On 17th August members of the Archeological & Historical section visited three interesting locations in the upper Tay valley between Ballinluig and Loch Tay.
Our first stop was at the Logierait churchyard – with its famous mortsafes.
Next stop was St Mary’s Church near Grandtully.
The painted ceiling dates from the 16th Century and is in a truly remarkable state of preservation – given that the Kirk building was used as a cow byre.
The day ended with a stop at the neolithic stone circe of Croft Moraig.
2nd Oct. Ian Baird. The Woodland Trust.Standing up for Trees. Ian is a volunteer with the Woodland Trust in Perth. He is a former warden at Moncreiff Hill and he will tell us about his current role as a woodland creation champion.
30th Oct. Chris de Feu will tell us all about the secret lives of garden slugs. You are welcome to bring some examples to the talk!
13th Nov Anthony Wetherhill, BTO. Goosanders are relatively common waterfowl that have recently spread from Scotland to most of the UK. How do we track their locations?
4th Dec Dr Richard Milne is an evolutionary botanist from Edinburgh – and he is on a mission to photograph every plant species in Britain
8th Jan David Tollick is the Conservation Officer for Perth and Kinross Conservation Trust. He will talk about landscape-scale ecosystem recovery.
29th Jan. Kate Holl. Kate is the woodland advisor at NatureScot. What does the abundance and variety of wildflowers tell us about the health of our woodlands?
19th Feb Dierdre Stewart and Sam Buckland. Dalnacardoch Estate lies between Blair Atholl and Dalwhinnie. The Durrell Trust has recently embarked on a 100-year rewilding project.
5th Mar Steve Willis, BTO. The Avian flu outbreak of 2023 wrought havoc to our seabird populations. What’s the status now?
The programme for our upcoming season of Curious Minds is now available. This year we have a series of 10 talks covering the usual eclectic range of topics – from AI imaging of the heart to what happens to the contents of your recycling bin. As normal, the talks are at 7:30pm in the Soutar lecture theatre, AK Bell Library, Perth. Tickets should be available from 30th August via Perthshire Box Office.
On 10th June we spent a morning looking round this fascinating building and contemplating its many incarnations. Originally a tower house, it was for many years a ruin. The prospect of a Russian incursion around 1860 led to its fortification, and its defences were repeatedly strengthened in response to subsequent threats until the end of WWII. We lingered contentedly in the Castle’s excellent museum and delightful art gallery, while enjoying spectacular views across the Tay.
Visit to HMS Unicorn
On 9th May we visited the frigate HMS Unicorn in Dundee. Built in the 1820s, but then mothballed, it soon found itself superseded by steel vessels. Fortunately, the ship survived thanks to its later role as a training ship. Today it provides a fascinating picture of life aboard a frigate in the early 19th century. Here is just one extraordinary fact of the many we gleaned: children were employed on the lower deck to carry ammunition in battle because they were small enough to move without stooping!
If you have never seen the Unicorn, you would be well-advised to visit it soon, as a major overhaul is planned in the years to come.
On 20th April eighteen of us visited the newly opened Scottish Crannog Centre on the north side of Loch Tay. The museum and craft presentations proved so fascinating that many lingered for more than four hours and it is evident that we shall be returning before long. The crannog itself is to be built within the next year – rather faster than last time, thanks to the experience gained then.
The overall impression of life in the crannog was of unrelenting toil, whether grinding grain, making textiles or hammering iron. Would there have been puppet shows like the one that so amused us? We cannot know, but the point was that people then would have told stories, much as we do.
Are We Nearly There Yet?
Credit: Bruce Keith
On 13th March Bruce Keith, author of ‘Bridgescapes”, gave us another sparkling talk, this time on Scottish milestones, from Roman times until the present day. On the way he told us about the pioneers of mapping; travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries; the removal of milestones and signposts to bamboozle invaders in World War II – an unfortunate loss of part of our heritage – and so much more…
On 13th March Bruce Keith, author of ‘Bridgescapes”, gave us another sparkling talk, this time on Scottish milestones, from Roman times until the present day. On the way he told us about the pioneers of mapping; travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries; the removal of milestones and signposts to bamboozle invaders in World War II – an unfortunate loss of part of our heritage – and so much more…
The Stirling Castle Project Revisited
Credit: Nostalgia on Unsplas
On Wednesday 14th February John Harrison, writer of the book on the Stirling Castle Project told us about new discoveries regarding protocol at the Court, particularly in relation to the dining arrangements.
On Wednesday 17th January Professor Richard Oram spoke about his recently completed two-year project on the environmental history of the Tay, from the arrival of the first hunter-gatherers until the present day. This was an inspiring overview of the mass of material he is about to transform into a series of books. His gallop through the ages revealed a host of fascinating details, not least that the elites’ monopoly of the hunting forests, however unjust, tended to ensure their preservation. Above all we learned how greatly humans have altered the landscape and the river since earliest times and how seemingly untouched rural spots may be sullied by industrial pollution.
As a policy advisor, Professor Oram is well placed to ensure the lessons of history inform current decision-making.
Doors Open days is on 18th and 19th September and the PSNS Library will be open to welcome visitors. A part of the PSNS collection of over 5000 Natural History publications will be on display as well as selected volumes with content related to this year’s theme “The Year of Coasts and Waters”. PSNS members will be there to share their knowledge of the library room and its remarkable collection.
We all enjoyed Sabine’s talk on Peruvian culture. She has kindly provided handouts of her talk.
The first handout is a short description of Sabine’s research into clearances of the indigenous population from their agricultural land by Estate owners. There are remarkable parallels with Scottish history.
Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar is an expert in Latin American studies at Stirling University. She is going to tell us about two fascinating aspects of the indigenous Peruvian culture: the well-know use of Coca leaves and the less-well-known history of the Peruvian Highland Clearances.
We have a really interesting talk coming up this week. Dr Steve Brusatte, of the University of Edinburgh, is going to tell us about the discovery of Dinosaur fossils on Skye. Friday 18th November. 7:30pm in the Souter Theatre, A K Bell Library. Perth.
