Author: robinacrawford

There will be no more human nesting between these sad and broken Caithness chimneys. The stonework press- not changed in design or usefulness since Skara Brae- will hold no more crowdie, linen or Bible. The last flames that warmed these cold ruins were not from peat in this fireplace but from the rampaging flames of the factor’s torch on the roof, fired by the never ceasing and incendiary wind, as he burned the inhabitants out of this home- only obeying the landowner’s orders. Driven to the alien coast to make way for sheep the people discovered that the wind on the peatlands was as nothing to that on the high sea cliffs at Badbea where their children had to be tied with ropes staked to the ground to prevent them being blown away.

Not all are welcome in the #peatlands #RSPB #ForsinardFlows #FlowCountry

When you come across a fractured egg do you mourn the lost potential or be thankful for another day of survival?

This clay is from a core sample taken on another raised bog, Kirkconnel Flow in Dumfries and Galloway. It was deposited there at the end of the last ice age around 10,000 years ago.

Under Flanders Moss raised bog is clay. You can see it in the nearby fields where parts of the bog were cleared, last year’s crop was beans.

The rocky promontory at Dunadd,  Kilmartin, Argyll was an important site to the kings of Dal Riata and protected by the great peat bog, the Moine Mhor. It is believed that the placing of the foot in the sacred rock formed part of the coronation ritual.

Loom. Volcanic weights. Strata of Tweed.

National Mueum of Iceland

National Museum of Iceland

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit (All things are altered but nothing dies.) 2 metres of peat have formed since Ovid’s death.

The world above, the world below.

magmatic