Whisky new releases: Glenturret, Tullibardine, and more

Peter Ranscombe rounds up the latest whisky releases from Scotland’s distilleries and bottlers. GLENTURRET has added whiskies at either end of the age spectrum to this year’s core range. A seven-year-old single malt is joined by a 25 year old and a 30 year old. It’s seven-year-old peat smoke is aged in American oak casks…

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School art competition launched

THE Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has launched its school art competition. The contest is open to pupils at schools in Aberdeenshire, Angus, and Perth & Kinross. Pupils can enter by creating a piece of art that shows “their favourite species of British game or wildlife in its natural habitat”. This year’s awards ceremony…

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Scots get adventurous in new film

TOURISM body Wild Scotland has released a film encouraging locals and visitors to try its members’ adventurous activities. Nurture Your Adventurous Spirit – which is available on YouTube or below – features wildlife and adventure tourism operators from throughout Scotland. They include Nikki Dayton-Gelati from Wilder Ways, which runs horseback archery courses in Southend on…

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Hebrides soundtrack for hotel’s ‘wellness room’

SOUNDS recorded in the Hebrides are helping guests to relax at the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel in Edinburgh. Music producer Brian D’Souza travelled to locations including the Hebrides, Cape Verde, Lake Geneva, and Lofoten in the Article to make his recordings. He then mixed sounds from fields, the sea, and wildlife with noises from gongs,…

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‘Hummingbird’ flocks to Scotland

THE number of hummingbird hawkmoths spotted in Scotland has soared, according to new figures. The moths were reported in 1.2% of Scottish gardens last month, more than three times the season’s average. The British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO’s) Garden BirdWatch survey found the figure hit 5.2% across the UK as a whole, compared to 1.3%…

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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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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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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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Beavers bid by Glen Affric

LANDOWNERS in Glen Affric hope to reintroduce beavers to the Highlands. Four estates and government agency Forestry & Land Scotland have launched a joint consultation on the plans, coordinated by conservation charity Trees for Life. Beavers are already found at the Aigas field centre near Beauly and at the Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig. Reintroducing…

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Bug ‘splatometer’ is a hit in Scotland

INSECT charity Buglife’s “splatometer” is proving to be a big hit in Scotland, with more than 100 people already signed up to carry out surveys this summer. The “splatometer” attaches to a car’s number plate and helps citizen scientists to monitor how many insects they kill on their journeys. The results are essential for monitoring…

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