Caithness Broch, Castles and Cairns
the Broch Project
historic Caithness
Caithness and Sutherland from the sky
How Stone Stacking Wreaks Havoc on National Parks
Scottish Highlands at risk of erosion by tourists seeking 'perfect picture', warn activists
Betty Mouat's Sang
Betty Mouat’s nineteenth century story is an amazing one of surviving a foiled sailing trip from Grutness in the south of Shetland to the capital town of Lerwick where she planned to sell her knitwear. Betty’s boat, the Columbine, was caught in a storm and the crew disappeared overboard but Betty survived nine days of drifting alone before running aground on the island of Lepsøy in Norway. Whilst recuperating there and with relatives in Edinburgh, news of Betty’s story spread via the national press and Queen Victoria heard about Betty’s bravery, honouring her survival with a gift of money. The 60-year-old eventually returned home to her crofting life in Shetland after generating quite a stir worldwide, inspiring William McGonagall to write a poem about her misadventure. You can still connect with Betty via her Camping Böd home in Scatness. - Claire White
I mind it joost lik yesterday
Da saat spray is still veeve
We lippened blashy wadder
But no da sea to heave
An bal wis fae ee aert tae next
In 1886
Dan nor-aest on an uncan coorse
Driftin fae Scatness
Driftin, we’re aye driftin
We fin meids back an fore
An if göd fortune favours wis
We land apo da shore
Athin no time I wis mesel
Columbine’s sol lodd
As skipper, mate an deckhand
Were aa taen overboard
Nine days, eight nichts, me löf-alenn
No blinndin on da gaet
Twa biscuit an a jar o mylk
Me only faerdie-maet
Da makkin I’d taen nort tae sell
I traded in for rope
Eence nimble fingers noo I used
Ta hadd my body up
Til in a gale I ran agrund
On Norway’s Lepsøy Isle
An winnin safely back ashore
Felt lik me langest mile
In Norway first I kyuckered up
Dan Edinburgh for care
Whaar wimmen cam tae hear me tale
An tak a strand o hair
Dan tree weeks on I med for hom
Dis time apo da Clair
Da croods I’d come tae lippen noo
Were shön ta be nae mair
For back I göd tae work da laand
Da monarch’s twenty pound
Da only mindin o me vaege
An how I ran agrund
Tinkin noo at ninety two
Back thirty year fae syne
Life’s rod his mony twists an turns
Da journey, it is dine
Fort Misery
During Scotland's Year of Young People in 2018, we teamed up with the Highland Youth Arts Hub (HYAH) once again. We gave two groups of young people free reign at Fort George and Urquhart Castle, and let them interpret the sites however they wanted. With the help of a handful of artists, here's the full performance created by the group based at Fort George! - Historic Environment Scotland
Holocaust Memorial Day - Scotland
Hatred does not create monsters. Monsters are extraordinary. They instantly stand out from the crowd. You can see them a mile off and they are very rare. What hatred does is not to create monsters but to allow ordinary men and women to commit terrible acts as if they were the most mundane quotidian of tasks, just loading goods onto a train.
...let there be no room here or anywhere else in political life for hatred and let that for us be the lesson of the Holocaust.
excerpts from the second speaker Adam Tompkins MSP, during Scottish Parliament Members' Business: Remembering the Holocaust
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
Shocking levels of denial remain
Mr Cairngorms
I have travelled the globe widely ... but I still think the Cairngorms are the most wonderful place on earth. - Dr Adam Watson (1930 - 2019)
on mountain hares
on snow
'a protalus rampart'
'the world is going to need more Adam Watsons'
The Immortal Memory
(other video translations here)
On 25 January every year, Scots and Scots-at-heart come together to celebrate the life and works of our national poet, Robert Burns.
The Wounded Hare
OneKind is delighted to have teamed up with visual artist and vegan/animal rights activist Kate Louise Powell to offer a OneKind exclusive digital print.
Specially designed for OneKind, Kate has created this thought provoking hare artwork, inspired by Robert Burns’s ‘The Wounded Hare‘ and our own Mountain Hare campaign.
The print contains the first two verses of Burns’s famous poem, with the aim of creating awareness and celebrating Burns’s empathy towards the hare.
