Latest news with #IsleOfArran
The Guardian
6 days ago
- The Guardian
Police launch investigation after human leg found on beach in South Ayrshire
Police are investigating after a human leg was found on a beach in South Ayrshire in Scotland. Officers were called to the scene on Prestwick beach, a popular attraction with views of the Isle of Arran from the shoreline, on the morning of 10 June. Police Scotland said investigations were under way. A spokesperson for the force said: 'Around 10.45am on Tuesday, 10 June 2025, we received a report that human remains had been discovered on Prestwick beach. 'Inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.'
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
A brief history of the Earth on a walk around the Isle of Arran, Scotland
Around 240m years ago, a 12-foot-long reptile called a chirotherium walked along a beach in what was then part of the supercontinent of Pangaea, and what is now the shoreline of Kildonan village, on the rugged, southern coast of the Isle of Arran. Natural dykes of black igneous rock – cooled magma – jut out into the ocean here. The houses on shore are backdropped by grassy cliffs. We know that this giant proto-crocodile once roamed here because it left behind footprints – which can still be seen today. 'This is older than the dinosaurs,' says Malcolm Wilkinson of Arran Geopark, as we crouch down next to the trace fossil. I place my hand in the massive print and attempt to imagine the world millions of years ago, when Scotland sat just north of the equator and the climate was tropical. After they were made, Malcolm says, these footprints were covered in layers of silt, deposited by water or wind, which protected them from erosion and created a natural mould. Over the next few million years, layers of sediment gathered and compacted on top, cementing the grains and turning the soft mud around the footprint into solid red sandstone. The footprints turned into fossils, and were thrust back to the surface when the Atlantic opened about 60m years ago, tearing Europe and North America apart. As the younger rocks slowly eroded the trackway became visible. Similar prints were first discovered in the Victorian era, and the creature was named chirotherium – 'hand-beast' – because the fossils look like giant, human handprints. Just off the west coast of Scotland and reachable in a little over two hours from Glasgow, Arran has long been known for its rocks, regularly welcoming groups of hard hat-clad students on field trips. In April, it became Scotland's newest Unesco Global Geopark (there are two others, in Shetland and the North West Highlands), in recognition of the world-class geology here, which records tectonic plate collisions and shifting continents. To walk around Arran is to walk through 600m years of Earth's history, and my plan is to hike the 65-mile Arran Coastal Way, which circumnavigates the island, over six days. Thankfully for laymen like myself, the history is spelled out through informative Geopark signage along the way. As the ferry approaches Brodick, the serrated silhouette of the northern mountains comes into focus, the sandstone castle nestled in the greenery below and the mysterious lump of the 'Holy Isle' drawing the eye south. The island is divided by the Highland Boundary Fault, a geological line where tectonic plates once collided, separating Scotland's rolling lowlands from the mountainous highlands. On day one of the Coastal Way I head up Goat Fell, Arran's highest peak (874 meters), and witness this: the granite mountains of the north have jagged ridgelines and tower over deep glens, sculpted by glaciation, while to the south the scenery is soft and green. That evening I stay at the Corrie Hotel and follow a Geopark leaflet to the spot where a sand dune was struck by lightning 270m years ago, locking it in time a stone's throw from the centre of the village. Staring at this 'fossilised fulgurite' and imagining that desert lightning bolt is like staring into a different universe. Along the coast is another trackway, in a remote spot where Arran's only coal seam was exposed to the surface. This one was left by a six-foot millipede that lived 300m years ago, and would be easily missed without the small, oak Geopark signpost. A pod of dolphins swims by as I reach it, stealing the scene, jumping joyfully just offshore. Four miles north sits the most famous geological site on Arran – Hutton's Unconformity. James Hutton, the father of modern geology, visited the island in 1787. At Newton Point, a rocky outcrop in the north of Arran, he observed rock contact between gently sloping sandstone and older, steeply dipping schists. This led Hutton to reason that if natural processes had occurred in the past at the same rate observable in his day, this formation, and so the Earth, must be millions and not thousands of years old – as was widely believed by scholars at the time. Happily, a holidaying geologist is on hand to explain this to me, though he is, by his own admission, 'more excited about the bloody otter' he'd just spotted. I eat fish and chips at the community-owned Lochranza Country Inn and collapse into Lochranza Youth Hostel. A simple (but private) bunk bed provides all the comfort I need. The next day I walk a mighty 19 miles along the boulder-filled coastline and quiet roads around the west of Arran, camping near King's Cave, where iron age crosses are carved into the stone, and watch gannets dive bomb into the sea as the sun sets over the Kintyre Peninsula. Occasionally, I abandon the geological hunt altogether; stopping to watch otters fishing, indulging in a whisky and chocolate tasting at the newly opened Lagg Distillery, or relaxing at The Lagg Inn, whose leafy beer garden is tucked away next to a river. As my walk happens to coincide with perhaps the sunniest week in Arran since Scotland sat at the equator, it isn't hard to convince Malcolm to meet me down at Kildonan shore. 