Scottish Islands Explorer 41: Jan / Feb 2017

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A Gallery of Rust A Gallery of Rust Seth Cook takes delight in the decayed Visitors to the islands gaze at stone ruins, but rarely give metal remains a glance. However, for some of us, what might otherwise seem to be only a road to Mud End has great promise. It may lead to a heap of agricultural machinery, something between a scrapyard and a museum, a gallery of rust. Even if not, there may be something in the bracken forest at the edge of a field, something visible only when the colour of the foliage is not also the colour of rust. Scattered across the islands are oat-grinders, turnip-slicers, corn-drills, grass-seeders, thistlereapers, rollers, disc-harrows, hay-rakes, retired tractors, trailers, balers and all the remnants of once enthusiastically-embraced progress in agriculture. en there are the unknowns, either so rusty or fragmentary or unfamiliar that they are enough to puzzle even experts. ‘I like photographing old machinery’ - may seem an eyebrow-raising response to the puzzled croer who wonders why you are peering into his field. Yet it is true. Anyone talking about potato-spinners is obviously harmless. It may be my favourite with its distinctive spidery rear - for identifying the front from the back of some machines is not so easy. Small, square, squat, clearly born in the horse days, the old film-clips show them to be rather delicate seeming in the way they nudge potatoes from earthed-up rows. Arms spin, spuds and clay are lied aside and all trail behind to pick out the crop. Generations of school kids followed a spinner in autumn. The Rise and Fall e great spin started in the mid-19th Century and developed when well enough designed not to turn potatoes into mash without the intermediate step of cooking. It was a good run that took in the shi from horse to tractor and only ended when the spinners were themselves pushed aside by machines that dig and collect. eir presence in numbers tells us how welcome they once were. ough picking up is backbreaking, it is better than forking. Forget the rise and fall of clans; remember the rise and fall of the spud-spinner. ‘Dedicated spotters ask questions about what may be very rusty, in parts, and, like some fossils, far from complete.’ 36 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER JANUARY / FEBRUARY <strong>2017</strong>
JANUARY / FEBRUARY <strong>2017</strong> SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER 37
Page 1 and 2: SCOTTISH ISLANDS THE UK’S ONLY MA
Page 3 and 4: Gallery of Rust Page 36 Scottish Se
Page 5 and 6: VISION FOR 2020 ‘Challenge Ordina
Page 7 and 8: INSIGHTS Page Index Header Shipping
Page 9 and 10: Scottish Seabird Islands - Part One
Page 11 and 12: Scottish Seabird Islands - Part One
Page 13 and 14: House on the Point - Ullapool House
Page 15 and 16: ISLANDS BEYOND Island of and Iceber
Page 17 and 18: ‘Archaeologists believe that the
Page 19 and 20: ‘A Good Enough Day’ e archaeolo
Page 21 and 22: ‘As well as being crucial for nat
Page 23 and 24: New Marine Protected Area in Wester
Page 25 and 26: READERS’ OPPORTUNITIES Page Index
Page 27 and 28: Golden eagle in flight during winte
Page 29 and 30: The Atlantic Grey Seal ‘Grey seal
Page 31 and 32: distances of over 200 miles. Man ha
Page 33 and 34: A History of Lismore A History of L
Page 35: A History of Lismore Roman Catholic
Page 39 and 40: A Gallery of Rust next to a redunda
Page 41 and 42: Apostle of Land Reform The Crofters
Page 43 and 44: A Short Hop to Papa A Short Hop to
Page 45 and 46: A Short Hop to Papa Flying Time Fro
Page 48 and 49: RESPONSES Responses The west coast
Page 50 and 51: ISLAND INCIDENTS Mike Heslop wonder
Page 52: £60 Richard Kershaw www.nake

Scottish Islands Explorer 41: Jan / Feb 2017

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