Pony Views Bass Rock

Sylvia Beaumont took this photograph of an Exmoor pony taking in Bass Rock. It's one of six island images in a stunning collection of Your Pictures of Scotland from the BBC. Please disregard the inconsistency of the date of entry and the time-frame of the gallery.

Scottish Islands Explorer - keen to take in scenes and relay them
Digital Edition: always at the ready to view
 

Long Time To Discover

It looks small, but was intricate - the jaw of the Borealestes serendiptitus - a mouse- or shrew-like creature that was roaming in the south of Skye some 165 million years ago. It's worth reading about here on the BBC for this region has developed into something of a 'Jurassic Park'.

Scottish Islands Explorer - approaching 20 years of age
Digital Edition: transcends space and time

Back on the Block?

Sorry about being off-the-grid for some time owing to circumstances beyond my control. Let's hope we can move on with the appropriate Love Island in Stirlingshire - from the current BBC Your Pictures of Scotland.

Scottish Islands Explorer - enjoys the shapes of the insular
Digital Edition: many love this means of communicating

Time for a Break?

It could be time to take a break while away from computers. So watch this space, but remember that the shadows are always on the move as well.

Scottish Islands Explorer - keeps on appearing
Digital Edition: always ready to run the required length

A Castaway Basketball

Basketball was probably never heard of by the people of St Kilda, evacuated almost 90 years ago. Now the game is in the news following a kick-into-the-sea launch and a discovery in the north of Denmark. A full account is on the BBC website.

Scottish Islands Explorer - likes the castaway condition
Digital Edition: items picked up everywhere

A Metre Higher?

Predictions that sea levels could rise worldwide by one metre by 2100, do put many places at risk. Read on the BBC website what the pundits say about Skara Brae, Orkney. It was revealed by the Great Storm of 1850, when its sand-covering was blown away. Comparable future storm activity could see it concealed beneath the waves.

Scottish Islands Explorer - a place secured for it
Digital Edition: seems unaffected by weather 

Webcams Galore

Here are two clear, but static views of Shetland - Hermaness and Lerwick - and here is the entry to some 15 live webcams with a network of all sorts of dynamic views of the group of northern isles. Time to stop and take in.

Scottish Islands Explorer - tries to act as a network
Digital Edition: gives webcams impetus

A Really High Five

This walrus ivory chess piece was purchased by an antique dealer in 1964 for £5 and kept in a drawer by his family. Expectations are that it will fetch a million pounds at auction. Why so high? It's one of the five missing Lewis Chessmen discovered in 1831. Read on at the BBC website.

Scottish Islands Explorer - unlikely to inflate
Digital Edition: value of a different kind

Island Miscellany

The evening sun shows Gigha in a splendid state. The photograph was taken by Neil Pirie who was flying home to Edinburgh from Islay and it appears, together with other island images, producing something of a miscellany in the current gallery of the BBC Your Pictures of Scotland.

Scottish Islands Explorer - loves looking around and from above

Digital Edition: operates mainly from above