'This really is a world-class geological site,' he tells me, pointing to the shoreline. While we wait for the tide to reveal our 'pre-dinosaur' footprint, Malcolm explains the science of the nearby dyke swarms – the black 'walls' jutting into the sea. 'They're magma which was forced up vertically through cracks in the Earth, and have since eroded away,' he says. 'This is a record of a time Europe and North America were pulled apart; and the Atlantic was born.' Seals lounge around on these globally significant rocks, digesting their breakfast in the sun. 'The special thing about Arran is that it has rock types from basically every geological period of the last half billion years,' Malcolm says. 'We've got the main part of the history of the Earth here – and it's so accessible.' Off shore sits the microgranite mound of Ailsa Craig, home to an enormous colony of gannets, and Pladda, an island with a scenic lighthouse, sitting on what was once molten magma. That evening, via the plummeting waterfalls of Glenashdale, I reach Whiting Bay, and watch an otter scurrying in the sunset before setting up camp. With careful consideration for tide times, my final day skirts along boardwalks and seabed to Lamlash, Arran's most populous village. I stop for a swim at a secluded bay and oystercatchers (my constant companions on the walk) squeak their farewells. Brodick soon welcomes me back with its sublime mountain vistas. As my ferry sails back to the mainland I gaze back at Goat Fell, and the words of the writer Nan Shepherd come to mind: 'the shortsighted cannot love mountains as the longsighted do'. The Corrie Hotel has doubles from £115 B&B, Lochranza Youth Hostel has private rooms from £42 or dorm beds from £20, Lagg Inn has doubles from £170. For more information, see Visit Arran
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Arran seabed restoration championed by David Attenborough
Don MacNeish and Howard Wood have almost a century of recreational diving experience between them so when they saw the seabed off the Isle of Arran being destroyed they took action. The pair spent years convincing the Scottish government to create Scotland's first "no take zone" in Lamlash Bay which halted all forms of fishing. As world leaders gather in the south of France for the UN Oceans Conference, their story is being showcased as a prime example of how the seas can be protected. Don has featured in the latest David Attenborough film, Ocean, which was released to coincide with the summit. The destruction the pair witnessed was being caused by bottom trawling and dredging which involves dragging heavy equipment or nets along the seabed to scoop up the catch. The "no take zone" - introduced in 2008 - banned all forms of fishing within an area of one square mile. Seventeen years on and the zone, along with the Marine Protected Area (MPA) surrounding it, has naturally restored to create a nursery ground for young fish and marine life. Lobster populations have quadrupled while the number of king scallops has increased six fold. But it could take two centuries for it to become the complex, balanced ecosystem it once was. A focus of the UN Oceans Conference is expected to be the environmental damage caused by bottom trawling and dredging. "Because we were part of the first divers that went down to the sea bed round about Arran, we started to see the damage that was being caused and realised that unless we can bring up these images, people wouldn't understand," Don said. Howard added: "There was the odd star fish left but basically the whole sea bed was just raked away." The pair said they originally gathered together local fishermen in a pub and asked them which area of the sea would inconvenience them the least if it were to be closed off. They pointed to Lamlash Bay between Arran and Holy Isle. There followed a years' long battle with politicians and civil servants before the protected area was finally created. A Marine Protected Area was later added, covering the waters around south Arran which restricted some, but not all, forms of fishing. Don, who is 78, has an engineering background and first began diving in the early 1980s while Howard, a 70-year-old horticulturalist, first dived in 1974. In the film Ocean with David Attenborough, Don delivers powerful testimony of how he had witnessed alarming changes to the seabed since the three-mile limit was scrapped in 1984. The limit banned inshore dredging and trawling and many creel fishermen would like to see it return. Creel fishing involves baited traps being left on the seabed which are usually collected a few days later. It is considered to be a "low impact" method compared with bottom trawling and dredging. The Scottish Fishermen's Federation has said these methods are only damaging if they are carried out "in the wrong place" and that Scotland's waters are already heavily managed. It added that dredging and trawling were "really efficient methods of producing food" and that the right balance needed to be struck between food production and protection of the seas. But conservationists have long argued that many MPAs do not offer any protection at all against damaging fishing. Don says David Attenborough's film is "absolutely crucial" in highlighting the damage caused to the seabed by some forms of fishing. He wants people to start taking personal responsibility for what they eat and says small pockets of nature need to be allowed to reproduce to seed wider areas. Howard added that there needed to be "proper" protection of the seas - banning damaging fishing methods. The men are backing a call from the Our Seas coalition to ban bottom trawling and dredging in 30% of Scotland's inshore water. Although the pair don't dive as much as they used to, both revisited the "no take zone" together a couple of years ago to see what progress was being made. Don said: "I just couldn't believe the regeneration that had happened and I was just swimming along with a demand valve in my mouth and a huge smile on my face. This is what it was all about. "I'm all for fishing, but not necessarily everywhere. We just need small pockets of protection to be able to reseed the entire area."
