Road to Scotland paved in gold
It’s a long way from Western Australia to Scotland, but the road is paved in gold for Perth-based explorer Scotgold Resources.
A sampling program at Scotgold’s Glen Orchy licence, in the Grampian Mountains, produced values as high as 217gpt gold and more than 200gpt silver.
The results provided confirmation of a significant number of high-grade outcrop gold values and the prospectivity of the 250sq/km area.
The highlights of the program were high-grade outcrops at Halladay’s Vein (217.2gpt and 196.8gpt gold, and more than 200gpt silver) and Coire nan Sionnach (51.2gpt gold and 14.4gpt silver).
A follow-up exploration program is now being planned for 2010.
Important hoard found in Stirling field
Buried treasure worth an estimated £1 million, uncovered by an unidentified metal-detecting enthusiast in a field near Stirling, has gone on show at the National Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh.
The four gold neckbands ornaments or torcs dating to the Iron Age are thought to be more than 2000 years old.
The torcs, according to the museum, represent the most important hoard of Iron Age gold found in Scotland to date.
p.Under Scots law, the Crown can claim any archaeological objects found in Scotland.
Finders have no ownership rights and must report any objects to the Treasure Trove Unit.
However, the metal detector could still receive a reward equal to the value of the jewellery.
Sir Matt Busby stamp
Football legend Sir Matt Busby is featured on a new ‘Eminent Britons’ postage stamp series, recently released by the Royal Mail.
The stamps “celebrate individuals who have made a remarkable contribution to British life”.
Sir Matt’s stamp, which celebrates the former Manchester United manager’s achievements, was unveiled at Old Trafford by fellow Scot and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Born 100 years ago in the Lanarkshire mining village of Orbiston, Sir Matt managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 the longest serving manager in the history of the club), winning the FA Cup twice and the league championship five times.
He also guided the team to victory in the European cup in 1968, 10 years after 23 people, including eight Manchester United players, were killed in the Munich air crash of February 1958.
The former Manchester City and Liverpool player, who died of cancer in 1994, is one of ten people to be honoured in the Eminent Britons series of stamps.
Another Scot celebrated in the series is famed writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Red Squirrel Warriors wanted
Volunteer “Red Squirrel Warriors” are being sought to travel to remote parts of the Highlands to monitor numbers of Scotland’s native red squirrels.
Enthusiasts of any age living in the north of Scotland are being offered the chance to go “extreme squirreling” in areas where there are no records of the endangered creatures living.
The Forestry Commission has already built up a considerable body of information through such volunteer surveys in core red squirrel areas of the Highlands.
It all forms a vital part of finding out where red squirrels are living and planning for the day when populations of the introduced grey squirrels might come into the Highlands.
The fact this has not happened yet is largely thanks to the dedicated red squirrel enthusiasts.
However, See Red Highland now aims to target areas of woodland outside the core red squirrel habitats, such as Sutherland, Caithness, Wester Ross, Lochalsh, Morvern, Ardnamurchan and the south-western part of Badenoch and Strathspey.
From jute mills to dry martinis
Dundee may not boast the opulent casinos of Monte Carlo or the palm trees of Jamaica, but 007’s roots have been traced back to the City of Discovery.
Genealogists have examined author Sir Ian Fleming’s family history and discovered that his ancestors hailed from the city on the east coast of Scotland.
Link to Dundee links to Bond – PDF
Irn Bru secrets to be passed on
The chairman of the drinks firm, AG Barr, is finally standing down after more than 48 years with the company.
Robin Barr, 71, who will formally announce his retirement at the company’s AGM, is one of only two people in the world who knows the secret recipe for the best-selling Irn Bru drink (marketed as Scotland’s other national drink) and the two never travel on the same plane.