has relatively little crime to reportDigital Edition: formed of inconsequential material, but good content!
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From March 2019, Loganair and Stobart Aviation Services will join forces, in a five-year contract, at Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports. Aircraft will be provided by the former to destinations, including the Scottish islands; ground-handling will be undertaken by the latter.Scottish Islands Explorer...
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Gairsay, Orkney, is just under one square mile in size and rises to a conical 335' with both a triangulation point and a cairn. Some collectors of these features will be drawn, whereas others may be attracted by the production of 'Cinderella stamps'.Its population plunged from 71 in 1841 to zero...
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There is something compelling about the sea-cliffs of Foula as well as about those individuals who get pleasure out of climbing them. Take a high-resolution YouTube view of two such men, one of whom said he was frightened by … fulmars.Scottish Islands Explorer - takes the stress out of some...
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The Shed at Tokavaig, Skye, has been listed by The Modern House as one of the outstanding designs built in 2018. Do take a look around.Scottish Islands Explorer - intrigued by architectureDigital Edition: not easily contained
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This was one of the most remote residences in Britain. It's at Mulhagery, in The Pairc on the south-east coast of the Isle of Lewis. The Gamekeeper's House was once home to a family which grew with the births of eleven children. Norman Macdonald (1830) and his wife Isabella Thomson (1833) had...
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Old Scatness has some history as a settlement. It's in the South Mainland of Shetland and illustrates how one culture, in this case Pictish, developed a 'residential area' that was taken over by another, Viking. Then it became a ruin, to be resurrected with archaeological discoveries during airport...
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Grand Designs attracts us to other people's houses and concepts of residency. Here's a house to dwell on (as well as in) that's on the Isle of Skye. To learn more, click here.Scottish Islands Explorer - likes looking in as well as beyondDigital Edition: lends itself to the minimalist approach
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Here is part of the Black Cuillins on Skye which are not often confused with the red planet, Mars. However, recent research has suggested that there are similarities between the soils of Skye and Mull with the ground covering on Mars. Follow the connections on the BBC website.Scottish Islands...
Marc Calhoun
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Another island that I've yet to see is Texa. It is a small island that sits a half mile off the south coast of Islay, just opposite the Laphroig distillery. It had a population of 8 in the 18th century, and has been uninhabited since the middle of the 19th.Texa is an intriguing name. Especially in...
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Another Isle to Be is The Pirate's Isle. How's that for an enticing name. Was it once the base of Blue Beard, or maybe Jean Laffite? No. Or how about Captain Hook? No; although Hook's creator spent time writing in a spot 20 miles from the island.The island's other name is Bearasaigh, and it...
Treshnish Farm
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The Treshnish Herdwicks at the Salen Show