Chasing the Sublime
'to transform from ordinary to briefly extraordinary' - Kate Rew
a film by Amanda Bluglass
Women in Adventure
the Outdoor Swimming Society
Loch Hourn
Wolf Island
I believe that the people who live and work here are best placed to run the island. All we are asking for is the chance to shape our own future, and provide opportunities for our children and generations to come. Community ownership offers us a say in that future. And that is what makes it essential. - Rebecca Munro, Ulva resident.
the community of Ulva and north west Mull took over ownership of the island of Ulva in 2018.
the community of Ulva and north west Mull took over ownership of the island of Ulva in 2018.
festival of islands
Short video intoduction to my time as the Artist in Residence at the splendid ØY Festival based on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney. - Watercolour Music
The Wild in Me: Dave Cuthbertson, mountain photographer
Renowned climber, photographer and mountain guide Dave 'Cubby' Cuthbertson explores Steall Gorge and the slopes of Ben Nevis as he reflects on a life shaped by the mountains.
Up Hellly Aa season: Scalloway
Get close to the fiery action at the 2019 Scalloway Fire Festival, and hear how Maurice Jamieson feels to be the Guizer Jarl, Thorbjorn Hrollaugsson.
Held on the second Friday of January each year, this is the first of Shetland's 12 fire festivals and Up Helly Aa's.
Up Helly Aa is a superb spectacle, a celebration of Shetland history, and a triumphant demonstration of islanders' skills, spirit and community. It takes several thousand people 364 days to organise. Much of the preparation is in strictest secrecy. The biggest secret of all is what the head of the festival, the 'Guizer Jarl', will wear and which character from the Norse Sagas he'll represent in each of the 12 Shetland fire festivals held between January and March each year.
Held on the second Friday of January each year, this is the first of Shetland's 12 fire festivals and Up Helly Aa's.
Up Helly Aa is a superb spectacle, a celebration of Shetland history, and a triumphant demonstration of islanders' skills, spirit and community. It takes several thousand people 364 days to organise. Much of the preparation is in strictest secrecy. The biggest secret of all is what the head of the festival, the 'Guizer Jarl', will wear and which character from the Norse Sagas he'll represent in each of the 12 Shetland fire festivals held between January and March each year.
What the Helly Aa? (Your guide to Shetland's Up Helly Aa fire festivals)
Fire in Winter
When The Shouting Is Over
‘When the race is run and the shouting is all over / Come on home.’
Kris Drever, from If Wishes Were Horses
Photographing the Orkney Islands after a Storm
An unexpected trip back to Orkney, Scotland. Taking photographs in the middle of winter after a hurricane. I got one day of eerie calm, which may have been the eye of the storm, as i negotiated a storm of my very own at the same time. - Ewan Dunsmuir
Crònan na Caillich / the old woman's lullaby
The 3rd 'movement' of a traditional Highland bagpipe pibroch (piobearachd) air. Lyrics are by the late Angus MacPhee of Skye from his book "The Crunluath Collection". Filmed on the Isle of Canna in the Inner Hebrides - Fiona J Mackenzie
Sheòl an Iolaire
Sheòl an Iolaire/The Iolaire Sailed is an art installation designed by Torcuil Crichton and Malcolm Maclean to mark the centenary of the Iolaire tragedy.
The full-scale reproduction of the ship, with the hull marked out with 280 posts for each man aboard, is uncovered at low tide and illuminated at high tide.
As the Women Lay Dreaming
It affected every member of the community and cast a ghastly shadow over whole communities. Many of those affected could not move on with their lives – such was the impact of so many losses on such a sparsely populated part of Scotland. - The Press and Journal
If you can frame a narrative around your grief, if you can express it, you're half way toward healing. Donald S Murray
'sea of grief'
Dìleab: A’ Cuimhneachadh Tubaist na h-Iolaire
Chaidh seo a chlàradh aig Ionad Spòrs Leòdhais air Dihaoine 14 Dùbhlachd 2018. Chìthear sgoilearan Àrd-sgoil MhicNeacail le taic bhon choimhearsnachd agus còisirean bho air feadh Leòdhas agus na Hearadh agus iad a’ comharrachadh ceud blìadhna on a thachair tubaist na h-Iolaire. Oidhche air leth agus Dìleab phrìseil.
This video was recorded at Ionad Spòrs Leòdhais on Friday the 14th of December 2018. Hosted by the Nicolson Institute with support from community musicians and choirs from Lewis and Harris. A truly special evening in which the centenary of the Iolaire tragedy was commemorated.
Information on New Year Iolaire Centenary Commemoration Events
National commemorative service recalls Iolaire disaster
Service to remember the lost at the Iolaire memorial
This video was recorded at Ionad Spòrs Leòdhais on Friday the 14th of December 2018. Hosted by the Nicolson Institute with support from community musicians and choirs from Lewis and Harris. A truly special evening in which the centenary of the Iolaire tragedy was commemorated.
Information on New Year Iolaire Centenary Commemoration Events
National commemorative service recalls Iolaire disaster
Service to remember the lost at the Iolaire memorial
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