Unless you are a forager, you might not know that the early leaves of the rowan tree taste like marzipan, that shoots from the pine tree can make an awesome spice, that the saponins in birch leaves make a cleanising spring tea...
Category - Foraging & Outings
Kill or cure
A late spring can bring feelings of malaise and tiredness. One of the tonics common to Orkney last century involved catching snails late at night, when they have a quiet feed, suspending them on a string in front of the fire, and...
Cape Wrath – What’s in a Name?
When Bob Tateson retired from teaching in Orkney he volunteered to help look after the bothies in...
Walking with Ravens and Wonder
Soaring. That is the word. On top of the world, or so it seems, above the busy valleys below, side...
On the road in Sutherland
A bitterly cold east wind hurls its force through the darkness outside the building, but all...
Photographing distant skies
Alan Tough got his first compact digital camera back in 2003. “There was a spectacular aurora in...
Scenes of Sutherland
It’s some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, and it’s on Orkney’s doorstep. Bob Tateson...
The plants that heal
What do swallows stuffed with eggs, arsenic and lemon have to do with herbal remedies and beauty...
The January Man
My father, John Somerville, was sent to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth at the age of 13, and...
A land of Ice and Fire
Stewart Watt’s photographs are known and admired by many people, from his images of the night skies...