#wigtownshire

[thesilicontribesman]

Black Loch Recreated Iron Age Roundhouse, Whithorn Trust Museum, Whithorn, Wigtownshire, Scotland

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Stunning 'ice pancakes' swirl on the surface of Scottish river

Dozens of eerily perfect circles of slushy ice, known as "ice pancakes," have been floating on the surface of a Scottish river - the River Bladnoch in Wigtownshire, Scotland - after temperatures in the U.K. unexpectedly plummeted.

(Image credit: Callum Sinclair/Scottish Invasive Species Initiative)

[scotianostra]

Winter landscape in the Galloway hills. by Mark Mckie

[thesilicontribesman]

Contemporary Woodcarving Of The Early Medieval Feasting Hall And The Site It Occupied, Whithorn Trust Museum, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

[thesilicontribesman]

An absolute pleasure visiting The Whithorn Trust Museum and Iron Age Roundhouse yesterday. Really helpful guides and some fantastic artefacts on display; a really friendly venue!

[scotianostra]

Good Morning from Scotland

Glen of the Bar by Mark Mckie Via Flickr: Sunrise at the Glen of the Bar. Explore..

[solwaycoastwise]

SURPRISE AT EBBSTONE ROCKS

Many ships have come to grief on the Laggan or Ebbstone Rocks - a sunken reef which are only exposed on the low (ebb) tide. By the 1850s a beacon had been erected consisting of a pyramid of iron pillars with a red painted cylindrical open cage on top to warn ships of the danger. Maintained by the Northern Lighthouse Board the beacon was not lit and could not been seen in thick fog. In the early hours of the morning of the 28th May 1856 the steam ship Princess Royal was running at full speed between Liverpool and Greenock when suddenly out of the fog loomed the beacon, the look out called out and the engines were immediately stopped but the ship ploughed into the rocks before the engines could be reversed. All 200 passengers and crew were ferried ashore at Dally Bay where they were picked up by a passing steam ship to continue their journey to Greenock. Despite work to re-float the Princess Royal a storm blew up and the ship was sunk. The concrete footings of the beacon can still be seen off shore.

On the rocky foreshore is a curious cairn of white boulders. On closer inspection they appeared to be chalk and other chalk boulders can been found in the gully below the cairn. There are a couple of lime kilns in the fields nearby and the most likely explanation seems to be that chalk was imported from Northern Ireland to be processed into lime for agricultural use. Perhaps the chalk was surplus to the needs or was accidentally lost overboard when being transferred from ship to shore. Why the chalk has been built into this eye catching cairn is a mystery - does anyone have the answer?

[scotianostra]

Beaming with Delight by Paul Taylor Via Flickr: I captured this beautiful sight early on in my stay on the Rhins of Galloway and it set the tone for the rest of the week. I can't recall seeing sunbeams like this many times before, they were like stage lighting shining down on the Irish Sea. This photo was taken from a vantage point above Castle Bay with Dunskey Castle in the foreground. You can see what I think are the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland in the distance. All in all a beautiful sight to behold.