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Northumbria was one of the most important kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, lying north of the River Humber. The name derives from the Old English Norþan-hymbre meaning "the people or province north of the Humber". The dates for the Kingdom of Northumbria are often given as 654-954 AD, although others give an earlier date for its founding of 547. This Kingdom experienced a period of significant expansion, including into the Celtic lands of the Picts and Gaels in present day Scotland.

From The Celtic Language News:

Since its inception in 1996, Mooinjer Veggey (Little People) has been successfully promoting Manx Gaelic, through its network of pre-school groups across the Island and its support of the only Manx language school - Bunscoill Ghaelgagh. But it now needs your help to raise more money to enable the organisation to fund its goal of training further staff and production of Manx resource material.

Carnac (Breton: Karnag) is beside the Gulf of Morbihan (Breton: Ar Mor Bihanon) in the south coast of Brittany (Breton: Breizh). It is home to one of the largest megalithic complexes in Europe with over 3000 standing stones. It is famous for the unique way in which these stones are aligned in rows. They are of differing sizes and each granite stone seems to have been erected in the place where it was excavated. There are three large groups of stones Ménec, Kermario and Kerlescan.

It has been announced that plans for a £6m project to redevelop the Scottish Crannog Centre on the north shore of Loch Tay are one step closer to being realised, thanks to Forestry and Land Scotland’s Community Asset Transfer Scheme.

George Orwell's dystopian novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel ' may have been set in times some 36 years ago now, but it appears that Cornwall Council planners have been reading it very carefully indeed for practical hints and tips in their employment of 'double speak'.

The reckless development of Cornwall which is placing our UNESCO World Heritage Status under real threat, is shocking but comes as no surprise when reading the results of a simple request made of the planners and submitted under the Freedom of Information Act.

Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; Scottish Gaelic: Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA)  have voted to ban the unlicensed culling of mountain hares and to make them a protected species. Mountain hares are Scotland's only native hare, where they could have existed since the last ice age. MSPs passed an amendment giving greater protection for mountain hares. It was proposed by Scottish Green MSP Alison Johnstone and now forms part of the new Animals and Wildlife Bill.

The Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin) border will remain closed because it is "not the moment to make significant changes", the Manx chief minister, Howard Quayle has said. The Isle of Man became the first place in the British and Irish Isles to live without lockdown and to end social distancing on Monday 15th June. Although it is now 27 days since the island last had an active case of coronavirus, Howard Quayle told Tynwald (Manx: Tinvaal), which is the legislature of the Isle of Man, that the border remained an "integral part of our defences" against the disease.

On this day, the 17 June 1497 at Blackheath in Kent, the Battle of Blackheath was fought between a Cornish army and the army of England’s King Henry VII.

The battle was the main conflict during the first Cornish rising of 1497.

The Cornish army badly frightened King Henry and caused panic in London.

King Henry VII had angered the Cornish people by closing their Stannary Parliament and taxing them to pay for his war with Scotland in which the Cornish wanted no part.

The Cornish decided they would march to London to demand an end to the taxes.

Major efforts are underway to boost numbers of one of Scotland's rarest birds. Capercaillie are the largest grouse species in the world and have been living in Scotland's pine forests since the last Ice Age. The Scottish Gaelic name for this species, capall-coille, means ‘horse of the forest.’ They are found in the pinewoods of northern Scotland and it is estimated there are fewer than 1,000. About 80% are found in Strathspey in the Cairngorms.  

Buccleuch, one of Scotland's biggest landowners, has been seeking to sell land in southern Scotland for some time. Now two bids to take moorland  into community ownership have secured significant support. The Langholm Initiative and Newcastleton and District Community Trust (NDCT) is being given £1.85m to purchase the Buccleuch-owned land. An award of £1m from the Scottish Land Fund (SLF) is going to the Langholm Initiative. They hope to buy more than 10,000 acres and plan to create a Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.