Photos from previous beach cleans in Craignish. The last photo was taken at Kintraw beach at the head of Loch Craignish on the 23rd May. The children are flying beachclean sarongs with the message SAY NO TO A PLASTIC SEA! an initiative by local artist and designer Hannah Tofts who is fighting against marine pollution: www.letsgotothebeach.org

In collaboration with Craignish Primary School, Craignish Village Hall we have submitted a project called Fuaimean Craignish (Sounds of Craignish) to an Argyll & Bute Particapatory budget scheme to promote Gaelic language and culture.

Their idea is to kick off with a summer feis in Ardfern to support the rich Gaelic culture that is such a vital part of this place but is so threatened. They hope to set up a series of workshops about Gaelic story telling, language, history, music, drama, and more with regular coffee and craic sessions at the hall to keep the momentum going.

They aim to be as inclusive as possible, with plenty for all, young and old, in Craignish and throughout mid-Argyll! To receive funding they need as many people as possible to vote for their project. You can do so via this link: www.abpb.co.uk. If you have any questions or would like any more info please get in touch.

​THANK YOU!

Our small but utterly amazing boat club has won Club of the Year at the Scottish Canoe Association´s Awards ceremony this weekend!
And this is why: 

In 2010, Craignish Boat Club became homeless and it was unclear whether they would survive. After a lot of blood, sweat and tears, they managed to secure a new site which they moved to in 2014, after 3 years of uncertainty. Since securing the new site, the club has gone from strength to strength, and through forging links with local schools it is now seen as a pillar in the community. Every child in the local school from P3 upwards has attended at least one of the activities (sailing or paddling) for at least one season. They now have 60 kayaking members and with three Level 1 coaches and 7 assistants, they are building on their bank of coaches, providing ongoing training and support to help them progress. Achieving all of this in such a relatively short period of time is a fantastic achievement, which is why Craignish are recognised as Club of the Year 2016. 

Congratulations guys!

The calendar for this year´s Arts Festival is now available and its going to be another excellent year of art and culture.  For updates keep checking: www.craignish.org.uk/cvh/craignish-festival-2016-30th-july-to-14th-august/

Ju and Bob were both away this month, so Jan did the count on her own. Although it was cloudy initially the temperature was 22ºC and by the end of the count it was sunny and 24 degrees! June tends to be a fairly quiet month on the bird front, but with virtually no wind and a very low tide it was fairly easy to identify those birds that were about.
 
One highlight was a great view of a pair of Sandpipers on the shore in front of the Village Hall. They came so close that Jan tried to photograph them, but they were so well camouflaged against the stones that they didn’t really show up in a photo!
 
There is an unusual looking Oystercatcher which has been on the Loch Beag Shore for some time now – much whiter and more mottled than a ‘normal’ oystercatcher. It is very distinctive so worth keeping an eye out for.
 
Birds seen were as follows:
 
Oystercatcher – 25
Canada Geese – 72
Greylag Goose – 27
Red Breasted Merganser – 17
Common Sandpiper – 6
Grey Heron – 3
Mallard – 26
Shelduck – 3
Eider Duck – 3
 

We´re getting ready to don our wellies and waterproofs for our first community beach clean today.  Every year the community bands together to collect hundreds of bags of rubbish from our shores.  Its been a particularly stormy winter so we´re going to be busy! 

The village is pooling together to try and raise the money to buy our children a community space to play in. If you think this sounds like a good idea and would like to help then please visit our Facebook fundraising page. Thank you!