| Featured Media Album | ||||
|
||||
 |
Smooth Plans for Bumpy Islay Roads
Thursday, July 24 2008
What struck me most during our last visit was the quality of the roads on Islay and other parts of Argyll. Don't get me wrong, it's not that bad, but some stretches really are in a terrible state. It looks like the Highland Council spends far more money on roads than the Argyll and Bute council does. Take the roads on Skye for instance, they are great, well maintained and it's a pleasure to drive there. Even in the far north way beyond Ullapool the roads are far better than in Argyll. In the Ileach of 24 May is an interesting article about this very subject which gives some hope for improvements:
For the last two years there has been little or no capital spending on the roads of Islay, Jura and Colonsay, because the privately owned plant at Ballygrant Quarry is in the words of Council officials 'defunct'. Renewing the plant could cost up to £500,000 and it is thought that the quarry owner is unwilling to spend this amount.At the recent meeting of the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands’ Area Committee local Councillor Robin Currie pressed hard for immediate action on the island roads, even if this meant bringing material from the mainland. Continue reading....
Whisky Dream Book Review by brian palmer
Wednesday, July 23 2008
I like a book to have a happy ending, and consequently, it’s nice for the review to live in the same way, so let’s get the bad stuff out the way first. An Ileach is an Islay person, born on the island; The Ileach is the local newspaper, and the people of Islay are collectively referred to as the Ilich. Ileachs would almost be OK, but would be grammatically incorrect in this context. Caol Ila distillery is not spelt with an ‘s’, and the phonetic pronunciation of uisge beatha is most definitely not ‘wisheker-vahr’. Nor in fact, is the phonetic pronunciation of Bruichladdich, Brook-laddie. Superficial complaints perhaps, but incessantly irritating nonetheless; a brief degree of checking would not have gone amiss.
The story of the resurrection of Bruichladdich distillery from a mothballed state in the late 1990s is truly an excellent story to be told, but I’m not sure that Mr Rivens is the ideal person to have done so. Much of the content is based on interviews with senior directors and employees of the company, and there seems to have been little critical assessment applied, and a touch too much melodrama. For example 'Getting to that stage, however, involved months of sweat, tears and near-exhaustion on the part of the Bruichladdich team’ seems to be rather over-egging the pudding. On the plus side, the story is colourfully told in an easy to read and flowing style illustrated with photos by Stuart Greig and foreward by Lord Robertson of Port Ellen. Continue reading.....
Bowmore Distillery Video
Tuesday, July 22 2008I found a very nice video of the Bowmore Distillery on Youtube. The video shows a gaelic introduction by Iseabail Mactaggart who gives an introduction of the distillery. After that Eddie McAffer, the distillery manager, explains the way Bowmore makes it's great whiskies. Eddie also tells that Bowmore produces 54000 litres of spirit every week which matures in bourbon and sherry casks. Ginger MacNeill, head warehouse man, tells about the old whiskies that mature in the warehouse and the fact that he already worked for 37 years at the distillery.
Tag: bowmore distillery whisky
The Malt Project - Islay Distilleries on DVD
Monday, July 21 2008
It’s a number of years now since Jack Oswald and his crew appeared on Islay to start filming the first of their DVD series 'The Malt Project'. This has now reached number six, having visited Islay on two previous occasions and taken in Speyside along the way. The latest two DVD set has made room for Bruichladdich and Kilchoman Distilleries on Islay, and visited Arran Distillery too. Unfortunately the vagaries of film editing and production have seen the latter update somewhat since the Malt Project’s visit. The manager at Arran is now James MacTaggart, formerly of Bowmore Distillery. However, while the personnel or circumstances may change over time, the distilleries remain rooted to the spot with little changing over time; this does not devalue the worth of this release. More information is available at www.maltproject.com.
Tag: distilleries dvd malt project
Islay Nature & Wildlife Report 28
Sunday, July 20 2008
This weeks Islay nature report by Jeremy Hastings from Islay Birding: Again the weather has not been too favourable this week with sea hars, rain and sunshine as well as a cold north westerly. The benefits have been that the wild flowers are late in flowering: Bog Asphodel, late Orchids, Purple Loosestrife, Rosebay Willow herb and Brambles also coming into their finest too. (We will have some cracking jam later this year!)
The team from islay Birding; Tink, Rhona and I have been running another camp for the Wildwood Wisdom programme. Sixteen local children under canvas, cooking in the woods and discovering, fishing and playing too. A cracking time has been had by all. Plenty of finch flocks, Gannets off shore, and red Throated Divers calling. To end the week we had a pair of Golden Eagles overhead.
Out birding today with clients and we had super views of seven Crossbills and two Goldcrests at the new abattoir site. This maybe quite a good place for birding in the future as the forestry on the other side of the road has been completely removed. This allows marvellous views of the high hills and obviously those birds that used the forestry have had to move! Chough have done well in some places and not so well in others. At the Foreland Road End six have been regularly spotted as well as the Eider still in moult. Some birds are still on eggs – second brood and if all goes well they will probably be successful. We will like always, just have to wait!
