Latest news with #Hebrides
Times
21-05-2025
- Climate
- Times
Can Scots be convinced to turn off the taps?
The warnings, each more serious than the last, have been sounding all spring. Scotland is facing its driest start to the year in six decades. Water levels are under threat across the whole country, according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa). Even the Hebrides, often ranked among the the rainiest places in Europe, are on an early warning for drought. The entire west of the country is on 'alert'. It's no revelation that Scotland's climate is changing. Now experts say that Scots' liberal attitude to water consumption has to as well. Scots consume far too much — data suggests far more than other countries — and as dry seasons become more frequent, there is a risk of further shortages. Can the public be convinced
Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Swinney sails into trouble over ferries fiasco
In the circumstances, it was brave of John Swinney to mount a robust defence of the SNP's record on ferries for the Clyde and Hebridean service at first minister's questions this week. Brave and, indeed, bold. Brave because this week the state-owned shipyard Ferguson Marine confirmed there would be a further delay in delivering the MV Glen Rosa to the state-owned ferry company on behalf of the state-owned commissioning agency. The cursed Glen Rosa will not sail this year and the cost of its construction has increased by up to another £35 million. All in, it will have taken a decade and £460 million to build it and its sister ferry, the MV Glen Sannox. A bargain at any price. And bold as well because,
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Daily Mail
JOHN MACLEOD: A mainland excursion by ferry? I'm taking a chance on the antique boat show
I am meant to be in Glasgow next Thursday evening for some glitzy function – all starched shirtfronts and varnished hors d'oeuvres – but between the mainland and I are miles of roiling Hebridean sea. And, as so often these days in the Western Isles, few plans of action survive contact with Caledonian MacBrayne. The lad at their Stornoway booking-office on Monday could not have been nicer. He jabbed at his computer like an industrious woodpecker, pinging back and fore between Tarbert to Uig and Stornoway to Ullapool, as scheduled sailing after scheduled sailing proved to be fully booked. With a pause for some dark murmurs about camper-vans, I was finally squeezed in on the late afternoon crossing to Skye next Wednesday with return, by an early afternoon sailing to Harris, a week later. Neither is ideal. The journey south will probably have to be broken by a night in a hotel – elderly mothers do not care for their firstborn to clatter through the door near midnight – and the journey back by further B&B resort or getting up at oh-gosh o'clock. But you cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good, so I surrendered on these terms and bought my tickets. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I spotted something on Facebook and collapsed with a hollow groan. The ship in question, the Hebrides – just scant weeks back from her annual overhaul – has a broken bow-visor. For the next few days, she will be loading stern-only and be forced to turn around on arrival at every port. Big lorries, caravans and that will have to reverse aboard and, accordingly, with all the concomitant delays, her timetable has to be recast. And, though the visor might well be fixed within a few days, it cannot be used again till yellow-vested jobsworths have travelled north - very slowly, at some point in June - to sign off on its safety. We were assured the revised programme would be up on the CalMac website within the hour. I checked after tea. It wasn't. I checked again in the late evening. The website was closed, derelict and dumb for 'routine maintenance.' Then, this morning, a text-message pinged on my mobile. 'Due to an issue with MV Hebrides bow-visor… your sailing from Tarbert to Uig n Wed 21 May will now depart at 17.20. Please check in no later than 16.35…' I all but flung the phone across the room. The inability of Caledonian MacBrayne to describe breakdowns, mechanical failure, collisions with the pier or bits of the boat falling off in pure plain English has long been a signal trial. The Cumbrae ferry, a company spokesman once honked, was temporarily out of action after 'contact with the sea bed.' Or, as we used to put it, had run aground. Not a week now passes when we are spared headlines about Caledonian MacBrayne 'issues.' Ships stuck in dry-dock with intractable problems. A Sound of Harris ferry with dodgy propulsion-units. Passengers having to board at Stornoway by the vehicle-deck because the mechanised gangway has been broken since about 2022. The vast Isle of Mull, allowed to carry no more than 44 fare-paying passengers because her escape-chutes don't work. Reduced vehicle capacity on the Hebrides because her aft mezzanine deck has conked out. And meanwhile, and as if to add insult to injury, it was on Tuesday announced that the new vessel Glen Rosa – meant to be sailing in 2018; still, for now, a static Port Glasgow art-installation – will be delayed by another six months. Oh, and £35 million more from the long-suffering taxpayer, please. Does anything more exemplify 'Broken Britain' than the ongoing travails of Caledonian MacBreakdown? The sad thing is that none of this is, fundamentally, the company's fault and anyone who travels regularly by CalMac – 'issues' permitting – can attest to the courtesy and good humour of her shore-staff and crews. The failure is political; the wilful refusal to grasp that ships age and depreciate and must, in a calm and ongoing programme, be regularly replaced. In the eighteen years of averred Scottish woe under the distant regimes of Thatcher and Major, six major new ships were built for CalMac, and ten smaller double-ended ferries. The numbers so far delivered by the Nationalists, after their eighteen years in devolved power, are three and three. When John Whittle transformed the company, in assorted Gourock roles from 1969 to 1988 and with a protracted public-spending crisis, he nevertheless replaced