North Coast 500 gets its own podcast

A PODCAST series has been created to promote attractions along the North Coast 500 driving route in the Highlands. Each 45-minute episode focuses on a different part of the trail. The first programme features Assynt’s Northwest Highland Geopark,  while the second outing spotlights the historic Attadale Gardens in Wester Ross, and the third introduces listeners…

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Scottish Pipe Band Championships hit high note

ORGANISERS hailed Saturday’s Scottish Pipe Band Championships at Levengrove Park in Dumbarton as the “best ever” Some 20,000 spectators flocked for the first staging of the event since the pandemic began. A total of 117 bands gathered for the championships, with pipers travelling from as far away as Australia and Texas. Field Marshal Montgomery from…

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Fancy owning a 40 million year old crocodile?

THE fossil of a 40 million-year-old crocodile is coming up for auction next week in Glasgow. The ancient croc is one of nearly 200 fossils going under the hammer at McTear’s “Cabinet of Curiosities” auction on 10 August. The collection as assembled by a retired geologist based in the Highlands. It includes a fossilised crocodilian…

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Look out for shelduck feathers at the beach

SCIENTISTS are asking visitors to beaches to look out for shelduck feathers this summer. Shelduck replace their feathers by moutling over the summer. They can’t fly for between two and four weeks, and so need to find safe places to moult. British shelduck either moult on mudflats in the UK or fly across the North…

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Paolozzi comes to Hospitalfield

HOSPITALFIELD House near Arbroath is putting a sculpture by Scottish artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi on display in its garden this summer. The bronze work, entitled Rio, is on loan from the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian art gallery. The work was commissioned in 1964 by Dundee surrealist art collector Gabrielle Keille and is part of Paolozzi’s…

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Maryculter House donates £9,000 to River Dee Trust

THE River Dee Trust has received a £9,000 donation from Maryculter House. The hotel has added a discretionary £1 charge to each of its customers’ bills to help raise the cash. The money will be split between the trust’s “OneMillionTrees” project – which has been running for two and a half years and has planted…

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Aberdeen wins seven Green Flag Awards

ENVIRONMENTAL charity Keep Scotland Beautiful has presented seven Green Flag Awards to Aberdeen. Duthie Park won its tenth green flag in a row, while Garthdee Field Allotments, Hazlehead Park, Johnston Gardens, Seaton Park, Slopefield Allotments, and Victoria Park were also rewarded. Councillor Miranda Radley, convener of Aberdeen City Council’s operational delivery committee, said: “As a…

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Cabrach Games return after 87-year gap

THE Cabrach Games and picnic are returning on Sunday following a 87-year hiatus. The gathering was a staple on the Highland Games circuit between 1877 and 1935. Yet a fall in the local population between the two world wars led to the games coming to an end. The Cabrach in Moray was once home to…

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Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers at the Fringe

THE Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers – a band made up of tartan noir authors – is preparing to play four shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The super group – which consists of Mark Billingham, Chris Brookmyre, Doug Johnstone, Val McDermid, Stuart Neville, and Luca Veste – play “songs about murder and death”. Its covers…

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Marianne Dissard debut photo show in Glasgow

GLASGOW is hosting the debut solo photography exhibition by singer, author, and filmmaker Marianne Dissard. Dissard found herself living in Kent at the end of 2020 after her singing tour of Europe was cancelled. Over the next 18 months, she turned to street photography and captured life on the Isle of Thanet. She moved to…

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