Posts by Kenny Smith
When mother nature gave Scotland a battering
When the weather turns, Scotland takes a real battering from the elements. Scottish Field looks at 10 of the worst – and strangest – incidents to have hit our shores. 1. Herring shower We’ve all heard the phrase ‘Raining cats and dogs’, but what about fish? Published in October 1826, The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal…
Read MoreGoing underground with Scotland’s stoats and weasels
With their fearsome reputation as bloodthirsty hunters, weasels and stoats demand respect from gamekeepers and farmers alike. For most of us, stoats and weasels are only occasionally glimpsed rushing across a road and more usually viewed as casualties lying on the verge. These quite extraordinarily lithe mustelids seem elastic, with sinewy little bodies perfectly suited…
Read MoreBurke and Hare – the notorious murderers
Burke and Hare were Scotland’s most notorious murderers, but their crimes fed the demand for corpses at Edinburgh’s medical schools. At just after eight o’clock in the morning, the door of the small holding cell was thrown open and William Burke, one of Scotland’s most notorious murderers, was led out into the Lawnmarket on Edinburgh’s…
Read MoreOrmiston House is an impressive B-listed Baronial mansion
Ormiston House is an exceptional Scots Baronial ‘B Listed’ house set in spectacular secluded grounds. Dating from 1851 and presented by Strutt & Parker, it was built for Archibald Wilkie, to a design by David Bryce, the well-known Scottish architect, whose works include a number of other large country houses, as well as the former…
Read MoreDetective solving a murder crime back in time
Seventeenth-century detective duo MacKenzie and Scougall are asked by a Highland clan to solve a case, after a young lawyer’s body is found near Edinburgh. Their investigations are set against the political turmoil of the time, with Jacobite rebels and Bonnie Dundee, as they try to fi nd out just who wanted Aeneas MacLeod dead.…
Read MoreA toast to the ‘Mother and Father of Japanese Whisky’
A centenary dinner is being held in memory of a remarkable partnership which united two lives and two countries in pursuit of one dream – challenging convention and changing the world of whisky forever. Rita Cowan and Masataka Taketsuru met in Kirkintilloch in 1919. He was a student from Japan – eager to learn the…
Read MoreTen fantastic places to visit in… Aberfeldy
Robert Burns once wrote, ‘Will ye go, Bonie lassie, will ye go, To the birks of Aberfeldy.’ But there’s far more to the area, in Perthshire, than that. Scottish Field presents 10 things to see and do in and around Aberfeldy. BEATRIX POTTER EXHIBITION The author spent long summer holidays in Perthshire and this exhibition…
Read MoreSpot a once in a decade butterfly phenomenon
Conservationist Chris Packham is urging wildlife lovers across Scotland to take part in the world’s largest insect citizen science survey to help reveal if the UK is experiencing a once in a decade butterfly phenomenon. Unusually high numbers of Painted Lady butterflies have been reported across Europe over the spring and early summer, with large…
Read MoreSo much to see at Fringe by the Sea
Fringe By The Sea, the festival with something for everyone – including a beach – has announced the full programme for 2019. With over 160 events the packed Fringe By The Sea programme is set to delight residents and visitors to North Berwick and East Lothian. There is music from chart toppers Alexander O’Neal, Inner…
Read MoreScots’ lunar legacy is celebrated fifty years on
Fifty years ago, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out onto the surface of the moon. However, few people know that without Scottish ingenuity, the greatest moment in space history might never have happened at all. Now one man – the internationally acclaimed artist and designer Mark Stoddart – wants the records to show…
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