The Small Isles

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West Coast

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Been out and about round Canna and Rhum over the past few days, part of the Small Isles in Scotland west coast. Great to see developments growing, new wind farm on Canna under way and fish farming investment on Rhum. Got to be encouraging for the communities there.
 
My wife has an affection for puffins and we were planning to go to Canna while they were still in their burrows but were put off by the number of ais signals showing, on the presumption that about 20% of boats send a signal we thought it might be bunged. Once the puffins move out on to the stacks it is difficult to get anywhere close to them. The bonxies on the top of Sanday are entertaining as well but our poor old dog is now too old and slow to stand up to them and would suffer a terrible bullying.
The last month demonstrates what the West Coast might be like with a better climate, to make it easy to get the dog ashore to a nice beach, we anchored in an open bay listed as 'occasional anchorage' and subject to swell, before bedtime there were four other boats in there.
Tried the pontoons at Ulva Ferry one night, lot of investment going in there too, perhaps too much for a population of 8?
Looks like things might be back to normal by mid week!
 
pmagowan said:
IF you like puffins try lunga
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Is that the Lunga in the Treshnish Isles? Absolutely stunning place. And much more than just puffins, too. Peering down on the stack at the south** end of the island you can practically hear Attenborough's breathy whisper marvelling at it.

Lunga stack.jpg

** Or is that west? It was a while ago.
 
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macd said:
Is that the Lunga in the Treshnish Isles? Absolutely stunning place. And much more than just puffins, too. Peering down on the stack at the south** end of the island you can practically hear Attenborough's breathy whisper marvelling at it.

View attachment 71573

** Or is that west? It was a while ago.
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Thats the one. Lovely place when all the tourists have gone in the evening.
 
West Coast said:
Been out and about round Canna and Rhum over the past few days, part of the Small Isles in Scotland west coast. Great to see developments growing, new wind farm on Canna under way and fish farming investment on Rhum. Got to be encouraging for the communities there.
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In a spirit of no more than gentle reminder, it's "Rum" (or "Rùm") now, as it was until the Sir George Bullough, the builder of Kinloch Castle, added an 'h to avoid any suggestion of a link with the demon drink.
 
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BlowingOldBoots said:
Lovely Islands indeed. The article, link below, slices through a lot of misconceptions, particularly the ferry man who frames the economic reality very succinctly.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/26/this-island-is-not-for-sale-how-eigg-fought-back
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Absolutely - good find, that article. Neil Gunn's 1930s book "Off in a Boat" has some informed and well-written polemics against landlordism, and it's a great shame that it took another seventy years or so for the tide to turn. I'm very glad to read that the community buyout of Ulva is going ahead - that's (yet) another island which, along with its inhabitants, has been shamefully treated by its owners.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
Lovely Islands indeed. The article, link below, slices through a lot of misconceptions, particularly the ferry man who frames the economic reality very succinctly. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/26/this-island-is-not-for-sale-how-eigg-fought-back
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Thanks for that. Recalls the dinghy-camping trip we made there, some years ago, on a 16' Catapult catamaran.... and pitched our tent in the bracken just about where that washing-line is shown. Opening the door in the morning to that view of the jagged peaks of Rum across the sound was rather special....
 
Well the "views that are special" in Scotland are gradually being trashed by wind turbines.
Unbelievable that a country that makes a living out of tourism then ruins the very thing the punters come to see. Canna is just the latest example. Have they not heard of tidal turbines that work every day and all night without ruining the view?
 
mainsail1 said:
Well the "views that are special" in Scotland are gradually being trashed by wind turbines.
Unbelievable that a country that makes a living out of tourism then ruins the very thing the punters come to see. Canna is just the latest example. Have they not heard of tidal turbines that work every day and all night without ruining the view?
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I've never heard of tidal turbines that work reliably and cost effectively compared to wind.
 
Kelpie said:
I've never heard of tidal turbines that work reliably and cost effectively compared to wind.
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And I have never heard of a tourist who was deterred by wind turbines (or, for that matter, attracted by the Royal Family).

We had a VERY vocal anti-turbine group down here in the southwest who managed a very effective campaign in the local press on behalf of the majority whom, they said, shared their views. Finally they decided to strengthen their hand with a local referendum. The result was 80%+ in favour of the turbines, and the campaigners have been very quiet ever since.
 
Yes, they may wake up one day.... but many sit at home and don't care about the view. Wind turbines are all over the West and South of Scotland and right now they are providing 2GW of a total demand of 36GW. An unreliable source of power....... but always in your face.
 
The information board on Canna advised that both wind turbines and a solar array were planned, together to provide power for Canna needs. However, I would have thought a buffer would be needed so suspect generators may still be used on occasion. Or perhaps Elon Musk will provide a Tesla battery storage similar (albeit smaller) to that installed in Australia
 
JumbleDuck said:
In a spirit of no more than gentle reminder, it's "Rum" (or "Rùm") now, as it was until the Sir George Bullough, the builder of Kinloch Castle, added an 'h to avoid any suggestion of a link with the demon drink.
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Gentle reminder taken in the spirit it was intended!
 
West Coast said:
The information board on Canna advised that both wind turbines and a solar array were planned, together to provide power for Canna needs. However, I would have thought a buffer would be needed so suspect generators may still be used on occasion. Or perhaps Elon Musk will provide a Tesla battery storage similar (albeit smaller) to that installed in Australia
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A good place to see what can be done is Eigg, as mentioned in the Guardian article, and staunchly defended by the skipper of The Sheerwater, our heavy lifter is a 100kW hydro then 60kW solar, 24kW wind with battery storage, flywheel and now ultra capacitor smoothing, backed up by 60kW diesel. On a normal year we hit 95% renewable.
What the nay sayers about Eiggiach being grant scroungers don't (won't) accept is the value that Eigg's power system has provided to industry, education, and similar sized communities all over the world.
The flywheel and now ultra capacitors are common components in national sized grids, but Eigg has provided an essential testing ground for smaller systems.

So, you are right, Canna will install batteries too, no need for Mr E Musk though, plain old lead acid do just fine.
 
mainsail1 said:
Wind turbines are all over the West and South of Scotland and right now they are providing 2GW of a total demand of 36GW. An unreliable source of power....... but always in your face.
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2GW ain't half bad for a fairly calm day in the middle of a heat wave. I see that solar has been running at almost 4GW, which surprises me, since I hadn't realised we had so much grid-connected solar installed. Meanwhile, here's another non-productive generating system.

View_from_Winking_Hill_-_geograph.org.uk_-_319133.jpg


I'll take a windfarm any day.
 
Eigg is a great example and a lovely place. We were there three or four weeks ago. The hydro and solar are unobtrusive and the wind turbines are small and have little impact on the landscape.
It is the monster wind turbines that I am against and because they are unreliable you also have to have ugly power stations to back them up about 60% of the year. Nonsense or what?
 
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