If you possibly can, take a look at this programme on the BBC iPlayer, all about the people and wildlife of St Kilda, perhaps the remotest part of Britain, inhabited until 1930 by a thrawn race of people who lived almost entirely by catching seabirds snared on vertical cliffs.
I’ve only just watched it—me, Gee Minor and Gee Minima were spellbound. I won’t say more now. Just watch it: it’s up on BBC iPlayer for another six days, and can also be downloaded. It’s the first of what promises to be a fascinating series.
Sigh. You must reside in the UK or fake that you do in some way.
One of my friends went out to St Kilda for his PhD research – Edinburgh Uni have a research station there, he was looking at the genetics of the three breeds of sheep on St Kilda, and had to go each spring to catch, tag and blood sample the lambs.
I’ve always wanted to visit there…
If you can get to see the show (shame that you can’t see it globally … I’d assumed you could have), they had this amazing piece of kit that looked like a phaser from Star Trek. You just poked it into a random clod of dirt and it would give you a read-out, instantly, of how much lead and zinc was in the soil in parts per million. How do they do that?
Awesome Shimmering Commendable and that was my lunch I was talking about.
Extremely interesting watch. Can’t wait for the next installment.
Due to current DRM issues at the BBC, UK only for such content. That said, as ever, there are gadgets out there.
My BBC sources held me at
gungannet-point to tell me that this charming chappymight be
swooping inappearing in the next episode.Did someone and/or feathered being from St Kilda crap/piss on his pigeons nest?
Tune in tomorrow and find out.
Yikes.