Beyond the Rainbow

Jane Hill's photograph of Barra is a good introduction to the islands represented in the current BBC's Your Photographs of Scotland.

Scottish Islands Explorer - displays many variations of light
Digital Edition: travels faster than its speed

Bell Rock Site

A great civil engineering feat of the early 19th Century was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, eleven miles off the coast of Angus. It now has a fascinating website focusing of many aspects of its creation and use. Enjoy dipping into it as well as looking at these photographs by Ian Cowe.

Scottish Islands Explorer - also a site to explore
Digital Edition: a technology of the 21st Century

Skye Summer Ahead

Imagine that you had reached your holiday cottage on Skye in time for the scorching Bank Holiday Weekend and looked forward to four months of residence ahead. If that prospect excites and you have around £220k to spend / invest, then the Shepherd's Cottage at Orbost is new on the market. See exactly what is offered through the Skye Property Centre.

Scottish Islands Explorer - always speculating about lifestyles
Digital Edition: usually in range, but worth checking

High Appeal

Stromness has another claim - considered to be one of the most charming towns in Scotland in a recent survey. Go to The Orcadian to see who was asked and what they thought.

Scottish Islands Explorer - completely understands this selection
Digital Edition: new technology to enjoy quietly

Pigeon Past

A male racing pigeon released from Cork was set to go to Derry, but something happened en route and it arrived in ... Lewis. The BBC website has details of his journey that went wrong, but where the bird ended up safe and in comfort.

Scottish Islands Explorer -  reaches most of its delivery destinations
Digital Edition: mistakes rectified in split-seconds

Marmora's Warbler

Here is an image of Marmora's Warbler from BirdGuides. From the same source comes an enthusiastic account from earlier this week of a rare find - one of them on Unst, Shetland.

Scottish Islands Explorer - Unst attracts many human visitors
Digital Edition: can be as rare or as commonplace as required

Casks Ahoy!

Here's CalMac's Lord of the Isles docked at Lochboisdale, South Uist, and photographed by Allan Macdonald. The port could be handling, if plans works out, 300,000 litres of whisky a year. See the story on the BBC website.

Scottish Islands Explorer - will cover and celebrate this initiative
Digital Edition: ready to promote the liquor globally

Views and Value

Whalsay, Shetland, is a prosperous island, and this house at Isbister represents rather good value with space - four bedrooms - and views for £80k. See more at Harper Macleod.

Scottish Islands Explorer - always looking at residences
Digital Edition: always ready to travel to extremes

How Good is Your Gaelic?

Test your knowledge of Scottish Gaelic with this quiz from the Stornoway Gazette.

Scottish Islands Explorer - keen to promote this language of the North-west
Digital Edition: conveys meanings instantly

Four G for Fair Isle?

 Round-the-clock electricity will soon be available for the 55 residents of Fair Isle and, perhaps, soon after that 4G may be rolled out by EE. So then there's nothing to stop the island becoming an enterprising commercial hub. That's quite a transformation. Look into it at Shetland News.

Scottish Islands Explorer - born on Fair Isle
Digital Edition: conceived later