BBC News
09-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Arran seabed restoration championed by Sir David Attenborough
Don MacNeish and Howard Wood have almost a century of recreational diving experience between them so when they saw the seabed off the Isle of Arran being destroyed they took pair spent years convincing the Scottish government to create Scotland's first "no take zone" in Lamlash Bay which halted all forms of world leaders gather in the south of France for the UN Oceans Conference, their story is being showcased as a prime example of how the seas can be has featured in the latest David Attenborough film, Ocean, which was released to coincide with the summit. The destruction the pair witnessed was being caused by bottom trawling and dredging which involves dragging heavy equipment or nets along the seabed to scoop up the "no take zone" - introduced in 2008 - banned all forms of fishing within an area of one square years on and the zone, along with the Marine Protected Area (MPA) surrounding it, has naturally restored to create a nursery ground for young fish and marine populations have quadrupled while the number of king scallops has increased six it could take two centuries for it to become the complex, balanced ecosystem it once was. A focus of the UN Oceans Conference is expected to be the environmental damage caused by bottom trawling and dredging."Because we were part of the first divers that went down to the sea bed round about Arran, we started to see the damage that was being caused and realised that unless we can bring up these images, people wouldn't understand," Don added: "There was the odd star fish left but basically the whole sea bed was just raked away."The pair said they originally gathered together local fishermen in a pub and asked them which area of the sea would inconvenience them the least if it were to be closed pointed to Lamlash Bay between Arran and Holy followed a years' long battle with politicians and civil servants before the protected area was finally created.A Marine Protected Area was later added, covering the waters around south Arran which restricted some, but not all, forms of fishing. Don, who is 78, has an engineering background and first began diving in the early 1980s while Howard, a 70-year-old horticulturalist, first dived in the film Ocean with David Attenborough, Don delivers powerful testimony of how he had witnessed alarming changes to the seabed since the three-mile limit was scrapped in limit banned inshore dredging and trawling and many creel fishermen would like to see it fishing involves baited traps being left on the seabed which are usually collected a few days is considered to be a "low impact" method compared with bottom trawling and Scottish Fishermen's Federation has said these methods are only damaging if they are carried out "in the wrong place" and that Scotland's waters are already heavily added that dredging and trawling were "really efficient methods of producing food" and that the right balance needed to be struck between food production and protection of the conservationists have long argued that many MPAs do not offer any protection at all against damaging fishing. Don says David Attenborough's film is "absolutely crucial" in highlighting the damage caused to the seabed by some forms of wants people to start taking personal responsibility for what they eat and says small pockets of nature need to be allowed to reproduce to seed wider areas. Howard added that there needed to be "proper" protection of the seas - banning damaging fishing men are backing a call from the Our Seas coalition to ban bottom trawling and dredging in 30% of Scotland's inshore the pair don't dive as much as they used to, both revisited the "no take zone" together a couple of years ago to see what progress was being said: "I just couldn't believe the regeneration that had happened and I was just swimming along with a demand valve in my mouth and a huge smile on my face. This is what it was all about."I'm all for fishing, but not necessarily everywhere. We just need small pockets of protection to be able to reseed the entire area."
