-
Recent Posts
Categories
Archives
-
Meta
Dumfries and Galloway
Links relevant to this site.
Category Archives: Dumfries and Galloway
Kirkcudbright Fringe 2025
Three Stories from This Year’s Festival of Art and Culture Story 1: Home Truths for Home Rule: Scotland After 25 Years of Devolution Lesley Riddoch and Henry McLeish in Conversation Kirkcudbright Fringe has once again presented us with a fine array … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway, Electoral Reform
Tagged Art, beatles, lgbtq, photography, protest, Scottish Independence, travel
2 Comments
Roncadora
I arrived at the Coach and Horses last Thursday with no intention to write anything about the evening which was to come. But I went home with a different idea entirely for the event celebrated not just poetry but … Continue reading
Bogland
Tradition, Memory, and the Future of Peatlands Once upon a time, the burghers of Dumfries would dig and burn peat to keep them warm in the cold of winter. The town had an array of bogs or mosses from which … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway, Environmental
Tagged biodiversity, conservation, environment, peat, peatlands, trees
Leave a comment
A National Park for Galloway…
A Chance for Revival or a Risky Gamble? A proposal is afoot to make some part of Galloway – as yet undefined — a national park also to include, perhaps, South Ayrshire. This proposal has sparked increasing debate, with strong … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway, Environmental
Tagged hiking, history, Nature, scotland, travel
Leave a comment
From Apex Predators to the hidden World of Mycorrhiza
I’ve never been much of a bird watcher. I can just about name the birds that turn up at my feeders, which occasionally include some eye-catching specimens. Greater spotted woodpeckers come from the woods nearby for peanuts and there’s also … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway, Environmental
Tagged birds, conservation, Curlews, eagles, environment, fungi, habitat, Nature, ornithology, wildlife
Leave a comment
The Climate Kitchen and the Ghost of Christmas Past
If I had my way, there would be no Christmas music or decorations or lights before mid-December. But I know that ain’t gonna happen and I’ll just have to make the best of what is on offer and hope I never tire of listening to A Fairy Tale of New York. Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway, Environmental
Tagged christmas, Dumfries, environment, scotland, travel
1 Comment
This is Robert Rutherford Speaking. What can I do for you?
I was lucky enough to be in attendance at a book launch in Dumfries’s Coach and Horses to celebrate the publication of Pete Fortune’s two books of short stories, Waving at Strangers in Passing Cars and A Pauper from Irishgait … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Comment, Dumfries and Galloway, Environmental
Tagged environment, poem, poems, poet, Poetry, situationalism, writing
Leave a comment
Nate’s Forge
Thornhill was busy today, and my usual parking spot near the Drumlanrig Cafe was unavailable. By chance, I found a space at the Old School, located behind Nate’s forge. Frequent visitors to Thornhill will likely know of the giant fork … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway
Tagged Art, Blacksmith, Books, Cats, Dinosaurs, Dumfries and Galloway, food, photography, Sculpture, thornhill, writing
Leave a comment
Carruchan 
Great Lives, The Lisbon Lions, Scottish Landscape and Bohemia in a Small Scottish Town
I’d never heard of the improvisational guitarist Derek Bailey until I encountered his story on BBC Radio’s Great Lives programme. Amongst other things, the programme was memorable for a short and fractious exchange between the presenter Matthew Parris, and comedian … Continue reading →