TEN YEARS AGO
Friday March 7, 2014
They have flocked to Campbeltown in their numbers – and sought it here and sought it there.
More than 170 serious bird-watchers, known as ’twitchers’, have arrived in Kintyre from all over the UK in the past three weeks in the hope of catching a glimpse and a photograph of an American herring gull.
Only one had been seen in the Scottish mainland before, in Scrabster in 1999, and this latest chance to record one was too good a chance to miss.
It was first spotted by Dan Brown of Inveraray on February 6, acting on a hunch that winter-long weather depressions over the Atlantic could blow in a rare visitor from Canada or America.
He was right. Just south of Kilmichael Farm approaching Campbeltown, he decided an extensive flood stuffed full with birds was “just too good to ignore”.
It was there he caught sight of the American herring gull – “a large dusk gull with a white face”.
It eventually flew off, but remarkably he tracked it down to a large shingle island at the mouth of Campbeltown Loch.
The following day, he had the sighting verified by Argyll bird recorder Jim Dickson.
Dedicated twitchers, who keep in contact by pager to help each other find their elusive targets, have been arriving ever since.
The Courier spoke to Dave Britton, a retired IT worker from Teesside, who arrived with his wife Sue last Friday, booking in for three nights at Campbeltown’s Rosemount Guesthouse.
Still scanning the countryside for a sighting on the Saturday morning, he said: “It has been blown thousands of miles off course. Gulls can live for 25 years and this one will probably live out the rest of its life in this area.
“It has apparently been seen most mornings in Campbeltown Harbour. I’m just heading there now.”
The bird’s arrival has provided a welcome boost for the area’s hotels, guesthouses, pubs and restaurants, according to Eddie Maguire of Machrihanish Seabird Observatory.
“I reckon about less than 50 per cent of the birders have managed to connect with it,” he added.
“With the bird still in the area, I’m expecting many more twitchers to arrive.”
Flora Grant, of the Ardshiel Hotel, said: ’We had four birdwatchers up from England staying with us last weekend. They were determined to catch sight of the gull.”
TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO
Friday March 12, 1999
An earthquake which shuddered through Kintyre last week was the strongest recorded in the area for more than 70 years.
It was also the largest to be recorded in the UK for five years.
Tremors from the quake, which was centred four kilometres off the south coast of Arran and measured magnitude four on the Richter Scale, were registered on the west coast, Arran and Ayrshire, Belfast, Castle Douglas, Peebles and Edinburgh.
Calls swamped the switchboard of the British Geological Society (BGS) in Edinburgh after thousands of people heard a rumbling noise and felt their rooms shake at 12.16am last Thursday.
Many calls from people concerned about what had happened were made to the police and coastguard after the incident with officers then reporting the incidents to the geological society.
Jacqueline Bott, a seismologist at the society, told the Courier this was the largest quake recorded in the area for more than 70 years.
She said: “The biggest one occurred on January 27 1927 about 55 kilometres north of this latest earthquake and measured 4.1 on the Richter Scale. The last time a four magnitude was recorded in the UK was in Norwich in 1994.”
Jacqueline explained: “At the moment, the British Isles are under compression and this force causes earthquakes. In this case, there was a movement on a fault deep within the earth’s crust.”
She added that to determine exactly where the quake was felt, a special macro seismic map has to be compiled. A questionnaire will be put in newspapers, asking for anyone who heard or felt the earthquake to get in touch with the BGS.
Among those who felt or heard the earthquake’s effects that night was Lindi Ford from Clachan Filling Station. She said: “It made the house shake.
“I thought at first it was a lorry going past, or thunder, then I realised what it was.”
But Cathy McLean, who works at the station too, slept through it!
At the southern end of Kintyre, Andrew Martin, of Southend Primary School, heard the tremors.
“I was in my bed when I heard a rumbling sound. My hot water bottle was lying on the table and it was shaking.”
His classmate Christopher Rankin commented: “I could hear rumbling too and it felt like I was sitting on a tumble dryer.”
You might expect to find bits and bobs while beach combing – interesting pebbles, bottles, seaweed – but what about tropical beans and a coconut?
Local poet Angus Martin got a nice surprise when he found exactly those, washed ashore at the Gauldrons and the Inneans last week.
“The beans were known in Kintyre for centuries as ‘fairy eggs’ and were highly prized as charms against evil spirits,” Angus commented.
“They were also, in some places, ground down and used as a medicine for diarrhoea and dysentery.”
Angus told the Courier that the beans, which are known to be carried down rivers in the West Indies from the vines on which they grow, sometimes end up on British shores after drifting across the Atlantic.
But the coconut, which caused puzzlement at first because it was still encased in its protective husk, is certainly a rare find.
Angus added it has the remains of goose-barnacles on it, which suggests it has crossed the Atlantic.
It was identified by Angus’ cousin Tommy Ralston after he saw the real thing with his wife Ina in the nut’s native environment, the Cook Islands, in December last year.
Tommy, the son of Mrs Isabella Ralston of Meadowpark, witnessed the technique of opening the coconuts on Rarotonga Island – they are hammered down onto pointed sticks embedded into the ground.
FIFTY YEARS AGO
Thursday March 14, 1974
Mr James Sheal, Superintendent at British Airways, Campbeltown, has informed us of the new summer schedules which will come into effect from April 1.
This will be advertised in the Campbeltown Courier but the advanced information is that the morning flight from Campbeltown will leave at 9.30am, arriving in Glasgow at 10.05am.
This will give everyone a good day in Glasgow as the evening flight will leave Glasgow at 5.20pm, arriving back in Campbeltown at 5.55pm.
***
The ferry MV ‘Sound of Islay’ docked at Campbeltown at the weekend with a large consignment of Irish peat for local fuel merchants.
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Gas conversion dates for Campbeltown are given as April 16 and April 22. The conversion will take place in two parts and each will take a week to complete.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Saturday March 8, 1924
Monday will rank as a night to be remembered by some members of the above company. At the close of the weekly parade, nine boys submitted themselves for examination in first aid.
The class had been instructed by the captain for a considerable time, but during the last month an extra spurt was made and the boys were now ready for the important event.
The examiner was Dr James Watson, who came forward most willingly at the request of the officers.
Every boy was submitted to a searching examination and the answers given revealed the boys’ intelligent grasp of first aid.
The bandaging was neatly, and in some cases most speedily, done. Should the occasion arise, the lads will not be onlookers but actively engaged in rendering to the unfortunate patient.
At the close, it was stated everyne had passed. Certificates will be presented in due time.
On the call of the captain, the boys gave a rousing vote of thanks to Dr Watson, who must have felt delighted by the response to the call.
So, with the first milestone passed, the officers are getting ready for the second, and while thankful for this progress, they are inspired to make greater efforts for the future.
The names of the boys are as follows: W M’Caig; D M’Arthur; R M’Sporran; R Main; A. M’Kerral; D M’Murchy; N MacNaughton; A Munro and C Maloney.
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