Scotophile Monday

Welcome back to Scotophile Monday, where I post a few interesting, funny, or just plain weird snippets of stories from or about Scotland. All sources are credited. Enjoy!





Independence Plans in 14 Days
The Scottish First Minister has revealed that a plan for holding a referendum on Scotland becoming independent and leaving the United Kingdom will be published in the next two weeks. That would fulfill one of the election pledges made by the Scottish National Party about what they would deliver in their first 100 days in office. Read more

Movies Draw Crowds
10% of the visitors who come to Scotland say that they were prompted to make the trip by seeing a film which features the country. That translates into tourism worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the economy, particularly in the areas featured by the movies. It's doubtful if the drugs and violence of "Trainspotting" did much for Edinburgh, but Braveheart, Hamish Macbeth, Highlander, Local Hero, Loch Ness, Rob Roy and many others have prompted those abroad - and many English people - to come to see the locations for themselves. In recent times, the Harry Potter movies have brought people to the romantic steam-driven train journey on the West Highland line, taking in the Glenfinnan Viaduct (ssen above), and the Da Vinci code has resulted in visitor numbers at Rosslyn Chapel soaring by over 30%. Read more

Puffin Colony Recovers
Craigleith Island, off North Berwick, used to be used by 28,000 pairs of breeding puffins. Then, after 1999, numbers plummeted to just a few thousand last year. The problem was an invasion of tree mallow, a non-native species that grew over the entrances to the burrows where the birds nest. Hundreds of volunteers have been working to remove the obstructions and many more birds have returned this year. Read more

Scottish Wildlife Photos: Click here!

Highland Clearances Memorial
The Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, unveiled a statue this week at Helmsdale, north of Inverness, which commemorates the achievement and resilience of the many Scots who left the Highlands and Islands during the Highland Clearances. Read more

Enchanted Forest
Perthshire’s renowned Enchanted Forest sound and light show is set to delight the senses when it returns to Faskally Wood near Pitlochry from 19th October to 4th November, with a brand new theme. The focus of this year’s event will be "Creation", with spectacular lighting effects being used to illustrate the earth’s history from its early volcanic state, the Ice Age and the Jurassic era, right through to modern times. At a special lochside viewing area, visitors will be treated to a spectacular 10 minute choreographed sound and light show which, with the help of high level aerial lighting effects, coloured water jets and smoke, will gradually reveal a scene of turmoil develop and the loch turn into a bubbling cauldron! Read more

The Pineapple, Airth, Near Falkirk

THERE are many so-called follies dotted around Scotland's countryside, but perhaps the strangest is the Pineapple, near the village of Airth on the outskirts of Falkirk. Built in 1761 for John Murray, the fourth Earl of Dunmore, as a garden retreat, it is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland and the Landmark Trust. The stone building in the shape of said fruit dominates its surrounding gardens. Read more


Castle of the Week: Arnot Tower, Kinross

Scottish Blog of the Week: Scotland Blog

This Week in Scottish History
July 29 1565 - Mary, Queen of Scots, married Lord Darnley.
July 29 1567 - King James VI (aged 13 months) crowned at the Church of the Holy Rude, beside Stirling Castle, following the abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, five days earlier.
July 30 1918 - Provisions were included in the Scottish Education Bill to ensure adequate facilities for teaching Gaelic in Scotland.
July 30 1938 - First edition of the long-running "Beano" comic was published.
July 31 1786 - "Kilmarnock Edition" of the poems of Robert Burns "Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect" first published.
July 31 1965 - Cigarette advertising banned on television in Britain.
August 1 1714 - Death of Queen Anne; George I, Elector of Hanover becomes king.
August 1 1747 - Proscription Act introduced, banning tartan and the carrying of weapons. The penalty for a first offence was six months in jail and a second offence resulted in transportation for seven years.
August 1 1967 - University of Dundee which was incorporated into the University of St Andrews in 1890, constituted as a separate university.
August 2 1922 - Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, died in Nova Scotia.
August 3 1573 - Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange executed, after defending Edinburgh Castle on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots from May 1568 to May 1573.
August 3 1460 - King James II killed by an exploding cannon at the siege of Roxburgh Castle.
August 3 1305 - William Wallace betrayed and handed over to the English.
August 4 1870 - Birth of the entertainer Sir Harry Lauder.
August 4 1900 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the future Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, born.