Waternish has been getting a few clear nights over the last few days - well, probably not clear ALL night, but for long enough for us keen Dark Sky watchers to get out there and see stars, planets etc.

See details under "Full Article"

Next Night Sky lecture starts at 7:30pm on Monday, January 30th 2012 in Waternish Hall, everyone welcome, there is no charge, but donations to the Hall would be welcomed. You even get a cup of tea / coffee at half time!

About 20 local residents attended the first in a series of DVD lectures in the Waternish Hall last night on 'Our Night Sky'.  It would be fair to say that the audience was fascinated by the lecture although a little shocked by the amount of information.  Nonetheless this has continued our interest in the heavens begun by the Dark Skies project and our Dark Skies Discovery Sites at Trumpan, Stein and Knockbreck.  There are to be a further 5 evenings in the coming weeks until 13th February, usually on a Monday at 7.30 although enquire of us for confirmation of specific dates. Lectures are free but donation to Hall funds is welcome.

Waternish's very own Gill Williams has won the Winter Award for the Performance Cycling Featured Instructor.

Well done Gill.

Happy New Year to you all, here are details of events which have been organised to take place in Waternish Hall this month.

Ongoing Spinning and TBow;

Night Sky lectures starting 9th January for 6 weeks;

Daniel Allaby 19th January;

Car Boot Sale 21st January;

How to keep your home warm this winter 26th January

Burns Supper 28th January - TICKET ONLY

Ian (Williams) of Brae Fasach Gallery was talking with Australian visitors back in the summer and was told about the plight of the rare and endagered Black Cockatoo. Ian did a painting and donated it to the association; when the painting was sold it raised around £350 which was all given to the charity.

Dark Sky Discovery, a pioneering new national and regional partnership of astronomy and environmental organizations, has just unveiled a series of Dark Sky Discovery Sites throughout the UK.  Visit Waternish and Destination Skye & Lochalsh submitted nine applications for official Dark Sky status on Skye. These include Trumpan, Knockbreck and the Stein Jetty in Waternish; Kinloch Forest, Kylerhea and Camas na Sgianadin in the Broadford area, and three sites at Clan Donald Land Trust. All nine sites were granted Dark Sky Discovery Site status on 18th October.

With Skye having the darkest possible night skies for the UK,  and Waternish being the darkest part of Skye, by promoting these safe and accessible areas local residents will be able to enjoy stimulating stargazing sessions and add another dimension to their visitors’ experience.

The project is being mounted in partnership with the hugely popular BBC ‘Stargazing Live’ which will be broadcasting its second series on 16 - 18th January, 2012.

For more information about the Dark Sky Discovery project visit www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk.

For more details of the Dark Sky Discovery sites visit www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk/dsdsites.html.

Anyone seeking further information about Dark Skies on Skye should visit www.visit-waternish.co.uk/wild-waternish

After a thorough refurbishment the Waternish Community Hall has re-opened for business in a big way!  The building is now warm and cosy with a new floor and roof and much nicer toilets and kitchen!  Access for those with disabilities has also been improved.

Monthly quiz nights and bingo sessions, regular ceilidhs and car boot sales are complemented by Gill's indoor static cycling classes to get us fit for the summer.  A music group meets to jam together and locals meet to listen to talking books on a regular basis. Everyone is welcome - do come along if you are in the area.

We are running our Free Prize Draw competition again this year, the draw will take place on 1st December 2011 and the winner notified immediately.

There are several prizes this year which will all go to the lucky winner:

A dram glass - donated by Stein Inn

A Visit Waternish teatowel - donated by ourselves

A £25 voucher - donated by Skyeskyns

A book by Ian Williams - donated by Ian of Brae Fasach Gallery

To enter this competition you will need to visit one of our Visit Waternish business members here on Waternish and complete one of the entry forms - PLEASE write your email address clearly - it's amazing how many we cannot read!

Wow - we managed to have a clear sky on the morning of Tuesday, December 21st 2010 and at around 07:40 the total eclipse of the full moon was seen from here on Waternish!

Thanks to Ian Williams for the photograph.

These copyright pictures were taken by Ray Reeder in 2003 from Waternish on Skye.

We are currently (2010) moving towards the solar maximum (2011-2013) which is when you are most likely to see such amazing displays.

You can read more details regarding the Aurora Borealis in the Dark Skies section of Wild Waternish.