pleasure-steamers and glorified puffers with an efficient car-ferry network and delivered untold islands from the age of the coracle. Whittle accomplished this because CalMac organisation and the chain of command was far simpler and public accountability very clear. The company was one leg of the Scottish Transport Group stool – the others were the Scottish Bus Group, and MacBrayne Haulage – and answerable to the Secretary of State for Scotland. And, every year, he laid a detailed STG report before Parliament. And John Whittle – though he ingeniously updated assorted routes by adapting and rebuilding quite a few ships – was not in the least sentimental about tired old bangers. On his watch, and with but one exception – and she had recently been reengined – ships were sold off around their 20th or 25th birthdays, for new careers elsewhere (usually in the Piraeus) till finally wrecked. Every five years by law, you see, a passenger ship must have a particularly exhaustive and indeed expensive 'quinquennial survey,' and by their third decade few vessels are worth it. We chatted about this in 2022 and Whittle could not hide his incredulity that, under his successors, Caledonian MacBrayne was still operating glorified rust-buckets in their thirties and forties. Patching up this and that with, one supposes, gaffer-tape, or the odd firm thump on the top of the set, and sourcing spare parts from the British Museum. At ongoing and eyewatering expense. Though I have always damned as vile calumny that, early in her career, the Isle of Cumbrae served at the Battle of Lepanto, or that Vasco da Gama was ever captain of her. There is a deeper cultural problem. Whatever you might think of the Thatcher years, the men of standing at the time (and they were mostly men) in Westminster or Whitehall had a far better feel for the Highlands and Islands. Many were war veterans, alongside doughty Hebrideans; many routinely holidayed in the pursuit of stags, salmon and grouse. As my late grandfather always maintained, the foe of the Gael has never been the Englishman: it is the Lowland Scot. And in the comfortable Edinburgh ranks of the devolved nomenklatura – the school-run to Watson's, murmured luncheons at the New Club - most know nothing about ferries, and care less. Which is why any excursion to the mainland, these days, is to take your chances with the antique boat show – and the stuff of Russian roulette.
Fox News
10-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Man offering free smoked salmon business to right couple with 'entrepreneurial spirit'
A man who runs a food business on a Scottish island has a tantalizing offer for the right couple. He's planning to give the entity away for free to someone looking to move to the area long term — all part of a desire to help protect his community's future, he said. Richard Irvine, 65, founded his smokery about three years ago, said news agency SWNS, after first "falling in love" with the Hebridean island in the 1980s when he and his wife honeymooned there. His business, Colonsay Smokery, supplies smoked salmon to the shop as well as to local restaurants and venues off the island. The tightknit community has just 120 residents or so — and Irvine wants to hand the business over to a young couple who plan to stay and help contribute to building up the area. He said he wants to help boost the local and school populations however he can. "Attracting younger people to live here is a constant driver for island efforts," he said, SWNS reported, as the current population is growing older. "Many of my peers on the island have devoted their skills and time in a voluntary capacity to help develop the island economy … [They've aimed] to increase the amount of affordable accommodation, which is great," he said. "Call it a desire to help an island I love." "But housing is only one side of the island's problems. Economic development – jobs – is the other. That's where I thought I could add value." He said he wants to "pass this business and the opportunity it presents on to someone who has the desire to run and grow a business, but perhaps is missing the initial capital to get it set up. Call it putting back, call it boomer guilt — call it just a desire to help an island I love," he added. "My vision is to find a young couple, possibly with a young family, who'd like to make it their home [and] need a way of earning a living." Irvine founded the smokery after retiring from a career as a brand consultant, he said. "I moved here after retiring early from a career that encompassed building, working as a chef, commercial writing and running a successful design and brand consultancy," he said. "I did so as we've [vacationed] here for almost 40 years since I took my wife here on our honeymoon." The couple originally planned to buy a plot and build a home on Colonsay, but realized they needed a place to stay during the process. Within months, they found and purchased a house with sea views. While his wife stayed on the mainland with their son, Irvine took on the task of renovating their new island home. It was complete by the "end of the pandemic," he said. He also "needed a project to keep me busy," he said. "I conceived the idea of creating a business that would benefit the island that I love and that I could hand over to someone to encourage them to relocate here." The ideal candidates would have an "entrepreneurial spirit," he said. The process of smoking salmon takes five days. It includes fileting and curing the fish in salt, before it is dried, smoked and left to mature, the BBC noted. It is then sliced and packed before being sold. Irvine said he will mentor prospective owners for three months, he said. "I'll mentor and teach them for three months as a handover if they need it … The only thing I will do is retain a form of 'golden share' to ensure they keep the business going, and hopefully growing, for five years." For more Lifestyle articles, visit He said that ideally, he's hoping to find a family who would appreciate the close-knit nature of Colonsay's tiny primary school, and the opportunity to swap a small city flat for a larger, more affordable home just minutes from work, as SWNS reported. "If you think you might be that couple – write to me telling me why," he said.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
