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Didòmhnaich, 23/May/2010

Islay Blogging Roundup #123 - And a Birthday

Islay Blogging Roundup in stencil

Today is the 23rd of May. Why is that important? Well, think back to this date last year, followed by this date four years ago. Yes, as of today IslayBlog.com is four years old, another birthday. Four years of blogging about Islay, with occasional excursions to Jura, Colonsay and Gigha. I'm still very much enjoying this, in particular when what I'm writing here is generating feedback and discussions. In other words, I'm looking forward to the next year! With that over to this week's blogging roundup:

Let me start with a new blog just born this week: The Islay Natural History Trust blog was launched on Wednesday afternoon. Among others there are posts about Moths and How many tons of lugworms? All the best and hopefully another successful blog from Islay!

I'll stay with wildlife and birdwatching with the Islay Birds blog: Here we find a Heron struggling with its lunch and the first sighting of a Green Woodpecker since 1988. On Thursday a Corncrake in flight was spotted during the RSPB guided walk. John Islay Birder Armitage is still away from Islay, but still birdwatching. The Ornithological Idiocy had some Amazing Wildlife Experiences and some Stormy Waters, including on Islay. Last but not least Mark Avery from the RSPB reports from a RSPB Council weekend on Islay.

With the Islay Festival now well under way (Bruichladdich day today) of course there are quite few Islay whisky and Islay festival entries to be found. Last weekend I mentioned the first two episodes of Oliver Klimek's portraits of the Islay distilleries on his blog Whisky Rating. The series has since been completed with:

The Bruichladdich Blog discusses Whisky Exports and Single Malt Sales. Boobies In Europe has a bunch of entries from a visit to Islay, including several distillery visits, they include: Ferry to Islay, Lochindaal, whisky schedule, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Bunnahabhain, Kilchoman, From the source and Laphroaig.

There are An American's Midlothian Musings about Bruichladdich Peat, Islay and the FRIDAY NIGHT BOYS review Raw Spirit: Iain Banks on Islay. Whisky For Everyone Have just tried ... Kilchoman 3 years old 'Inaugeral Release'.

A special mention needs to go ‘What A Drink!’ from Germany, who taste and write about an Islay Gin & Genievre - Best Of Both Worlds. Nobody seems to know where the Gin was distilled, but it was matured in a Port Ellen cask. But judging from some rumours it won't be the last Gin from Islay…

Now on to the Feis Ile postings I'm aware of at this point: The Scotch Hobbyist’s Blog kicks off an Following Feis Ile 2010 entry. Tony and Michelle's 2010 Islay Festival Blog | Feis Ile with Arby should be a good source for updates through the week, as of writing this we can already see a bunch of entries including Day 1: Lagavulin day and Day 1 Walk: on the beach at Bridgend. David of Angling and Dramming is also off to Islay: Feis Ile 2010...Angling and Dramming Heaven, 21st May: Islay Bound and Islay: Saturday 22nd May. Also the caskstrength.net - whisky blog writes Islay Feis Ile 2010 Day One – While My Credit Card Gently Weeps.

Anything else?

Of course, in other news Velvet is Sailing from Plymouth to Oban and The stuffed Yammob reports of A beautiful Islay. Earlier this week I've already mentioned the Spanish blog writing about the Scottish Ultra on Islay and Jura, the latest entry is Scottish Ultra: cuarta etapa. loveFibre is tied up in knots, well, kind of.

Ron's holiday on Islay is now over, during the last week he wrote about Another Cracking Day on Islay, An Islay Day with Many Faces, Islay Shades of Grey and a Trip with the Islay Lifeboat. His three weeks finished with A Warm and Crowded Day on Islay and a Sunrise over Paps of Jura from Islay.

Of course there are quite a few pictures in some of the entries above, but here are a few more: On Mark's Islay Photography Gallery we find Woodland Bluebells, Prickly ! and of course something whisky related with Bunnahabhain Distillery. On my own Islay Pictures photoblog my favourites were Evening at Port Ellen distillery and maltings, Kilchoman Distillery from the Hills and Bruichladdich Cask from 2001, Isle of Islay.

I think that's it for this week, I suspect next week will be another bumper update with a lot of Islay Festival entries to link to. As usual I close with the reference to the Scottish Roundup, this week with Adapting to coalition government, for the bigger picture. I'm going to close with a rare view of Laphroaig distillery (I'm enjoying their Triple Wood in celebration of the 4th anniversary of this blog) a friend sent me earlier, presumably caused by the Friends of Laphroaig gathering this evening:

Picture of a road full of parked cars

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