Category: Scottish Nature
Amanda’s West Highland Way Trip – Mission Control…
On Friday Morning Amanda slung here backpack on her shoulders and headed off for Milngavie to commence her 8 day hike on the west Highland Way. A 95 mile route from just north of Glasgow to Fort William in the highlands. We will have an extensive report of this trip from her when she returns [...]
An Unlikely Jacobite Hero
A number of molehills have sprung up across the battlefield site at Culloden, much to the delight of a Jacobite supporters group. The Circle of Gentlemen – a Highland based Jacobite supporters society – is welcoming the site’s newest residents and hoping the creatures will be kept from harm. Said to have played a role [...]
Scotland the Place to Be in 2013
Around Edinburgh at the moment signs of the post-festive season are evident, and life is slowly returning to normal. Discarded, tired Christmas trees lie on the pavements waiting patiently for someone to come and remove them, tram preparation has resumed on Princes Street after Hogmanay celebrations, and pubs seem to be quieter than usual as [...]
Mingulay: 100 years of abandonement.
In June 1912 a flotilla of small boats sailed away from the tiny island of Mingulay, the boats carried a handful of crofters and their families and marked the end of over a thousand years of island history. The island of Mingulay forms part of the Bishop Islands, a small collection of islands that lie [...]
The Beaches of Arisaig – Sunset Capital of Britain?
The small village of Arisaig lies on Scotlands West coast to the North West of the town of Fort William. The name ‘Arisaig’ means ‘safe place’. This remote part of Scotland is steeped in history and in particular the history around that most troublesome period known as the Jacobite Rebellions. When ‘Bonny Prince Charlie’ began [...]
A Walk from Ballachulish to Duror.
Yesterday I decided to take a long walk, over from Ballachulish to where we were camping near Duror. It was a magnificent day and here are some photos from my trip. The journey started in Ballachulish. This small town has become well known for the slate which was quarried here from the late 1600s onwards [...]
The Worlds Oldest Sheep Has Died!
At the grand old age of 25 years and 11 months a sheep nicknamed Methuselina has died! Just a month short of her 26th birthday the ewe lived on a small croft on the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. 25 might not seem old to you and me but in sheep years this [...]
Ice Age Scotland
20,000 years ago Scotland, like much of the Northern Hemisphere was blanketed by a great ice sheet, over 4000ft thick in places; and the effect on our landscape of this event is huge. Ice ages occur in part because of astronomical cycles, and over the course of the last two million years the ice has waxed and waned over Scotland. The last 10,000 years have been warm and ice free, but the legacy of the glaciers upon our scenery and history is incalculable.
The Gaelic Calendar
The Gaelic language, spoken still today in the Highland and Islands, has a very descriptive way of explaining the seasons and months of the year based on observations that take us back thousands of years to our ancient past. The months of the year reflect important annual milestones, natural cycles and religious ritual; and were an intregal part of farming life. The article takes you through the year, the seasons and the meaning behind the months and a chance to glimpse the world through our forefathers eyes.
The Great Wood of Caledon
For thousands of years the Scottish Highlands were covered in a forest known as the Great Wood of Caledon, an extension of the Eurasian Boreal Forest and the Wild Wood of folklore and legend. Today only fragments remain, isolated in the deepest reaches of the mountains, but exisit they do; and they offers us a glimpse into a lost world. The Caledonian Pineforest, is it is referred to today was systematically felled and burned over the last thousand years and today the remnants offer a last sanctuary for many rare and ellusive plants and animals, and are protected for the future. This is the story of that forest.
Recent Comments