The winner of our annual Free Prize Draw competition was drawn at Brae Fasach on 1st December 2010, the lucky winner is Mr Paul Carroll from Scotland.

We have produced a high quality Waternish tea towel which is for sale at a RRP (Recommended Retail Price) of £4.95. Liz Myhill (of Dandelion Designs & Images Gallery) was commissioned to do the design for us, and we have chosen a company to produce the tea towel which appears to have good environmental and employment credentials.

An excellant idea for Christmas presents this can be purchsed from participating Visit Waternish businesses and on-line through www.madeinskye.co.uk.

 VisitScotland has awarded Skyeskyns the 5* Visitor Attraction grading. The grading report highlighted “exceptional customer service” awarding maximum marks for warm welcome, attitude and efficiency of staff. The report also commented on the “high quality, informative brochure” and “impressive, easy to navigate website”, both of which created an “excellent first impression” when visitors are making their plans.  Skyeskyns is currently the only holder of this award on the island.  

 Clive Hartwell, owner, said that he was delighted to have his committed team recognised in this way and felt that the decision to upgrade the premises two years ago had been fully justified.   “We have always understood that visitors to Skye expect the highest standards of customer care, good value and a memorable experience to take away with them,” he said. “With Skye now voted by travellers   8^th in the top ten European island destinations, we must all work together to deliver this quality of experience  and to meet visitor expectations. We hope our business will help in drawing visitors to the island, and in particular to the north-west and Waternish.  Indeed, Waternish as a marketing group and other high-end businesses in the north-west are actively advertising the winter experience to extend the season.”

Night skies on Waternish help us to understand why the daily lives of our ancestors were so influenced by the passage of the stars and the moon. Looking up at the sparkling canopy on a clear night cerainly puts into context our existence as tiny creatures stuck on one small rock in the midst of billions of other pinpricks of light.

This spectacular picture shows the lack of light pollution in our area of Scotland which means that we are a fantastic area to visit to see Dark Skies.

Please go to "Wild Waternish" to read further information on Dark Skies prepared in a personal capacity for us by Dr Simon Hodgkin, Cambridge.

The Waternish Sheepdog Trials are being held on Saturday, 10th July 2010, on the field below Skyeskyns, starting around 8:30am.  (You can watch the trials live on any of the 4 positions on Skyeskyns new webcam.)

There will be about 80 dogs competing again this year. They will range from 2 year olds to older dogs and will come from all over Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. There are also 8 people coming over from Sweden bringing 14 dogs with them.

There will be a raffle with plenty of prizes and a burger van selling food, teas, coffes etc.

Everyone is welcome to watch or compete.

Those of us who were in Stein yesterday morning were lucky to see a fairly large pod of common dolphins swimming around Loch Bay.  Whilst it is fairly common to see dolphins round and about, it is fairly uncommon for them to come into Loch Bay.  They seemed to be having a fair old time, leaping out of the water and following Gordon's boat.  Thanks to Gordon of Diver's Eye Boat Trips who took this 'up close and personal' photo.

Skye played host to five Thai Tsunami orphans this week as part of their visit to the UK together with orphanage director Rotjana, and two helpers.

Gill and Ian Williams, founders of Hands Across the Water (a charity formed to raise money to build a home for orphaned children following the 2004 tsunami) organised two days of informal visits and a great deal of fun for Det (12 year old boy), Mook (12 year old girl), Jing Jang (10 year old girl), Lek (9 year old girl) and Ton Palm (9 year old girl). The five children were selected out of 67 children currently at the Baan Tharn Namchai orphanage in Takua Pa, Thailand. Selection was based on time spent at orphanage and hard work/good behaviour.

These children all lost parents and brothers and sisters - Det survived for two days at sea clinging to a lid of a freezer box before being washed up on a sand bar with dead bodies.

 

Hello out there to all the folks that yearn to see spectacular sunsets across a sea vista!

Up here on Waternish on the Isle of Skye we are currently seeing fantastic sunsets, the sun has now moved around to the mid point between the winter setting and summer setting positions and so is setting across the Minch from us giving a wide expanse of sky that glows red.

Here is an example from last night from the new web-cam set up at Skyeskyns, thanks for the picture Clive.

Halistra Pottery report the arrival of their new calf born at 6 am this morning (March 27th 2010), she is less than an hour old in this photograph - AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her name is Abby and she is the first pure bred Shetland heifer to be born on Skye.

Thanks to Neal Hately for the picture.