Tink and one of the kids from the Wildwood wisdom programme
Sea Kayaking Blog
Saturday, July 19 2008
This is a bit of a wild guess but I think that in the next few weeks there will be some nice updates about sea kayaking near Islay on the sea kayaking blog. I have been following this blog for quite some time now and wrote about them a while back when Douglas Wilcox, author of the blog, visited the Isle of Gigha and took some amazing sunset pictures of Islay and Jura.
Douglas posted a new blog today and wrote about the crossing to Islay on 12 July 2008. What I like so much about this blog is the beautiful photography of some very remote places in Scotland. The views you get from the water are absolutely stunning at times. So let's hope Douglas has got some great Islay photography coming up, and if not you will probably like the pictures from other parts of Scotland on his blog. You can visit his website at http://seakayakphoto.blogspot.com/
Tag: sea kayaking photography
Fiona Middleton and the Islay Seals
Saturday, July 19 2008Many people on Islay know Fiona Middleton as the woman who plays her violin to the seals living in Islay's waters. Fiona lives on the south part of Islay near Kildalton. Today I found a video on youtube with Fiona being interviewed by Megan McCormick from Globe Trekker and includes some beautiful footage of Islay as well. I discovered that this is a fragment of a DVD which you can buy online at Globe Trekker. A quote from their website: "Megan McCormick heads to the Hebrides to explore the island of Islay. Islay's main industry is the distillation of whisky and she takes a tour of the Ardberg distillery, one of the best in all of Scotland. Megan also meets musician Fiona Middleton who first came to Islay in 1976 and is known all over the island for playing her violin to the seal population."
Tag: seals video violin fiona middleton
Jura Celebrates New Project and Ferry
Friday, July 18 2008
The ForArgyll website reports today that Jura is holding a civic reception at Craighouse on the 1st of August. The two main reasons are the award of funding for development of the Antlers building as a tearoom, interpretation and craft centre. The second reason is the launch of the passenger ferry between Tayvallich and Craighouse which proved to be very succesful. A quote from the ForArgyll website:
Jura is holding a celebratory civic reception at Craighouse on the 1st August, attended by residents and businessmen from Jura and Tayvallich, Argyll MPs, MSPs, local Councillors and Argyll and Bute Council’s Transport Spokesman. The passenger ferry has seen the numbers carried tripled on average since its launch. It now carries an average of 68 per week and the target for sustainability is to get it up to 120 per week. It’s being used by locals, businesses and tourists. The option of a fast service direct from the mainland has helped people with holiday homes on the island to spend much more time in them - good news for Jura as well as for them.
Talking about the Isle of Jura and perhaps the third reason for celebration is the fact that the Scotsman reported on 8 July that the street lights on the island had finally been switched off. The lights stayed on continuously from December last year until late June due to a fault and the absence of a locally based electrician. So much for energy savings ;-)
Tag: jura jura ferry
Bruichladdich Staff Toasting the new Washback
Thursday, July 17 2008The work on the new washback at Bruichladdich is almost completed which was a good reason for a celebration yesterday evening. Mark Unsworth from Islay Studios was there and took a few very nice pictures. I like the picture of the two "hobbit sized guys", Duncan McGillivray and "Budgie" in the washback. It shows the sheer size of this new wooden vat which is 5.5 metres tall by 4.25 height and holds a staggering 40,000 litres! The Laddie Blog has more information and pictures from the earlier stages of construction.
Duncan McGillivray and "Budgie" inside the new washback
The builders of the washback
Duncan McGillivray, Douglas Clyne, The "Budgie", Isobel MacFadyen and Mary MacLellan
who were all relatives of John Campbell who built the original washback which has
now been replaced.
Islay Identified as Butterfly Survival Zone
Thursday, July 17 2008
The decline in the number of butterflies in the UK started years ago and at this very moment the decline for most butterfly species is reaching alarming levels. This was one of the reasons that a small group of dedicated naturalists formed Butterfly Conservation back in 1968. The organisation, a charity, has more than 12,000 members and since 1998 Sir David Attenborough has been President of Butterfly Conservation. The aims of this charity are: "We aim to halt and reverse these declines. Our vision is of a world rich in butterflies for future generations to enjoy. We are also committed to the conservation of moths, which are close relatives of butterflies and are in rapid decline." Butterflies are beautiful and intrinsically valuable. Together with moths, their sensitivity to environmental change makes them valuable indicators of the health of the countryside. Today BBC Scotland reported that ten survival zones have been identified in Scotland which are key to saving rare butterfly species from becoming extinct, according to Butterfly Conservation Scotland (BCS). Islay has been identified as one of these ten survival zones for the Marsh Fritillary Butterfly (picture). Continue reading....
