Douglas MacQueen's blog

Loch Tay (Scottish Gaelic, Loch Tatha) is a freshwater loch in the central highlands of Scotland. Long and narrow the Loch is about around 14.55 miles (23.42 km) long, around 1 to 1½ miles wide, and over 490 ft (150 m) deep in places. Loch Tay has a long history of human use and settlement and in the Iron Age man-made islands on the loch, known as crannogs, were made. More than 20 submerged crannogs have been found.

The Neolithic chambered cairn of Maeshowe is situated on the island of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland.  Of the many chambered cairns in Orkney, Maeshowe stands out as the most impressive. Thought to date from about 2800 BC the 5000 year old tomb forms part of the UNESCO Heart of Neolithic Orkney, which also includes Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar and Standing Stones of Stenness.  

The once lost marble bust of Scottish Highland laird and MP Sir John Gordon is to be exhibited at the Louvre in Paris and the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Created in 1728 by French sculptor Edmé Bouchardon, one of the 18th century’s most fashionable sculptors, it is now estimated to be worth about £1.4m.

News from Celtic League:

There are concerns for the well being of several Scottish Merchant navy officer cadets stranded at sea off Singapore after the Shipping firm they had a placement with went into receivership.

The four cadets from Clyde Marine Training were on a placement with South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping line as part of their City of Glasgow College course when the company ran into financial difficulities.

A new children's book by writer Barbara Henderson in her debut novel, Fir for Luck, is set during the dreadful time in Scottish history known as the Highland Clearances. The book is inspired by real events that took place in Strathnaver in Sutherland where women and children attempted to resist actions to clear their community. It tells of a 12-year-old girl who takes a stand against the threatened clearance of her village in 1841.

Loch Ness (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Nis) is a freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands (Scottish Gaelic: A' Ghàidhealtachd). The Loch is a maximum of twenty two and a half miles (36.2km) long with a maximum width of just over one and a half miles (2.7km). The rivers Tarff, Coiltie, Moriston, Farigaig, Enrich, Foyers and Oich along with a number of burns flow into the loch which at its deepest is over 754 feet (230m). It is a place of great beauty and attracts many thousands of visitors. 

Ancient rocks from Scotland's Outer Hebrides also known as the Western Isles (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Siar) have been used by a team of scientists from Scotland, Canada and US in research to indicate the potential for the planet Mars to support life. Analysis of the rocks from Barra and the Uists suggests that tremors can generate hydrogen in the Earth’s crust. “Marsquakes” are known to occur on Mars and hydrogen could provide a life-sustaining energy source for simple microbes. The findings have been published in the journal Astrobiology.

News from the Celtic League:

The earlier post which referred to the annual slaughter of pilot whales in the Faeroes Islands reminded me of the casual way in which society still exploits the marine environment either for food stocks or in the case of the seal slaughter in Canada for fashion.

News from the Celtic League:

Here’s a story that tries to prove that as Europeans were setting out for North America and ‘discovering’ the ‘New World’ at least some of its inhabitants had ‘discovered’ us first.

These voyages have just completed a crossing to prove that indigenous Inuit people from North America could have made the transatlantic passage the other way and probably did (link):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/…/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-372952…

News from the Mannin Branch of the Celtic League:

Mannin branch environmental officer (Allen Moore) has reacted sharply to the controversy earlier this week about the shooting of seals off Scotland.

He says local fishermen are using seals as scapegoats and it is actually the predatory action of huge super trawlers from the EU and China that is destroying indigenous fishing communities globally.

Here is his statement: