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Diluain, 02/Jan/2012
Islay Blogging Roundup #194 - New Years Edition
The New Year's or better Hogmanay parties are only just finishing on Islay (and some party goers went for a swim in Loch Indaal this morning), but as I'm kind of overdue (it's Monday after all) I've got to press on with the first Islay blogging roundup of the year. Quite a few entries will still relate to 2011, but the first entries for 2012 have appeared as well. Let me start with the obvious, the Happy New Year wishes and the reviews of 2011:
Ron wishes a Happy 2012 Everyone and says it's Wet Wet Wet on Islay (no, not the band). James Deane finished the year with 2011… Some Number Crunching! Ian and the crew from the Islay Birds blog wish a Happy New Year and hope for better weather. The INHT blog looks back 10 years and decides It's been a wet year! Similar Gordon Yates in his Newsletter 2011, mentioning several (wet) Islay visits. In the ldnphile's 2011: A year in review Islay didn't win, but at least received an honourable mention.
Around Christmas and New Year a lot of whisky was tasted and drunk, examples include Smoke on the Water from Finland trying the Big Peat Christmas Edition and SG Whisky saying Merry Christmas: The Ultimate Ardbeg Tasting. The Malt Diary is Starting the peaty streak with 4 Lagavulins and Eye for Spirits from Germany has the Lagavulin 12 Years Old Cask Strength im Test. A Dram per Day tastes the Bruichladdich Black Art 2 1989 21yo and gives it almost his top rating, after trying the Bruichladdich Black Art 1989 19yo two days earlier.
In other news MyHighlands.de continues with some nice postings about Islay (think we've had about 2-3 already) and reviews An taigh-osda – kleines Luxus-Hotel auf Islay. ClanRadio lets you Listen to the Glasgow Islay Association Annual Gathering 2011. An Englishman now living in the USA reports of an interesting plane trip in A Trip To Islay. While no direct impact on Islay just yet the IET blog reports about something which ultimately will lead to big things on Islay: Hammerfest Strøm HS1000 Tidal Turbine Installed in Orkney.
On a blog called Beresford Art I found Watercolour - Islay as well as another Watercolour - Islay. Looking through the related photoblog I found an entry these likely relate to, Western Isles Cycle Tour 2010
On the birdwatching and wildlife side John Armitage is making a new start with A birding odyssey. He aims to make this a bit broader, so I will pick mainly the Islay related entries from it. It was a VERY MODEST START! followed by Progress made slowly, very slowly! The Islay Birds blog reports a variety of birds despite the challenging weather. On the Islay Natural History Trust blog we find some Feral Goats - Niall Colthart and some Brent on the shore. There's also some rather brown looking Winter moorland.
To close the pictures, gently leading in from the birdwatching is this great shot of a greenland white-fronted goose (taken on Islay, despite the text of the blog entry). The Simple Village Girl has some pictures of an Icy Christmas on Islay. Pam has a picture of The Strand in her New Year's greetings. Some of the most amazing pictures of 2011 come from Niall Colthart, I've seen the whole series on Facebook, some have been republished on the INHT blog: Wave hitting the Oa - Niall Colthart and Shags on Soldiers Rock - Niall Colthart are both amazing and scary. Ron has a nice view of sun rays in Portnahaven. Mark Unsworth's Image of the week is a solitary straw bale in a very wet field while there is a view of the Swanpool on his gallery. From my own Islay Pictures photoblog I think I'll go for Last Light at Loch Gruinart, the Dark October Morning in Machir Bay and the Windblown Sand in Machir Bay, Isle of Islay.
I think that's it for the first roundup in 2012, I hope I haven't missed anything significant. The Scottish Roundup has a Scottish Roundup: Blogging through 2011 this week, I assume it will return to full action next weekend. Time for an early night for me, back to work tomorrow morning. Good night!
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