There was a "midge" report in The Times newspaper dated March 1st 2010 saying that "one benefit has resulted from the worst winter to grip the Highlands in decades. Billions of midges have frozen to death hibernating in the ground, according to the world's leading expert on the biting beastie."

Well, what a winter this year, not been one that cold for so long for a number of years!!!

You can see from these pictures the amount of snow that we had in February, along with 2 intrepid skiers!!!

Here is Gill WIlliams of Brae Fasach on two skis - Gill is more usually seen on two wheels - training for cycle rides for Hands Across The Water.

Visit Waternish are running a Free Prize Draw competition again this year, the draw will take place on 1st December 2010 and the winner notified immediately.

This year the prize consists of two items:

First: a Limited Edition Print from an original painting: 'Sguirr nan Gillean': the Cuillin Hills, signed by the artist Diane Hoff-Rome of 'An Artist's Life - Painting workshops'.

Second:a pair of socks dyed using only natural ingredients on Waternish, donated by Shilasdair. The winner will be given a choice of sizes, small, medium or large.

To enter this competition you will need to visit one of our Visit Waternish business members here on Waternish and complete one of the entry forms - PLEASE write your email address clearly - it's amazing how many we cannot read!

Visit Waternish wishes you all a very "Happy New Year for 2010", we hope that you have had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year. Hopefully you were able to battle through the bad weather and transport disruptions to be where you wanted to be when you wanted to be there.

As you can see from this picture, we've had snow here on Waternish recently. It has stayed for longer than usual and we are getting fabulous sunny weather at the same time.

Thanks to Kathie Ford for the picture of a snowy wall on Waternish.

The winner of our annual Free Prize Draw competition was drawn at the Stein Inn on 1st December, the lucky winner is Mr Ken Marshall from Wakefield, England.

Jim Mather  MSP,  Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, visited Skyeskyns on Waternish last month to hear about the challenges and opportunities of running a business on Skye. 

After lunch and meeting the staff, he was given a tannery workshop tour to see how sheepskins are made before seeing the new showroom and range of products on offer to visitors.  

Clive Hartwell, director of the company, demonstrated the enormous advantages arising from achieving a spirit of co-operation between businesses in a local area, as in Waternish,  which not only has mutual benefits but  encourages visitors to stay longer  by offering them a more integrated and rewarding experience .   “A key principle in any business success is customer retention,” he said. “This is most likely to be achieved by offering an interesting experience, good  value and high quality personalised service.”

Mr Mather expressed particular interest in the way the Waternish business community has worked together to promote its area for the benefit of the local economy and visitors alike.  “It was a delight to witness such great enthusiasm and forward thinking from staff on the island,” he said.

 

HMS Bounty put in to Loch Bay, Waternish, to shelter from  high winds last week.  Like a ghost from the past, she made a great picture here in the bay.

The replica was built in 1962 for the film Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando. It has since been used as The Edinburgh Trader in the final two Pirates of the Caribbean movies which starred Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.

The original Bounty was famous for its ill-fated trip to Tahiti and the West Indies in 1797 during which the mutiny took place which saw Captain William Bligh and 18 crewmen set adrift.  On this occasion the crew were able to refresh themselves more hospitably at either the Stein Inn or Lochbay Seafood restaurant.

 

Congratulations to Eva Lambert of Shilasdair, the Skye Yarn Company who was featured on a recent episode of Made in Scotland, an STV production.  The feature showed Eva demonstrating to John Michie how she dyes her wool in a traditional and authentic Highland way and helping him to come up with some specific wool for his own tartan. For a link to the episode go to http://player.stv.tv/programmes/made-in-scotland/2009-07-30-2100

Promptly at 9 o' clock on the morning of Saturday, July 25th, the 10 intrepid riders left their starting point on Waternish, Isle of Skye to cycle 650 miles to Marlow in Buckinghamshire in aid of the Hands Across The Water charity.

Here they are, lined up for the "off".

Thanks to Steve Ford for the photo.

Here we are in early April and finally the wild blooms are beginning to show themselves on the banks around Waternish. As with a cultivated garden when snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils mark the progress of the year to Spring, it is the wild primrose which does the same in the wild. It is wonderful to note that they have started to show themselves on the banks along the shore between Stein and Camus Lusta and on the roadside facing Loch Bay at Lusta. It is too early to know whether it will be a good year for them but their mere presence is enough to cheer the heart. They love the sun which is why they grow on south and west facing areas so they can lap up as much as possible. But please remember they are protected!!