Glenlivet Production

The Glenlivet Distillery in Moray produces 'amber nectar'; the new Glenlivet gas-field to the west of Shetland has amber-coloured flames. Both are in full flow, assisting in the fuelling of individuals and industry. Read about the  newcomer in Shetland News.

Scottish Islands Explorer - fuels interest in islands
Digital Edition: part of the new publishing works

Ca'd at Cata

A tradition of whales being ca'd or driven ashore at Cata Sand, Orkney, has probably been verified by the discovery in recent excavations of 12 whale skeletons form the 19th Century. The remains of an Early Neolithic house has also come to light. Read more in The Orcadian.

Scottish Islands Explorer - revelations come regularly
Digital Edition: information comes to light fast

A New Lamb Rum for Sale

Here's an unlikely looking place for a new product, but rum supplies are going to flow from the uninhabited Orkney islet of Lamb Holm. It is a place better known for the location of the Italian Chapel. Emile van Schayk set up the Orkney Wine Company there in the late 1990s and his son, Colin, looks forward to producing between 12,000 - 15,000 bottles of J Gow Rum, named after the local and infamous pirate, John Gow, starting with the first sales this autumn. Read more about it on the BBC website. There is a parallel here. In 1849, Alfred Lamb, son of a wine merchant, William, started selling Lamb's Navy Rum from the family's Great Tower Street distillery, London. Sales went from strength to strength.

Scottish Islands Explorer - issued in single copies
Digital Edition: also available on Lamb Holm

Rocket Post III

Things have come a long way since Saturday 28 July 1934 when a prototype air mail service was unsuccessfully launched from Scarp, North Harris. However, on Saturday 23 September 2017 a new show for children and families by the National Theatre of Scotland, Rocket Post, will open at An Lanntair, Stornoway. It is based on the events of 83 years ago and the production is featured in the Stornoway Gazette.

The film of the same name was launched in 2004 and continues to draw audiences. Some of them have gathered in the lounge of the yacht, Moonshadow, seen moored here off Scarp, when taking passengers on a cruise of these waters.

For full background details of the happenings that led to a fascinating series of island incidents, go to the Glasgow-based newspaper, The Herald, or to the Edinburgh-published The Scotsman.

Scottish Islands Explorer - launches regularly every eight weeks
Digital Edition: have far we have travelled

Good Shot on Eriskay

The West Highland Free Press features this photograph, which has been short-listed in an Inverness competition, of the football pitch on Eriskay. It's a scene of soccer-on-sea.

Scottish Islands Explorer - comparatively little football to cover
Digital Edition: good (photographic) shots to download

Islands Ahoy!

This week's Your Pictures from the BBC has two images that capture the essence of island excitement. Wendy Gootjes conveys the excitement of departing from the mainland - on this occasion from Scrabster on the ferry for Stromness, Orkney. Graham Campbell focuses on the machair at Horgabost with Luskentyre in the mid-distance and the hills of North Harris beyond.

Scottish Islands Explorer - has comparable galleries
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Birsay Invitation

Here is a destination on Birsay, Orkney, together with an access point on a causeway-style footpath. Volunteers will be accepting an invitation to assist archaeologists there both today and tomorrow as part of the Mapping Magnus project. Discover more in The Orcadian.

Scottish Islands Explorer - always ready for discovery
Digital Edition: ready and waiting for you

A Saturday on Scarp

The aerial view of the settlement on Scarp, was taken by Donald Mackinnon. The channel between the island, now inhabited only in the summer months, and Hushinish, in North Harris, is narrow and looks deceptively easy to navigate. However, strong currents make it a dangerous stretch of water. On the second Saturday in September - the 9th -  The Islands Book Trust is organising a visit. Here is an opportunity to take - so book now while places are still available.

Scottish Islands Explorer - takes you places visually
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Forty Years On

An exhibition of photographs depicting everyday life of the late 1970s / early 1980s in Caithness, Orkney and Shetland will continue at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow until 27 August. Here Tom Kidd captured a Sunday scene on Fair Isle. Take a look at the selection of images on the BBC website and just ponder how things have changed.

Scottish Islands Explorer - goes out, about and back in time
Digital Edition: then just a dream in the mind of an innovator

On Track and Remote

As the Thurso and Wick-bound train approaches Altnabreac, the most remote station in Britain, you could well imagine that it has crossed an expanse of water to reach an island. It has, in fact, traversed a section of the Flow Country, where roads have never been constructed. Last Saturday this stretch of track featured in the lives of Geoff Marshall and Vicki Pope, who arrived in Wick at the end of a project to visit all 2563 railway stations in England, Wales and Scotland. Follow them on All the Stations.

Scottish Islands Explorer - has its island-baggers too
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