Where to see wildlife in Europe this summer
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). Although quite densely populated, Europe isn't short of lonely island outposts, remote mountain ranges and dark, seemingly impenetrable forests — and many of them shelter world-class displays of animal activity. You'll need to be well-equipped to enjoy them and will almost certainly need to travel in the company of an expert guide or a specialist tour operator — to keep you safe as well as make sense of what you're seeing. But if you get the basics right, Mother Nature still has the power to impress. It's the setting as much as the wildlife that makes St Kilda magnificent. Here, 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, a citadel of soaring cliffs and islets stands fast against the heaving seas — and it swarms with breeding seabirds. The latest count was 17 nesting species, with 100,000 pairs of Atlantic puffins forming the UK's largest colony. Summer is the best time to visit: on a day trip, as part of a wider wildlife tour of the Hebrides or by bagging a spot on the National Trust for Scotland's sought-after campsite (booking ahead is essential). But whatever form your visit takes, the chance of spotting dolphins, orcas, seals and humpback whales en route adds to the thrill. So too the long street of abandoned houses above the main island's eastern shore — although there are wardens and researchers living here, the last St Kilda natives were evacuated in 1930, after 4,000 weather-beaten years of human habitation. In the southern Carpathians, west of Brașov, conservationists are hoping to create the Yellowstone of Europe — a half-million-acre national park whose biodiversity would be almost unmatched on the continent. But you don't have to wait till their work is done to visit. This heavily forested stretch of mountains is already home to a stellar array of species. On a summer's evening, waiting to spot brown bears from a woodland hide, you'll be amazed — and heartened — to see the air thicken with insects, too, even though the worldwide populations continue to decrease. The 70,000-acre range owned by the Foundation Conservation Carpathia is one of the most rewarding areas to explore, which can be done through its partner company Travel Carpathia. Not only is the national park home to lynx, wolves and bears, bison and beavers have recently been reintroduced to the area. Next up on the rewilding list are vultures. (Bears, wolves and rewilding in Romania's Southern Carpathian mountains.) Ten million years of volcanic activity has created this remote archipelago at the point where the tectonic plates of Eurasia, Africa and North America meet. And as you'd expect, 870 miles out into the Atlantic, they get a lot of aquatic traffic. In late spring and summer, fin, humpback, blue and pilot whales are all passing through while sperm whales live in the local waters year-round. Add in resident dolphin populations, as well as hammerhead sharks, and it makes for an exceptional wildlife destination; one that's covered by the largest marine protected area in the North Atlantic. Make the island of Faial your base if whale-watching is your priority. Meanwhile, scuba divers should target Santa Maria: there's a chance of seeing whale sharks there in August alongside devil rays, barracudas and loggerhead turtles. You don't have to travel far from Stockholm to see Sweden's wildlife. Just over two hours from the capital, the small town of Skinnskatteberg is a handy launchpad into Bergslagen — a region once famous for its iron ore that has now been reclaimed by Mother Nature. Its patchwork of pastures, thick forest and tranquil lakes is home to flourishing populations of wolves, beavers and bears as well as being one of the best places in Scandinavia to see moose. Local guides will show you how to track these enormous creatures, which can stand six feet tall at the shoulder, as well as safely taking you into areas where sightings are common. You may also encounter them when you're out canoeing. Such waterborne meetings are the most exciting of all, as moose are much less likely to be spooked when you're afloat. (7 of the best places to wild camp in Europe.) You wouldn't know it in a big, bustling resort such as Val d'Isère or Méribel, but many of France's busiest ski areas are within touching distance of the largest protected landscape in the Alps. It's been created by two contiguous national parks — the Vanoise in France and the Gran Paradiso in Italy — and in summer they offer a serene and spectacular sense of escape that's also very accessible. On the edge of the Vanoise, Bonneval-sur-Arc is a pretty base, with some of the quietest parts of the park on its doorstep. Join a walking guide for the day and you'll learn about the area's sizeable populations of ibex and chamois, as well as the successful reintroduction of bearded vultures, which were hunted to local extinction in the early 20th century. You may also come across evidence of another returning species, which has not been universally welcomed: wolves. Their droppings are easy to identify and usually contain the hair and bone fragments of their prey. Midway between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole, this Norwegian outlier has unsurprisingly become a popular place to view Arctic wildlife. Specialist wildlife-watching holidays abound, as do locally run tours, with the north of Spitsbergen (the main island) the focus of summer activity. Up there, where the pack-ice still lingers, you'll find many of Svalbard's resident population of 270 polar bears (with up to 3,000 around the wider Barents Sea), as well as walruses, whales, seabirds and Arctic foxes. A small-ship cruise will be pricey but is the best way to explore the area, so you can mix whale-watching with excursions in rigid inflatable boats to remote stretches of the coast. Expect endless daylight and changeable weather. In July average temperatures bobble around the 3-7C mark. (Close encounters on the Arctic pack ice of Svalbard, Norway.) To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
